Armenian-American pizza guy from Ellen's Oscar gig has got some news

Armenian-American pizza guy from Ellen's Oscar gig has got some news

PanARMENIAN.Net - It’s been nearly five years since Edgar Martirosyan was ushered onto the Oscars stage by then-host Ellen DeGeneres to deliver pizza. A lot has changed since then, and a lot hasn’t. He is still slinging pies.

But these days Martirosyan - who is of Armenian descent - has added beer and wine to his deliveries within a 5-mile radius of Napoli’s Pizza Kitchen, an artisanal pizzeria in Van Nuys that aims to take his type of business to new heights, The Orange County Register reports.

“Not a lot of places deliver beer and wine, but I’ve got the license to do it,” said the 35-year-old Sherman Oaks resident who introduced the service Dec. 1.

The introduction is all part of Martirosyan’s vision for Napoli’s Pizza Kitchen as a step up from his former pizza business. That was the Big Mama’s and Papa’s Pizzeria franchise in Hollywood whose pies were enjoyed by Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep and a bunch of other celebrities during the Oscar telecast in 2014.

The next day DeGeneres invited Martirosyan onto her show where she presented him with a $1,000 tip and treated the audience to still more pizza.

“The Ellen Show called me many times,” he said, adding the attention was a big boost for the pizzeria he owned with his brother, Erik.

The brothers soon opened Wood Handcrafted Pizza in Silver Lake and then dispensed with their franchise in 2016, the same year that Napoli’s opened.

Today, Erik runs Wood and Edgar operates Napoli’s.

At Napoli’s, the pizzeria has gone through some extensive menu changes since it opened its doors in 2016.

The menu features pizzas topped with lamb sausage, thinly slice potatoes and anchovies and prosciutto and serves four kinds of egg gondola pies – gondola-shaped crusts filled with mozzarella and feta cheeses, two eggs and other toppings such as bacon, tomatoes or basturma, a dried cured meat.

There are organic and seasonal salads, build your own pastas and a variety of sandwiches served on Amoroso rolls with a side of housemade potato chips or salad.

“Some people go into this business just for the money, but I have a different way of thinking,” Martirosyan said. “I’m here because I want to make quality food. And then, obviously, the money will come.”

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