Living in Washington, D.C. for four years and never sampling its Ethiopian food and drink is like living in New York and never having a knish, or calling yourself a native of Kansas City without ever tasting the barbecue. It stinks of laziness, timidity orshy;—worse—plain naiveté.
Fortunately, you still have time to save yourself from culinary damnation. We are lucky to live amidst the largest Ethiopian community in the United States—between 15,000 and 85,000 depending on whom you ask—and the 14th Street corridor is sprinkled with Ethiopian joints ranging widely in price and décor. A widely overlooked aspect of the restaurants is their curious cordials. The beer and wine will truly take you back to the mead goblets of the ancient world.
My longtime favorite Ethiopian restaurant is Lalibela, which lies 10 minutes away on the G2 bus that leaves frequently from Healy gates. To enter Lalibela is to enter a world of beautiful people and pleasing food situated in a charming, one-story dump.
This is certainly no Zed’s nor even a Meskerem (the Adams-Morgan favorite). Instead, it is a place where bearded cab drivers hold court after work and pretty 20-somethings grab a cheap bite to eat. Although there is always a token non-Ethiopian couple talking quietly in a corner, the vast majority of people are happily chatting and calling out to one another in Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia.
The food is, of course, delicious, and features beef, lamb and hearty vegetables stewed in wine and various spices served atop a delightfully sour sponge bread.
The spicy flavors of the food are complimented best with the restaurant’s delicious drinks. The house white wine, a light straw-colored nectar, has the sweet flavor of a French sauternes, and is complimented by a strong vanilla flavor. It is no French dessert wine, and lacks the structure to pretend to be oneshy;—but it is as nice in the mouth as liquid ice cream.
The beer is the real deal at Lalibela, which offers three of the five major brands produced in the Ethiopia. Start out with a light Bedele “Special Beer.” Its weight is about that of a medium American lager like Rolling Rock, but its texture is much more interesting, producing a wonderful “fluffy” effect upon the tongue.
Your second beer (you’re taking the bus, remember?) will make the night out a unique drinking experience. Choose either the Harar or the Meta. Both have strong influences of honey, but the former has a bit more of a bite. The Meta is perhaps the only true dessert beer I have ever had. Its taste is like that of the honey wine and it rounds out very easily upon the tongue, a pleasant finish to an inexpensive feast.
Lalibela is located at the intersection of P and 14th Streets, N.W. on the G2 Metro bus line. Beers: $4.50. Wine by the glass: $5.00. Entrees: $8.50-11.50.
