Chef Serge Madikians’ SEREVAN restaurant, Amenia, NY

Before we left Florida for upstate NY in August, Doug did an online search for Armenian restaurants in our travel route. He came across the SEREVAN restaurant in a small town named A-M-E-N-I-A. (I understand the restaurant’s name is an adaptation of Lake Sevan located in Armenia.) I thought the town’s name might have been a typographical error, but it is in fact, Amenia.

The chef-owner is Serge Madikians, an Armenian born in Iran and educated in the US. He is a smart, personable, skilled and talented chef, gardener, as well as a pilot. When the server states ‘the evening’s fresh catch was flown in by the chef himself’, he means it – literally!
Chef Serge greets his guests with a warm smile and open arms. You can tell many of the diners are longstanding regulars who truly enjoy his food, company, and homey atmosphere.

We chose to dine at Serevan to celebrate our 40th anniversary, and Mandy and Ron’s 1st anniversary – a wise decision.

We started our meal with cocktails – local wine, sour cherry cosmo, and arak. Appetizers included basturma with a labne-mint sauce and pita on the side, fresh oysters with a pomegranate mignonette, (I personally don’t eat raw shellfish, but those in our family who do, loved it!), Shirazi salad, complimentary rosemary bread and baguettes accompanied with a bowl of assorted olives.

We dined on Cape Cod scallops, a most-tender portion of hanger steak, free-range chicken, and perfectly cooked Corvina – a firm, mild white fish, all served with a chef-inspired side dish.

Believe it or not, we did save room for dessert. (Sorry, no pictures – we ate them before we realized we hadn’t taken any photos!) We shared 3 of the dessert options – creme fraiche cheese cake topped with slices of fresh apricot and a scoop of apricot sorbet on the side; traditional paklava with walnut sorbet, and the dessert of the day – apricot and plum crumble with a dollop of whipped cream. We sipped Armenian coffee to off-set the sweetness of the desserts.

This is a dining experience we’ll long remember!

Would we return?
In a heartbeat – for amazing food in a friendly, relaxing environment, but most of all, for Chef Serge!