Last night I went to a new restaurant. It was
a "pre-opening" event, a sort of shake-down cruise.
The meal was free. I got on the owner's mailing list
by chance because I had e-mailed him asking when the
restaurant was going to open.

The food was pretty good but they do need to make
a few adjustment. Nothing was very hot. I don't like
things (as least no main dishes) that are killer hot
(habanero-hot) but I do like a moderate amount of heat
(sort of a medium jalapeno-hot). So the dishes that
were supposed to be hot need to be cranked up a little.
The dishes that are meant to be mild were okay except
for the lentil stew which had no flavor at all.

The injera was excellent and made authentically with
real teff.

We had the house salad and a sample platter with a
beef stew, a chicken drumstick in a mild sauce,
a lentil stew, and a green bean, onion, and carrot
dish.

The space is really nice, it was recently fixed up for
the new restaurant. The decor was simple but very
nice. They had mostly regular tables and chair but
they had about four basket tables. Unfortunately they
had tiny stool to sit on when eating at the basket
tables, so I guess I'm not going to get to eat at one
of them. There is no way I could sit on one of those
low stools and ever expect to get up again, not to
mention the pain in my knees from sitting like that.
Too bad. There a place in Cleveland that has basket
tables but they have regular armchairs to sit in
around the table.

The official opening is next week and another of my
friends wants to go on opening night because it's the
only time she can go for the next month or so. It
will probably be a madhouse on opening night but we're
going to try. I hope the food will be tuned up by
then. We filled out comment cards so maybe they will
take some of our suggestions.

Kate
--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?

"Kate Connally" wrote in message
...
Last night I went to a new restaurant. It was
a "pre-opening" event, a sort of shake-down cruise.
The meal was free. I got on the owner's mailing list
by chance because I had e-mailed him asking when the
restaurant was going to open.

The food was pretty good but they do need to make
a few adjustment. Nothing was very hot. I don't like
things (as least no main dishes) that are killer hot
(habanero-hot) but I do like a moderate amount of heat
(sort of a medium jalapeno-hot). So the dishes that
were supposed to be hot need to be cranked up a little.
The dishes that are meant to be mild were okay except
for the lentil stew which had no flavor at all.

The injera was excellent and made authentically with
real teff.

We had the house salad and a sample platter with a
beef stew, a chicken drumstick in a mild sauce,
a lentil stew, and a green bean, onion, and carrot
dish.

The space is really nice, it was recently fixed up for
the new restaurant. The decor was simple but very
nice. They had mostly regular tables and chair but
they had about four basket tables. Unfortunately they
had tiny stool to sit on when eating at the basket
tables, so I guess I'm not going to get to eat at one
of them. There is no way I could sit on one of those
low stools and ever expect to get up again, not to
mention the pain in my knees from sitting like that.
Too bad. There a place in Cleveland that has basket
tables but they have regular armchairs to sit in
around the table.

The official opening is next week and another of my
friends wants to go on opening night because it's the
only time she can go for the next month or so. It
will probably be a madhouse on opening night but we're
going to try. I hope the food will be tuned up by
then. We filled out comment cards so maybe they will
take some of our suggestions.

Hi Kate,

Where is the new restaurant (I'm in Pittsburgh). And are there many
vegetarian items on the menu?

Thanks,
Jim

From: Kate Connally
Date: 6/3/2004 12:19 PM Mountain Standard Time
Message-id:

Last night I went to a new restaurant. It was
a "pre-opening" event, a sort of shake-down cruise.
The meal was free. I got on the owner's mailing list
by chance because I had e-mailed him asking when the
restaurant was going to open.

The food was pretty good but they do need to make
a few adjustment. Nothing was very hot. I don't like
things (as least no main dishes) that are killer hot
(habanero-hot) but I do like a moderate amount of heat
(sort of a medium jalapeno-hot). So the dishes that
were supposed to be hot need to be cranked up a little.
The dishes that are meant to be mild were okay except
for the lentil stew which had no flavor at all.

I like Ethiopian food a lot and we are blessed with quite a few Ethiopian
restaurants here. They do vary with the amount of heat. The best one is in
Boulder and their food isn't really too spicy. The owner likes to use seasonal
vegetables so the menu varies. The old standard, I think the first one that
opened here, has spicier offerings but a less-adventuresome menu.

