QUEEN OF SHEBA

Vegetarian lunch buffet as low as $5.95 is served from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m

Zion Taddese and her brother Eskinder opened Queen Sheba Restaurant on Howe Avenue in August of 2003. Together, the siblings offer friendly and attentive service along with spicy, flavorful dishes that follow the traditions of Ethiopian dining.  You can enjoy, the famed honey wine, tej, which Ethiopians often make themselves, with a unique taste that complements the spices in the food. Combination plates on the menu, allow you to sample different dishes arranged symmetrically on a giant plate. Dishes such as Gomen, a dish of cooked spinach, collard greens, onions and garlic. Gomen may remind you of collards in soul-food cooking. Then experience, miser kik wot (wot meaning "stew"), a satisfying, mild-flavored dish made with lentils and spices. In the combination you will find two similar-tasting dishes, doro wot and gored gored. Doro wot is a popular dish with chicken leg and hard-boiled egg, served on a dark bed of simmered vegetables and spices. It has the color, consistency and heat of a fiery chili. Doro wot is of the chicken family, the gored gored has cubes of beef in a similar mixture, spiced in Ethiopian fashion, with berbere. Berbere, a mix of at least a dozen spices, including paprika, ginger, cardamom, hot chilies and turmeric, giving Ethiopian foods their distinct flavors. 

Queen Sheba Offers Ethiopian Cuisine And Ambiance
Sacramento Observer
By Antonio R. Harvey

'... When customers try a meal for the first time at Queen Sheba Ethiopian Cuisine in the Arden area, the insatiable feeling will never escape their consciousness.

"Once people try Ethiopian food, it's something they never forget," said Zion Taddese, the restaurant's owner. "Even if you haven't had it in 20 years, once you try it you'll always like it."

The restaurant's authentic culinary menu is divided into several categories such as poultry, beef and vegetables. With more than 20 entrées, the menu also includes the delectable tibbs, which contains tender chunks of lean beef sautéed with onions, garlic and purified butter.

Customarily, all meals are served without utensils, and are accompanied with injera. Injera is a flat, pancake-spongy bread that is soft and pliable so that it can be rolled or folded like a crepe.

"We only ask people to come on in and try the food," said Taddese, who employs four professional Ethiopian chefs. "We are very friendly and offer 100 percent good service."

"Everybody should come here to eat," said Zerah Yisreal, a frequent customer of Queen Sheba Restaurant. "The food is great. I eat here every single day."

Customers can imbibe in the imported taste of stout and Harar beers. The restaurant also serves imported red or white wine, flavored coffee, orange juice, apple juice, and mineral water. The imported spicy Ethiopian tea and iced tea (with cinnamon and cloves) are also quality drinks. >more