Yesterday I got a fancy-schmancy manicure and pedicure in the Big City, using a gift certificate that a friend gave me for my 40th birthday (strangely, I ended up with plastic wrap on my toes for several hours).
This can only mean one thing: The gift certificate (good for a year) expired yesterday and I was forced to act, and that must mean I get to have--oh joy--my 41st birthday real soon. Whoopee.
It's tomorrow. Sunday. At least I don't have to go to the office.
I don't have any plans. But I've been working on a piece for Rough Guides UK about Ethiopian food. I really like Ethiopian food, so I might use birthday-guilt leverage to bargain a few friends into going for Ethiopian food with me.
I first learned of Ethiopian cuisine in the early 80s, when a man named Tesfaye opened a restaurant at 704 King Street in my hometown of Alexandria, Virginia. It was next to the Roy Rogers fast food restaurant where I worked the salad bar.
Rumors of crazy food experiences started to reach me. Diners sat on stools. You got to eat the plate and utensils as well as the spicy puddles of lentils and chickpeas. "Unlike anything I've ever experienced."
Then Tesfaye opened the 704 Club upstairs. My sister got a job there and next thing you know, I was spending long nights watching local bands as soon as I got off work. (No, I wasn't old enough to go there. Let's not get into that.) This evolved into an obsession with obscure indie rock that lasted well into my twenties. (File under Previous Incarnations.) The Other Marie came along sometimes. We must have smelled of onions and cheeseburgers from spending all day making fast food.
The 704 Club and the entire upper part of King Street--and in fact, Del Ray, the neighborhood I grew up in--fell prey to gentrification and urban renewal. It's a common theme in my life. Poor families give way to bistros. Money brings safety and services. Uniformity replaces diversity. You'd think by now I'd have answers and be comfortable with that. No. Some questions have no answers.
It took me fifteen years to go from eating Ethiopian food to actually going to Ethiopia. But today, I might be too lazy to go so far as 47th Street on a Sunday night. I wonder if the Cuban place in JC serves chocolate cake.
9 comments:
You know, I consider myself a "foodie," but personally, Ethiopian is the ONLY cuisine that I've eaten that I really REALLY dislike. I apologize to all the wonderful Ethiopians reading this, but I can't stand your food. I've tried many times to enjoy it, but I can't. I think it's the bread. Ugh.
Still, I hope you're having a great birthday weekend, Marie. Good luck with the food quest!
Hard to believe there's no Ethiopian restaurant in JC, but Ethiopians tend to settle in droves, and they may not have settled there. I went to a real good restaurant somewhere in Tribeca, but it may have been long gone.
Texas is the place to go for Ethiopian food, believe it or not. There were times (may still be true) when the Ethiopians ran all the cabs in Dallas and Houston, and any cabbie could recommend his cousin's restaurant, usually with a name like The Blue Nile or Cafe Addis. And usually it was good.
Order doro wat for me!
Steve, injera is undoubtably a "love it or hate it" food. Lucky for me I love it, since I might have gotten quite hungry in Ethiopia otherwise.
And Ed, that is absolutely true that Ethiopians settle in communities here. Community and family are terribly important to most Ethiopians.
Look, there is one in JC (though we don't have a Horn community that I am aware of). I think it's time to give it a try. I had narrowly been thinking of going to the same one I always go to in Manhattan. This sounds way more appealing.
http://www.mulubaltena.com/
It's got to be good. It's on a block with two dollar stores.
I just stumbled over this cool page:
http://www.ethiopianspices.com/html/recipes.asp
Mmmm! Ethiopian food is my second favorite, right after Japanese (well, mostly sushi, actually). And the only problem with injera is that I always eat too much because it's so good.
There's a Little Ethiopia section in LA on Fairfax, but I don't know anyone local to go there with. So I don't get much Ethiopian food unless I have out-of-town friends visiting or it's my birthday and I force J to a restaurant for my sake.
Sarah, I've been to several of those Fairfax restaurants but this one is my favorite:
http://www.ethiopianrestaurant.com/california/merkato.html
Turbo and I picked it at random--I think because it had so many Ethiopians in the market section.
When we got stuck for which Ethiopian restaurants to go to in Adams Morgen in Washington DC, I walked into an Ethiopian hairdresser's shop and asked for a recommendation. We ended up at
http://www.ethiopianrestaurant.com/dc/addisababa.html
The hairdresser did not steer us wrong. It was marvelous and cheap.
Happy Birthday Marie!
Happy Bday Marie. In your honor, I vow to try Ethiopian food for the first time in my life sometime during the next year :)
I use to work the door at the 704 and Tesfaye would feed me a free meal . That's how I fell in love with Ethiopian food.
Post a Comment