THE PORTLAND MERCURY
Taste bud tour needs no passport
Ethiopian cuisine goes big on spices, spongy bread and hearty legumes-by Brooke Denisco
''
Much like the Holy Grail, the best Ethiopian restaurants can be hard to find. But drink from these cups of life and find yourself renewed.
Two things you should remember about Abol Café: they have a six-dollar veggie combination lunch, and they're open until 10 pm. The lunch, while previously served as a buffet, now comes on one big plate with servings of beans, lentils, steamed carrots and potatoes, red cabbage, and Abol's insanely delicious creamy garlic sauce. Bad breath, great sauce..." >>more
THE PORTLAND TRIBUNE
Taste bud tour needs no passport
Ethiopian cuisine goes big on spices, spongy bread and hearty legumes-by Brooke Denisco
'' Africa has as many cuisines as it does languages, but immigration patterns, accessibility to ingredients and the fancies of the American palate have made Ethiopian food synonymous with African food in the Northwest.
Most of Portland's Ethiopian restaurants have more similarities than differences: extremely friendly staff, optional use of silverware and the round, spongy bread that acts as both plate and side dish. Ethiopian bread has several different names -- biddeena, injera and enjera -- but they all mean about the same thing. The common denominator is the shape and size (somewhere between a pancake and a tortilla) and the main ingredient, teff, a grain prized for its nutritional content grown in various regions of Ethiopia and Eritrea...
If you want to impress a daring eater, try Abol's, where one of Ethiopia's greatest delicacies, steak tartare is served. Richly seasoned with spiced butter and garlic, the ground beef patties are garnished with cottage cheese. A piping hot, flaky whitefish wot (stew) stands up to a sauce seasoned with green pepper, garlic, onion and rosemary.
If you're sharing meals, the vegetarian combination with lentils, greens and fresh salad perfectly complements the fish wot. Our waiter-owner-cook kept asking us if we wanted a little more of anything. I got the feeling he would let us stay in his tiny storefront restaurant all day, eating and eating, only charging us the $8 or $9 per person for the original menu items we ordered. He might have even settled for a hug. ..." >>more
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