Monday, August 15, 2005
Eating Anything
One of my colleague's was raised in rural eastern Kentucky and is a strict "kentucky-arian": meat (chicken, pork, beef ONLY), potatoes, beans, broiled, boiled, fried, or grilled. She admonishes me continuously that not only will I apparently eat anything (I do have some limits), but it's way to hot or spicy. Today, I visited an Ethiopian restaurant for lunch; definitely not on her list. I'll say, up front, that it is not on my list either. Not because it isn't good (it was), but because it was more costly than I like for a lunch.
Everything was different than the expected dining standard. We sat on low, padded stools around a circular basket with a lid. When the food was served, the lid was removed and a large platter of food was placed into a recess. There were no utensils. You ate with your fingers by scooping food into bits of bread. There is no particular way to describe the bread in a manner that is appetizing, so I'll simply state, it was tasty (regardless of the following) description. The bread was kind of like a gray, soft, rubbery, pancake. We ordered a spiced meat dish (small cubes of curried meat with onions), a cabbage roll, and an Ethiopian salad.
The salad had a very light dressing and was otherwise conventional. The cabbage roll was very much like a burrito, but the bread and cabbage combination defeated me. I couldn't figure out how to pick it up without the whole thing disintegrating. There must be a way; again, it was fresh and tasty. The meat dish was delightfully hot (not HOT!). For reference, it was hotter than tabasco. The chilis were either ground or mashed into a paste (no visible chunks) and were likely the African chili known as Piri-piri. Eaten by themselves, they can really set you on fire.
All-in-all, it was a very good lunch and definitely a change of pace. We met the woman who owned the establishment and was the cook. She is just starting out and is actually waiting to move into a larger storefront. I hope she makes it, but doubt she'll attract many from the lunch crowd around the University. She's just around the corner from a Cajun place. All menu items there are $5: etouffee (shrimp, crawfish, and chicken), jambalaya, chicken sauce piquante, po-boys. Hard to beat on a budget.
Everything was different than the expected dining standard. We sat on low, padded stools around a circular basket with a lid. When the food was served, the lid was removed and a large platter of food was placed into a recess. There were no utensils. You ate with your fingers by scooping food into bits of bread. There is no particular way to describe the bread in a manner that is appetizing, so I'll simply state, it was tasty (regardless of the following) description. The bread was kind of like a gray, soft, rubbery, pancake. We ordered a spiced meat dish (small cubes of curried meat with onions), a cabbage roll, and an Ethiopian salad.
The salad had a very light dressing and was otherwise conventional. The cabbage roll was very much like a burrito, but the bread and cabbage combination defeated me. I couldn't figure out how to pick it up without the whole thing disintegrating. There must be a way; again, it was fresh and tasty. The meat dish was delightfully hot (not HOT!). For reference, it was hotter than tabasco. The chilis were either ground or mashed into a paste (no visible chunks) and were likely the African chili known as Piri-piri. Eaten by themselves, they can really set you on fire.
All-in-all, it was a very good lunch and definitely a change of pace. We met the woman who owned the establishment and was the cook. She is just starting out and is actually waiting to move into a larger storefront. I hope she makes it, but doubt she'll attract many from the lunch crowd around the University. She's just around the corner from a Cajun place. All menu items there are $5: etouffee (shrimp, crawfish, and chicken), jambalaya, chicken sauce piquante, po-boys. Hard to beat on a budget.
