Politics & Government
Cafe NoHo Officially Opens with Ribbon-Cutting Celebration
Universal City North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, city, county and state officials come out to welcome Cafe NoHo's owners to the Arts District's burgeoning food scene.
Around noon on Wednesday, the Marashyan family (Nora, John, and their son, Arthur), owners of at 11040 Magnolia Boulevard, grabbed the ceremonial giant scissors while Universal City North Hollywood (UCNH) Chamber of Commerce members held the ribbon across the restaurant's front entrance for them to snip.
Representatives for various city, county and state elected officials, and the family's invited guests, crowded around for the grand opening's symbolic moment.
Michelle Gilstrap, executive director of the UCNH Chamber of Commerce, Patch's (who is also a UCNH board member), and Marian Jocz, executive director of the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley & Region, presented commemorative certificates to the Marashyans.
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Nora Marashyan gushed, "It's so nice, very beautiful! I'm so happy everyone is here, all the members of the Chamber, this is an amazing day, an amazing day for us!"
Bill Hacket, field deputy for Councilman Paul Krekorian, James Domine, representative for Rep. Howard Berman, a representative from State Assemblyman Mike Feurer's office, and a representative from County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky's office, also presented certificates to Cafe NoHo.
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"They're (the certificates) all so beautiful. It's so nice to be part of this community of the North Hollywood Arts District. We're very impressed," Nora Marashyan said.
Patch noticed that Cafe NoHo has already been serving some customers prior to this official grand opening day, and asked the family how business has been so far.
"Business has been okay," Nora said, "We did this soft opening, but we were really waiting for this grand opening today. Hopefully we'll do very good serving this community."
And what have some of the early customers been ordering?
"Our most popular dish is probably the Chicken Shawerma," Arthur Marashyan said. "We've worked over two-and-a-half months on that recipe... testing... we went through 49 recipes until we came to the conclusion for our final dish."
Arthur added: "And we have our signature Char Wings as well; which is another house recipe, and you won't find it anywhere else. It's cooked on a char-broiler instead of a fryer, so it's healthier for you."