I've learned to cook Ethiopian food because I like to serve it at home once in
awhile. There are the basics you have to do, the red spice mixture and then
the butter sauce. Maybe they cooked the lentils in the butter sauce and not
the berbere? I think most lentil dishes I've been served have the spicier red
spice mixture in them.

The injera was excellent and made authentically with
real teff.

I have some teff but haven't cooked with it yet.

We had the house salad and a sample platter with a
beef stew, a chicken drumstick in a mild sauce,
a lentil stew, and a green bean, onion, and carrot
dish.

I take it that the beef stew was reddish and the chicken was yellowish? Did
the chicken dish come with a hard-boiled egg? I think that is doro alichia?

The space is really nice, it was recently fixed up for
the new restaurant. The decor was simple but very
nice. They had mostly regular tables and chair but
they had about four basket tables. Unfortunately they
had tiny stool to sit on when eating at the basket
tables, so I guess I'm not going to get to eat at one
of them. There is no way I could sit on one of those
low stools and ever expect to get up again, not to
mention the pain in my knees from sitting like that.
Too bad. There a place in Cleveland that has basket
tables but they have regular armchairs to sit in
around the table.

The official opening is next week and another of my
friends wants to go on opening night because it's the
only time she can go for the next month or so. It
will probably be a madhouse on opening night but we're
going to try. I hope the food will be tuned up by
then. We filled out comment cards so maybe they will
take some of our suggestions.

Kate
--
Kate Connally

I hope you make it to the opening, and that they read you comment card and will
fine-tune their recipes.

ETHIOPIA
Spiced Butter(Niter Kebbeh)
2 lb. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 onion, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons minced garlic
4 teaspoons finely chopped fresh ginger
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 cinnamon stick (approximately 1" long)
1 whole clove
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In a large saucepan, melt the butter slowly over medium heat; do not let it
brown. Then bring butter to a boil. Stir in the onion, garlic, ginger,
turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg. Reduce the heat and simmer
uncovered and undisturbed for 45 minutes. Milk solids on the bottom of the pan
should be golden brown, and the butter on top will be transparent.Slowly pour
the clear liquid into a bowl, straining through cheesecloth. It is important
that no solids are left in the niter kebbeh.Transfer the kebbeh into a jar.
Cover tightly, and store in the
refrigerator.--------------------------------------------

“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.�
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.�
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?

Hi Kate, do you have the whereabouts and maybe the name of the restaraunt,
I'm just a hair north of Pittsburgh and would love to try it.....am always
on the lookout for new places to go when people come to visit....thanks.
LG

"C. James Strutz" wrote:

Hi Kate,

Where is the new restaurant (I'm in Pittsburgh). And are there many
vegetarian items on the menu?

Thanks,
Jim

Yes, lot's of vegetarian stuff. They are in E. Liberty
at 130 N. Highland Ave. Here's their web site

http://www.abayrestaurant.com/

Kate

--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?

Greykits wrote:

From: Kate Connally
Date: 6/3/2004 12:19 PM Mountain Standard Time
Message-id:

Last night I went to a new restaurant. It was
a "pre-opening" event, a sort of shake-down cruise.
The meal was free. I got on the owner's mailing list
by chance because I had e-mailed him asking when the
restaurant was going to open.

The food was pretty good but they do need to make
a few adjustment. Nothing was very hot. I don't like
things (as least no main dishes) that are killer hot
(habanero-hot) but I do like a moderate amount of heat
(sort of a medium jalapeno-hot). So the dishes that
were supposed to be hot need to be cranked up a little.
The dishes that are meant to be mild were okay except
for the lentil stew which had no flavor at all.

I like Ethiopian food a lot and we are blessed with quite a few Ethiopian
restaurants here. They do vary with the amount of heat. The best one is in
Boulder and their food isn't really too spicy. The owner likes to use seasonal
vegetables so the menu varies. The old standard, I think the first one that
opened here, has spicier offerings but a less-adventuresome menu.

I've learned to cook Ethiopian food because I like to serve it at home once in
awhile. There are the basics you have to do, the red spice mixture

Berbere. I just made some recently but I only needed 1 tsp.
for my Ethiopian spice bread so I gave the rest to a friend
who likes really hot stuff. I figured I wouldn't use it up
before it went bad.

and then the butter sauce.

Niter Kebbeh. Just made some of that, too. Needed it
for the spice bread. You put quite a bit of it in the
dough and then after the bread is baked you mixed the tsp.
of berbere into some of the niter kebbeh and brush it all
over the outside of the loaf. Yum!

