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Ethiopian food
Today I had lunch with some former coworkers at Abay, an Ethiopian restaurant in East Liberty. This was my first visit to an Ethiopian restaurant, and I would gladly have further encounters with the cuisine and with this particular restaurant.
They offer sampler platters of the "choose N from column A" variety, and after trying to decide how to populate several, we finally said to our waiter: "Can you just bring us four samplers, two vegetarian and two not, using your best judgement?" This worked very well; I got to sample eight different vegetarian dishes, and while I can't name any of them, I'd be able to identify most of them on a future visit. The spicy dish with red lentils was especially tasty.
Everything comes served on bread -- a large, flat, thin, doughy bread covers the plate and then they pile the food on top of that. (They brought us extra bread on the side, too.) Trenchers, but with less structural support. Sops, perhaps. The bread was nice on its own but better covered in the juices and sauces from the rest of the food.
Their tea was nice, too. I usually don't particularly notice tea, but I guess this was spiced a little or something.
Service was good, even with our large group. They actually had a round table that could seat a dozen, and that was more pleasant than sitting at chain of two-person tables.
We were running short on time and thus skipped dessert, but I noticed several interesting options there. I would have gotten the ginger sherbet if we'd stayed.
They offer sampler platters of the "choose N from column A" variety, and after trying to decide how to populate several, we finally said to our waiter: "Can you just bring us four samplers, two vegetarian and two not, using your best judgement?" This worked very well; I got to sample eight different vegetarian dishes, and while I can't name any of them, I'd be able to identify most of them on a future visit. The spicy dish with red lentils was especially tasty.
Everything comes served on bread -- a large, flat, thin, doughy bread covers the plate and then they pile the food on top of that. (They brought us extra bread on the side, too.) Trenchers, but with less structural support. Sops, perhaps. The bread was nice on its own but better covered in the juices and sauces from the rest of the food.
Their tea was nice, too. I usually don't particularly notice tea, but I guess this was spiced a little or something.
Service was good, even with our large group. They actually had a round table that could seat a dozen, and that was more pleasant than sitting at chain of two-person tables.
We were running short on time and thus skipped dessert, but I noticed several interesting options there. I would have gotten the ginger sherbet if we'd stayed.
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Eating there changed how I spice lentils, let me tell you! Now, I should go to the Afghani place that's only a mile from my house....
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Now I add more interesting, woody-spices. Allspice, tumeric, cumin, coriander. Cinnamon, anise, fennel... I also add tomatos to the dish.
I'm one of those "never cook the same way twice" soup and stew makers, so please don't ask me for exact proportions. Most days I look into my somewhat stuffed spice cabinet, and let them "speak" to me. :-) And whatever makes me salivate jumps into the crock-pot.
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I usually treat lentils as something to combine with onions, garlic, and maybe tomatoes, and/or something to apply curry to. I hadn't thought about using Italian herbs. Thanks for the suggestion.
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Yummy!
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And, oddly enough, I don't mean that to reflect badly on Ethiopian food. It's been years since I've been there (it is quite pricey), but there is a very good Ethiopian restaurant, here, too, called the Blue Nile.
I love the idea of letting the decide what you would get in the sampler. I'll have to try that, when I go back!
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Just before I went vegetarian, I noticed that I didn't actually enjoy most of the meat I ate ... one of the two exceptions was an Ethiopian dish (zilzil tibs). Fortunately Ethiopian restaurant menus are overflowing with vegetarian dishes I like at least as much as I used to like that. (Argh! Now I've got a major craving for yesimir kik wat and injera -- I guess it's time to find out where the Ethiopian places in Baltimore are.)
Plus, there's something about eating with our hands off a shared platter that subtly enhances how intimate a meal with a group of friends feels.