Armenian food is a must-try at this Granada Hills bakery

The word “bostan” means “garden” or “orchard.” Neither of which you’ll find growing in this minimalist space on Chatsworth in Granada Hills. Nor, far as I can tell, is there a grandma cooking in the kitchen.

And though there are certainly some dishes on this Armenian-American menu that someone’s granny might cook — such as the farm cheese pancakes and the toast with almond butter — I can’t see a gray-haired eminence serving a Nude Bowl or a Lady Burrata. At least, none of the grannies I’ve known.

Bostan by Grandma is very much a place to go with the family for breakfast. Show up on a Sunday morning, and there are groups sitting both outside and in, considering the joys of simple creations like blueberry pancakes and toast slathered with peanut butter, and layered with granola and jam. You might not even notice the Armenian underpinning of the food. But it’s there — especially in the several dishes made with the defining Armenian meat, called basturma.

Basturma is an air-dried cured beef found throughout the Near East, the Middle East, and the Caucuses. It has many names, all different, and all the same. Among others, it’s pasterma, pastarma, basdirma and, here in the U.S., with a bit of a Yiddish twist, it’s pastrami. For the longest time in Armenia, it was aboukh.

And, since it was very likely first prepared in Armenia, they can call it whatever they want. It’s one of the oldest forms of preserved meat on Earth. You’ll find it in an omelet at Bostan.

It reminds me, appropriately enough, of the deli omelets found at places like Brent’s, where there’s so much cured meat in the omelet, it’s more like a dish of pan-fried pastrami and salami with a scrambled egg holding the slices together. In this case, the basturma is more elegantly arranged. The meat is thinly sliced, and tends to act as a bottom layer — a floor, as it were — for the egg above.

It’s a very simple creation. Very basic, tasting both classically American, and slightly exotic at the same time. Basturma is drier than pastrami, not as crisp as bacon, not as moist as a slice of ham. It’s basturma. It’s a taste of antiquity. And it’s also found as the meat in the Bostan Sandwich — scrambled egg sandwich on house-made bread, with a choice of basturma, smoked salmon or bacon, along with arugula and French ricotta.

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Oddly, it does not appear on the Classic Oval Tray, which holds a trio of boiled eggs, baked bread, butter, honey, cheese, cucumber and greens. The option of basturma would have made it classic and then some.

But there are certainly other Armenian dishes on the menu. The section called “From the oven” has a flatbread topped with mozzarella and Armenian chanakh cheese — a dish I think if properly called banerov hatz. Chanakh cheese needs a little explanation, for it’s an interesting mix with mozzarella.

Mozzarella is soft and stringy and melty. Chanakh, by comparison, is a brittle whole milk cheese, aged by soaking in pots with a pickle. It’s salty and dry. The two cheeses make for a great contrast. And they turn the cheese bread into a dish with many layers of flavors. Thoughtfully, you can order both a full cheese bread, and a mini version. Leaving room for so much more.

Like the English breakfast of fried eggs, sausages, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes and buttered toast. The fried eggs and the beans make it British. But to push it a bit further, it should include a rasher of bacon, undercooked in the British fashion. In the same way they like their beer at room temperature, they like their bacon soft. We like ours crispy as could be. Undercooked seems … wrong.

There are poached eggs on a waffle (in this case, with crisp bacon). A feta cheese and tomato omelet. And toast topped with cherry jam made in-house.

The aforementioned Nude Bowl contains quinoa, avocado, asparagus and chicken breast. It sounds very healthy. But I’d rather indulge in one of the Armenian sweetbreads, called gata, washed down with a cup of strong Armenian coffee. I can imagine grandma getting up before dawn to bake the gata. I wouldn’t want to let her down.

Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Email mreats@aol.com.

Bostan by Grandma

• Rating: 2.5 stars
• Address: 17628 Chatsworth St., Granada Hills
• Information: 747-227-7295; www.bakerygranadahills.com
• Cuisine: The name “bostan” refers to a garden. And, here, Grandma cooks a garden of breakfast dishes both classically American, and classically Armenian as well. You want basturma in your omelet? This is the place to go.
• When: Breakfast and lunch, every day
• Details: Tea and many coffee drinks; reservations not needed
• Prices: About $20 per person
• On the menu: 8 Savory Dishes ($19-$25), 3 Omelets ($23-$24), 3 Bowls ($23-$24), 2 Dishes “From the Oven” ($7.50-$20), 4 Pancakes and Crêpes ($16-$22), 7 Toasts ($14-$25), 2 Soups ($14), 3 Pastries ($4.50-$10.90), 8 “Special” Breakfast Drinks ($5.50-$8)
• Credit cards: MC, V
• What the stars mean: 4 (World class! Worth a trip from anywhere!), 3 (Most excellent, even exceptional. Worth a trip from anywhere in Southern California.), 2 (A good place to go for a meal. Worth a trip from anywhere in the neighborhood.) 1 (If you’re hungry, and it’s nearby, but don’t get stuck in traffic going.) 0 (Honestly, not worth writing about.)