The man who delivered pizza to host Ellen DeGeneres and a dozen selfie-snapping celebrities live during the 2014 Oscars telecast has turned his 15 minutes of fame into a business opportunity.
Edgar Martirosyan gained instant celebrity status on March 2 when he showed up at the Academy Awards with the 20 pies DeGeneres ordered from Big Mama's and Papa's, distributing slices to A-Listers including Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Jamie Foxx, Jared Leto and Jennifer Lawrence inside the Dolby Theatre.
“I thought it was just a regular delivery," Martirosyan, then-owner of the chain's Sunset Boulevard location, told the Daily News. "I didn’t know I was going to go on the stage.” (DeGeneres and the actors later gave Martirosyan a $1,000 tip.)
After the broadcast, Big Mama's and Papa's was inundated with media requests wanting to know just who that pizza guy was.
"I was an incredible experience," Martirosyan, a 30-year-old Armenian immigrant, told KCAL-TV.
Martirosyan and his brother, Erik, decided to parlay their newfound fame to chase their lifelong dream of owning their own pizza shop.
Wood, which opened in Silver Lake earlier this week, serves artisanal pizzas from wood-fired ovens in the Neapolitan tradition.
"We even have a mixer from Italy for the dough we make daily," Erik Martirosyan told the Los Angeles Times. "We wanted the right ingredients, the right products — all shipped from Italy."
According to its website, Wood offers "great food using local, organic and in-season ingredients within a warm, pleasant and trendy atmosphere" — and, of course, "top-notch service to make what is guaranteed to be an original dining experience."
"We are hoping to do our best and make people happy," Edgar said.
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