Community Highlights: Meet Siranush Sargsyan of Monna by Gev’s Kitchen and Gev’s Kitchen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Siranush Sargsyan.

Hi Siranush, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up around art. Painting runs in my family, and my grandfather taught me to use sand in oil paint to build raised texture on the canvas. I studied art at university. But my working life went in another direction, into food.

Gev’s Kitchen started at home, in our garage. We made frozen food by hand there: khinkali, pelmeni, cutlets and other traditional dishes, the way our families always made them. Word spread one dish at a time, and slowly we built a loyal group of customers of our own. When the garage couldn’t hold what we were making, we decided to open a small kitchen just for our food. In 2022 we opened it in Van Nuys, and that’s how Gev’s Kitchen became a real business. Today it’s a USDA-certified facility that supplies grocery chains and local markets across Los Angeles, and we also do takeout and catering.

In fall 2025 I opened Monna by Gev’s Kitchen in Montrose. It’s a fine-dining Georgian and Middle Eastern restaurant, and it’s where my two worlds meet. I designed the interior myself, and my paintings hang on the walls next to my grandfather’s. Today I run both businesses and still paint about one new piece a month.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it hasn’t always been smooth, but every step taught us something.

In the beginning we were making everything in our garage, with no big investment and no team behind us. Every customer was earned one order at a time. Moving from the garage into a real kitchen in Van Nuys was a big risk for us, and growing into a certified production facility meant learning a lot about regulations, permits and food safety along the way.

Opening Monna brought a whole new set of challenges. A restaurant is very different from a production kitchen. There are slow seasons when you have to make hard decisions, and building a team that truly understands the food and how to present it to guests takes time and patience.

The hardest part is balancing everything: two businesses, the creative side, and my family. I handle the operations, the finances, the menus and the design myself, so the days are long. But I believe in what we do, and every time a guest falls in love with a dish, I know it’s worth it.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Monna by Gev’s Kitchen and Gev’s Kitchen?
I run two businesses that share the same roots: honest, traditional Georgian and Eastern European food made by hand.

Gev’s Kitchen is our production kitchen in Van Nuys. We make frozen khinkali, pelmeni, vareniki, cutlets, khachapuri, soups and more, and supply major grocery chains and local markets across Los Angeles. We’re a USDA-certified facility, and we also offer takeout, delivery and full catering for large events. Many families tell us our food tastes like home, and that means more to us than anything.

Monna by Gev’s Kitchen is our fine-dining Georgian and Middle Eastern restaurant in Montrose. We’re known for our khinkali, our Wagyu tolma made with beef cut by hand (never ground), and our weekend dishes cooked outside over live charcoal on our own grill. We have live music on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday evenings.

What sets us apart is that everything is personal. Many of our recipes come from family tradition, and I designed Monna’s interior myself. My paintings hang on the walls next to my grandfather’s, so the room carries our family’s art as well as our food. I’m proud that guests feel that warmth from the moment they walk in.

We’d love for your readers to come hungry, try the khinkali, and stay for the music.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Family matters most to me. Everything I’ve built started with family, from cooking in our garage to opening our restaurant. Monna is named after my daughter, so every time I walk through the door, I’m reminded who I’m doing all of this for. My children are my biggest motivation, and I want them to see that hard work and believing in yourself can turn a small idea into something real.

Right after family comes honesty in what we make. Whether it’s a box of frozen khinkali in a grocery store or a dinner at Monna, I want people to get real food made with care, the same food I would serve at my own table.

And art matters to me deeply. Painting is part of who I am and part of my family’s legacy. Every painting I make is very personal to me. It shows the colors and what I feel, and I love that each person who looks at it sees something different. Having my work and my grandfather’s on the walls of Monna reminds me every day where I come from.

Pricing:

• Monna group set menu: $100 per person, includes still and sparkling water
• Monna khinkali (5 pieces, boiled or fried): $23 to $35
• Monna breakfast and lunch dishes (served daily until 2 PM): most around $16 to $25
• Monna live music: Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, 7 to 9 PM
• Gev’s Kitchen frozen dumplings, cutlets and soups: available at LA grocery stores and our Van Nuys location; catering packages available on request

Contact Info:

• Website: https://monna.la
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gevs_kitchen
• Other: https://gevskitchen.com