Oblique name, approachable food – Savoria Mélange Bistro brings a global cuisine to a quiet corner in San Pedro
by Richard Foss When I saw the name Savoria Mélange Bistro on a restaurant sign, I was bemused by the first word. How could it be that I never knew that there was a term for a place where you go to savor things? Was it French, Italian, or from somewhere else? When I checked the internet, it was one of those rare searches that brought up very few hits – a Northern Italian family name, a small food company in Indonesia, and two restaurants, one just north of Cleveland, Ohio, and the other in San Pedro. I wondered whether the Savoria Mélange Bistro in San Pedro was owned by an Italian with that surname, because the restaurant does serve some Italian items, but that is not the case. The owners are Erik Sarahanian and Atousa Valaie, who are respectively Armenian and Persian, and the food they serve is more relevant to the second word in the restaurant’s name, not the first. There are items from their heritage on the menu, like kebabs and hummus, but they’re outnumbered by Mediterranean fusion and American dishes. The space has upscaled considerably from the days when this was Rocco’s, an East Coast Italian joint that served decent but not exceptional food. The formerly sparsely…
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