European Bakehouse showcases unique pastries at Sammamish Farmers Market
The Sammamish Farmers Market is known as a weekly gathering place for the community and local farmers and purveyors. This year, nearly 70 vendors are present every Wednesday, including Edandliz, an authentic family-owned Armenian bakehouse aiming to bring distinctive Eastern European desserts to Sammamish.
By joining the Sammamish Farmers Market, the owners of Edandliz hope to expand their reach to the local community and hear a new set of opinions, recommendations, and reviews.
Although Edandliz has participated in neighboring farmers markets, this is their first year in Sammamish. Its booth is located in the center of the market, close to the seating area.
“We have a lot of clients and friends based in Sammamish, so we decided to become a vendor [here] to see how the community would respond…So far, like with the Juanita Farmer’s Market in [Kirkland], customers have been very interested in our most unique dishes,” said Elizaveta Matevosova, 23, who owns Edandliz with her parents, Eduard and Diana.
Matevosova loves the distinctive combination of flavors in Armenian desserts. Honey, sour cream, and walnuts are staples in most items. For instance, Armenian baklava differs from the more common Turkish version because it uses honey and walnuts rather than syrup and pistachios.
These unique substitutions make it difficult to obtain authentic Armenian desserts elsewhere and are one of the many reasons Matevosova is so excited to bring Edandliz to the Sammamish Farmers Market.
Matevosova and her parents wanted to own a bakery ever since immigrating from Armenia to the Greater Puget Sound region. They realized then that their new home did not offer much Eastern European cuisine, and they wanted to help fill that gap.
“In our Armenian [culture], traditional desserts and sweets are very important to have, especially when we have guests or family coming over,” Matevosova said. She describes some of her favorite childhood pastries as central to holiday celebrations.
“For New Year’s Day, or for birthday parties…honey cakes and napoleon cakes [were] very popular. For our Armenian version of Easter, we always [ate] a lot of gata and…nazook,” she said.
Matevosova explains that honey cakes are a moist, subtly sweet dessert containing honey and walnuts, whereas napoleon cakes are a many-layered puff pastry. Gata is a sweet flatbread filled with vanilla custard. Nazook has a similar vanilla filling, but is a flakier pastry.
Now the primary baker of Edandliz, Matevosova began learning culinary arts at age 13 when her mom signed her up for a fruit carving course. She learned to carve designs on watermelons and other fruits.
Eventually, she expanded to baking traditional desserts and pastries. After settling in the US for a few years, Matevosova earned a diploma in culinary arts. As her passion continued to bloom, she eventually rented a kitchen space in Tukwila, where she was finally able to begin operating as Edandliz in 2020.
Today, Edandliz distributes products throughout cafes and grocery stores in the Greater Puget Sound area. Customers can visit Edandliz directly at farmers markets or they can order from their online store.
Matevosova and her parents have gained repeat customers who look forward to their farmers market appearances, which, as a small business offering a unique product, is very encouraging.
“I had a customer purchase our baklava on the last day of the Juanita Farmers Market. She froze it so that it would last a little longer, and then came back as early as possible the next year to buy more,” she said. “When she told us this, it was just a really nice [and] heartwarming moment.”
Edandliz products are available at the Sammamish Farmers Market, the Renton Farmers Market, the Kirkland Farmers Market, the Juanita Farmers Market, Bellevue’s European Grocery, Everett’s European Grocery, Kirkland’s Rush-in Dumplings, Olympia’s Rush-in Dumplings, and Kent’s Sweet Note Cafe. Online orders can be made at edandliz.com.
The Sammamish Farmers Market will be at the Sammamish Commons, 801 228th Ave SE, every Wednesday through mid-September.
