CENTERSTAGE - CHICAGO
The Original City Guide - By Jenny Seay
'' Ras Dashen gives whole new meaning to the words "finger food." This friendly Edgewater eatery offers a traditional Ethiopean dining experience, where parties are served entrees on a communal platter, coated with spongy injera. Selections are spooned onto this hearty bread, an abundance of which is also served on the side in lieu of silverware.
Less adventurous diners may be taken aback at the idea of food as a utensil, but will soon find that the bread trumps a spoon any day when you're sopping up the sauce-laden entrees. A word to the wise: Injera goes down heavy, so eating too much can leave you full before you've even made a dent in your main course.
Menu highlights include Yebeg wat (lamb in a spicy berbere sauce) and Kik alicha (yellow split peas cooked with onions, garlic, ginger and green peppers. Don't miss the bread pudding, deceptively sinful with its healthful combination of raisins, nuts and roasted flax seeds..." >>more
Planet 99 - By
Alotta ''
This award-winning Edgewater restaurant features classic Ethiopian cuisine. Menu items include an array of chicken, lamb, beef, and vegetarian stews, eaten family-style with torn pieces of injera, a pancakelike bread, instead of utensils. Each main dish comes with three side dishes; servers are happy to help you make selections. Open for lunch and dinner Wed-Mon..." >>more
ABC TV - Chicago
Hungry Hound: Ethiopian Food
'' Ethiopian food is rarely discussed among the world's great cuisines, but our Hungry Hound says the traditional meal is complex with various heat levels and multiple textures. It's also great for vegetarians. This week, our Steve Dolinsky headed up to the Edgewater neighborhood - on the city's far North Side- to learn exactly how to order Ethiopian, and more importantly, how to eat it.
At the base of any good Ethiopian meal, is a giant, round disc of spongy injera bread. Made from an indigenous wheat flour, the bread not only lines the bottom of every platter, but also becomes a scooping device, since there are no utensils used. At well-regarded Ethiopian restaurants like Ras Dashen - named after the highest mountain in Ethiopia - the injera is made fresh daily. As for the savory items placed on top of it, they're not as exotic as you might think.
"The most things we eat is the chicken, fish, lamb a lot of vegetarian food," said Marito Tqkla of Ras Dashen..." >>more
CHICAGO Reader
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Voted best new restaurant in Edgewater at the end of 2001 by residents and area businesses, this Ethiopian serves the classics: a variety of chicken, beef, lamb, and vegetarian stews, all meant to be eaten without utensils. Each entree comes with three side dishes; servers will gladly select for you, or you can choose yourself. Injera, the sour, spongy pancakes that accompany the meal, are meant to be torn and then dipped into the dishes, which are served family style... >>more
What's hot: Ras Dashen
Ras Dashen sits on a mile of Broadway that now boasts three Ethiopian restaurants. The chef is Zenash Beyene, who also ran an Ethiopian restaurant when she was a refugee in Khartoum, Sudan. This large L-shape room was stifling during a recent heat wave, but a fan and the eye-catching Ethiopian art helped take our minds off the temperature. About five of the 16 tables are low, basketlike affairs called mossab. When you take off the lids, the table tops are just big enough to fit the traditional serving tray. They are flanked by low Ethiopian chairs and side tables for extra food.
Don't miss the excellent banana fudge gelato or the injera bread pudding, studded with raisins, carrots and roasted flax seeds, and served with vanilla ice cream. >>more
This Ethiopian eatery serves dishes like lamb tartare, and chicken served in spicy red pepper sauce. All entrees are served on injera, a spongy bread that serves as a plate and silverware. Dessert offerings include Italian-style gelato and bread pudding. Chef Zenash Beyene, who hails from the province of Gondar in northern Ethiopia, once ran her own restaurant in Khartoum. The restaurant takes its name from the highest mountain in Ethiopia. >>more
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