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After the closing of much-beloved Queen of Sheba, Abyssinia has helped to fill the gap in Ethiopian cuisine in the city, offering great stewed vegetables, lamb and chicken dishes and flavorful cooked greens. Diners use a spongy sourdough flatbread to scoop up flavorful dishes and salads. Try the spiced tea with cardamom. ( visit review ) >>more
USA TODAY
Indianapolis -
Local tastes
By
Shari Rudavsky
 Abyssinia, 5352 W. 38th St., 317-299-0608; Ethiopian . "My favorite was yemisir wett , red lentils cooked in a tangy sauce that derives its heat from red peppers. Injera , bland on its own, proved the perfect foil for this dish, the spiciest on our plate. Tikel gemen , a mix of cabbage and potatoes in a buttery sauce, was also delicious, though a tad greasy. Even the novice, who confessed a dislike of cabbage, approved of the dish. Timatim fitfit , a saladlike mix of tomato, onion and pieces of the injera melded with jalapenos, also drew raves. I'm never a huge fan of this option, as the bread in the dish strikes me as redundant, but this preparation worked well. The waiter had asked us how spicy we wanted the food, and the chef hit it right on the mark. My carnivorous dinner companions told me that the one meat dish on the plate was their favorite. Yebeg alecha , a lamb dish cooked in an herb butter sauce, looked like stew to me, but both the veteran and novice consumer of Ethiopian food at the table assured me it bore little resemblance to the Western dish, arriving in a sauce that was spicy but not overpowering. Still, I didn't feel deprived at all. That just meant more vegetables for me." Entrees: $4.99-$10.95.(photo by Amber Sigman) >>more
The Indianapolis Star
Abyssinia's charm is bonding over food, taking your time
By Shari Rudavsky
The child in me still likes to break the table taboo of eating with your hands. But try dipping your thumb into mashed potatoes or snagging a broccoli stalk with two fingers when you're over the age of 5. It's not likely to charm your dinner companions.
 That's just part of the reason I'm always delighted with Ethiopian food, a rare cuisine that actually encourages you to eat with your hands, sopping up your meal with pieces of enjera, a type of spongy bread.
Add to that the fact that most Ethiopian restaurants have ample vegetarian (and vegan) options, and a nonmeat-eater like me is sold.
Because these factors immediately predispose me to like almost every Ethiopian restaurant I've ever tried, I invited a skeptical but game Ethiopian food novice along when I most recently visited Abyssinia, an eatery on the Westside.
The food
We started our meal by sampling two of three appetizers. Ayib bemitmita ($2), a farmer's cheese sprinkled with powdered hot pepper, did not bode well for the rest of the meal. Crumbly and mild even with the hot peppers, the cheese tasted like a drier, though somewhat fresher, version of cottage cheese. The hot pepper on top reminded me of failed cottage cheese diets, when you'll put anything on the stuff to get you to down it instead of more enticing, higher-calorie foods.
The other appetizer, yesiga sambusa ($2), a pastry stuffed with ground meat, fared only a little better. My two dining companions, who split it, were not wowed, though they did eat every morsel of meat. One described the meat filling of the dumpling as tasting like hamburger.
Then the main dishes -- spread across a platter of the enjera and accompanied by two types of the bread on the side -- arrived, and whatever doubts we had disappeared.
Meals here come family-style. Everyone dips into the same platter, using the enjera (sometimes spelled injera ) to ferry the food to your mouth. The menu encourages such communal eating, saying that in Ethiopian culture this dining style promotes bonds of friendship and loyalty.
Certainly it helped create our loyalty to Abyssinia. The food, each and every dish, was delightful, exploding with flavors, many of them unfamiliar.
My favorite was yemisir wett ($5.50), red lentils cooked in a tangy sauce that derives its heat from red peppers. Enjera, bland on its own, proved the perfect foil for this dish, the spiciest on our plate.
Tikel gemen ($5.50), a mix of cabbage and potatoes in a buttery sauce, was also delicious, though a tad greasy. Even the novice, who confessed a dislike of cabbage, approved of the dish.
Timatim fitfit, a saladlike mix of tomato, onion and pieces of the enjera melded with jalapenos, also drew raves. I'm never a huge fan of this option, as the bread in the dish strikes me as redundant, but this preparation worked well. The waiter had asked us how spicy we wanted the food, and the chef hit it right on the mark.
My carnivorous dinner companions told me that the one meat dish on the plate was their favorite. Yebeg alecha ($9.99), a lamb dish cooked in an herb butter sauce, looked like stew to me, but both the veteran and novice consumer of Ethiopian food at the table assured me it bore little resemblance to the Western dish, arriving in a sauce that was spicy but not overpowering.
Still, I didn't feel deprived at all. That just meant more vegetables for me.
The service
Casual and congenial defines the attitude here. As we dithered over what to order, our waiter hovered patiently. And he seemed genuinely sorry when he informed us that the restaurant did not have one of the appetizers and had only one serving of mango juice remaining. >>more
The Indianapolis Star
Saluting Hoosiers who labor for others
By Staff
Several of Indiana's fastest-growing occupations involve people helping other people. In honor of Labor Day, The Star is profiling Hoosiers who reflect that trend.
Abraha Belachew
Age: 40.
Occupation: Owner of Abyssinia Ethiopian Restaurant, 5352 W. 38th St., Indianapolis, for the past two years. The restaurant seats 70, features Ethiopian meat and vegetarian dishes, has walls decorated with Ethiopian art and includes a counter in the back with Ethiopian foods and clothes for sale.
Personal: Native of Ethiopia, where he helped run his family's restaurant. Immigrated to the United States as a political refugee in 1988.
Thoughts on his work: "Sometimes I sleep two, three hours (a night). I am happy about the restaurant. . . . If I would be rich, I would still be cooking. I like to cook." >>more
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