George Mardikian (1903-1977) was an Armenian-American restaurateur, chef, author, and philanthropist. His first job in America was washing dishes in a San Francisco cafeteria. He eventually bought the place and built it into a renowned restaurant, Omar Khayyam's, where he hosted notable people including Dwight Eisenhower and Eleanor Roosevelt. For his work to improve food service for combat troops in Korea, President Harry Truman awarded Mardikian the Medal of Freedom.
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In this essay originally aired in the 1950s, restaurateur George Mardikian tells of his immigration to the United States and how he tries to repay the warm embrace Americans have given him, in “A New Birth of Freedom”, his contribution to NPR’s This... SEE MORE