Maybe they cooked the lentils in the butter sauce and not
the berbere?

Probably, but niter kebbeh has a lot of flavor. There
are onions and garlic and lots of spices cooked in the
butter. But even so, you can't use too much of it or
the food would be too greasy, so there need to be more
seasonings added. It doesn't have to spicy hot but it
just needs flavor. It pretty much tasted like unflavored
lentils. Lentils don't have much flavor of their own so
you need to add *something* to make them edible.

Oops! Just looked at their menu and I think we had
Kik Alitcha (yellow split peas simmered in a mild and
flavorful onion and herb sauce), not lentils. I *thought*
they looked a little too yellow for lentils - I guess I
thought maybe they had used red lentils which seem to
turn a little yellow when cooked. Anyway the same thing
applies to yellow split peas as far as taste goes.

I think most lentil dishes I've been served have the spicier red
spice mixture in them.

There are many different lentil dishes. They eat a lot
of lentils and yellow dried peas.

The injera was excellent and made authentically with
real teff.

I have some teff but haven't cooked with it yet.

Back when I started making Ethiopian food there wasn't
any place to get it in the U. S. Now that it's available
here I'll have to get some and make my own injera and see
how it turns out.

We had the house salad and a sample platter with a
beef stew, a chicken drumstick in a mild sauce,
a lentil stew, and a green bean, onion, and carrot
dish.

I take it that the beef stew was reddish

Yes, the beef (Kay Wat, lean chopped beef simmered in
kibae, berbere, onions and a combination of seasonings)
was cooked with berbere and and niter kebbeh and should
have been fairly hot. Unfortunately it had no heat at all.

and the chicken was yellowish?

Actually, the chicken (Doro Alitcha, chicken drumstick
simmered in a mild and flavorful onion and herb sauce)
was in a green sauce.

Did
the chicken dish come with a hard-boiled egg?

No.

I think that is doro alichia?

Yes, it was Doro Alitcha. I've seen Doro Wat come
with a hard-boiled egg.

The fourth entree we had was Fosolia (lightly spiced string
beans sautéed with carrots, onions and potatoes). However
there were no potatoes in ours - just beans, onion, and
carrot - despite the menu description. The flavor was
good though.

Kate

--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?

Do they serve authentic food? The sort of thing one would eat in
Ethiopia?

Lawrence Gilburtson wrote:

Hi Kate, do you have the whereabouts and maybe the name of the restaraunt,
I'm just a hair north of Pittsburgh and would love to try it.....am always
on the lookout for new places to go when people come to visit....thanks.
LG

"C. James Strutz" wrote:

"Kate Connally" wrote in message
...
Last night I went to a new restaurant. It was
a "pre-opening" event, a sort of shake-down cruise.
The meal was free. I got on the owner's mailing list
by chance because I had e-mailed him asking when the
restaurant was going to open.

The food was pretty good but they do need to make
a few adjustment. Nothing was very hot. I don't like
things (as least no main dishes) that are killer hot
(habanero-hot) but I do like a moderate amount of heat
(sort of a medium jalapeno-hot). So the dishes that
were supposed to be hot need to be cranked up a little.
The dishes that are meant to be mild were okay except
for the lentil stew which had no flavor at all.

The injera was excellent and made authentically with
real teff.

We had the house salad and a sample platter with a
beef stew, a chicken drumstick in a mild sauce,
a lentil stew, and a green bean, onion, and carrot
dish.

The space is really nice, it was recently fixed up for
the new restaurant. The decor was simple but very
nice. They had mostly regular tables and chair but
they had about four basket tables. Unfortunately they
had tiny stool to sit on when eating at the basket
tables, so I guess I'm not going to get to eat at one
of them. There is no way I could sit on one of those
low stools and ever expect to get up again, not to
mention the pain in my knees from sitting like that.
Too bad. There a place in Cleveland that has basket
tables but they have regular armchairs to sit in
around the table.

The official opening is next week and another of my
friends wants to go on opening night because it's the
only time she can go for the next month or so. It
will probably be a madhouse on opening night but we're
going to try. I hope the food will be tuned up by
then. We filled out comment cards so maybe they will
take some of our suggestions.

Hi Kate,

Where is the new restaurant (I'm in Pittsburgh). And are there many
vegetarian items on the menu?

Thanks,
Jim

130 N. Highland Ave., E. Liberty.
Here is their web site

http://www.abayrestaurant.com/

Kate
--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?

Perhaps I have Pittsburgh confused with Milwaukee, but an Ethiopian
restaurant there just sounds like a culture clash of epic proportion.

Best regards,
Bob

ittens (Greykits) wrote in message ...


I like Ethiopian food a lot and we are blessed with quite a few Ethiopian
restaurants here. They do vary with the amount of heat. The best one is in
Boulder and their food isn't really too spicy. The owner likes to use seasonal
vegetables so the menu varies. The old standard, I think the first one that
opened here, has spicier offerings but a less-adventuresome menu.

I've learned to cook Ethiopian food because I like to serve it at home once in
awhile. There are the basics you have to do, the red spice mixture and then
the butter sauce. Maybe they cooked the lentils in the butter sauce and not
the berbere? I think most lentil dishes I've been served have the spicier red
spice mixture in them.

The injera was excellent and made authentically with
real teff.

I have some teff but haven't cooked with it yet.

We had the house salad and a sample platter with a
beef stew, a chicken drumstick in a mild sauce,
a lentil stew, and a green bean, onion, and carrot
dish.

I take it that the beef stew was reddish and the chicken was yellowish? Did
the chicken dish come with a hard-boiled egg? I think that is doro alichia?



I ate at an Ethiopian restaurant once while visiting Washington DC
earlier this year. I don't remember anything really spicy. I remember
the sponge-y bread which took some getting used to, and lots of
delicious dipping dishes of vegetables and extra skewers of meat at
extra prices. My sister woke up in the middle of the night very hungry
later. The food didn't really stick to your ribs for very long.
Everything was tasty. I recall we were the only non-Ethiopians in the
restaurant... it was a very attractive crowd (good-looking people).
And, they made strong drinks.

Karen

I ate at an Ethiopian restaurant once while visiting Washington DC
earlier this year.

With Axum and now The Red Sea gone, Ethiopian is thinning out here in DC.
There are a few new upstarts, but the golden age was right after the mass
immigration in the late '70s, when (I guess) the new arrivals put their money
in restaurants.

Neil

Kate Connally wrote:

"C. James Strutz" wrote:

Hi Kate,

Where is the new restaurant (I'm in Pittsburgh). And are there many
vegetarian items on the menu?

Thanks,
Jim

Yes, lot's of vegetarian stuff. They are in E. Liberty
at 130 N. Highland Ave. Here's their web site

http://www.abayrestaurant.com/

Kate

--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?



Oops! That's South Highland Ave. - not North. Hope
no one ends up at the North pole looking for it.
Kate
--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?

Dolkian wrote:

Do they serve authentic food? The sort of thing one would eat in
Ethiopia?

Well, it seems authentic to me, but then I've
never been to Ethiopia, but have eaten at other
Ethiopian restaurants in the U. S. and read
lots about Ethiopian food.

Kate

Lawrence Gilburtson wrote:

Hi Kate, do you have the whereabouts and maybe the name of the restaraunt,
I'm just a hair north of Pittsburgh and would love to try it.....am always
on the lookout for new places to go when people come to visit....thanks.
LG




--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?

zxcvbob wrote:

Perhaps I have Pittsburgh confused with Milwaukee, but an Ethiopian
restaurant there just sounds like a culture clash of epic proportion.

Why?

Kate

--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?

BubbaBob wrote:

zxcvbob wrote:

Perhaps I have Pittsburgh confused with Milwaukee, but an
Ethiopian restaurant there just sounds like a culture clash of
epic proportion.

Best regards,
Bob


Pennsylvania itself is a cultural clash of epic proportion.

Huh? That makes no sense?

My Ethiopian SIL lives in Enola, her nephew in Harrisburg.
Unfortunately, you have to drive from there to DC for a good
Ethiopian restaurant.

Well, duh! Ethiopian cuisine is still relatively
rare in the States. If you're not in a large
metropolitan area like New York, DC, or L. A. you're
not that likely to find a market for it. It's gradually
becoming better known and spreading to new areas.
You make it sound like it's some sort of disgrace that
they can't find Ethiopian food in Harrisburg or
Enola. Why should there be any? It would make sense
to say that if there were actually a huge Ethiopian
expatriate community there and still not one Ethiopian
restaurant, but that is not the case.

Kate
--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?