Taste Of Ethiopia Offers Fresh, Amazing African Staples

Taste of Ethiopia (Gothamist)

One of the precious few perks to living in the District of Columbia (sorry guys) is the wealth of amazing Ethiopian food. We've yet to find an area of New York as concentrated with Ethiopian joints as the U Street corridor and Adams Morgan are, so we were thrilled to bump into Hiyaw Gebryohannes, chef and founder of Taste of Ethiopia, at Foragers market this afternoon.

Gebryohannes cooks fresh, ready-to-eat ethiopian staples like kik (yellow split peas), misir (spicy lentils), gomen (collared greens) and injera at La Marquetta, a Harlem kitchen incubator. "Opening a restaurant was too much," he tells us, "But I wanted to make solid Ethiopian food. It's tough to find here." Gebryohannes' dishes are simple: 100% natural and vegan, and the injera is gluten-free. And all of it is eyes-rolling-in-the-back-of-your-head excellent. We briefly dreamed of repurposing a beer bong for the lentils.

You can pick up a Taste of Ethiopia at Westside Market, Westerly Market, the Brooklyn Fare market and Foragers. By next month, Gebryohannes plans on spreading to Fairway and Union Market. Put down the Tacquito: you can do a better dinner-for-one.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Christopher Robbins in Food on November 19, 2011 4:25 PM

Comments [rss]

Mouhamed Sylla

Bought some last week at westside maket OMG It's soooo good and fresh way better than some Ethiopians restaurant I have been to!!!!!

Alex Roussos

I was tempted to buy these at Brooklyn Fare, but $6 for 10 oz of lentils seems a little steep to me. That's almost $11/lb. Otherwise they looked pretty good.

Guest

What the hell are "collared greens"? Where is the proof reading?

Colonel_Ingus

Environmental lawyers

Guest

Good one!!!!!

heyhohey

They're extra fancy, dressed up.

Guest

Another precious perk for us here in DC is the unceasing entertainment value of New Yorkers anxious to tell us how much better their city is than ours. Thanks for being so reliable! ;-)

And yeah, our Ethiopian restaurants rock.

m015094

I've lived in both cities. New York is better in every regard.

Relaxasaurus

Who said it's better? Don't get on the defensive. The gist of the article is saying how we envy DC's Ethiopian choices.

schmeep

Maybe not concentrated, but really good Ethiopian everywhere in NYC. Massawa is one of the originals (by Columbia), but I can think of at least 5 more really great places right off the bat, so I'm not sure why this even exists- why would I purchase prepackaged fare like this?

Jen Chung

I love Massawa! But it's too far for an old lady with a toddler like me, and there are no Ethiopian takeout options near me, so I'm digging the fact that there's pre-packaged Ethiopian to tie me over until the kid's bedtime is not 7pm.

Relaxasaurus

Etete, Madget, and Meskerem were my top three spots in DC. Have yet to find a place in NYC that comes close, the lentils @ Etete are a thing of beauty. But DC has the highest population of Ethiopians outside of Ethiopia so can't say that it's surprising.

/trivia

ErstwhilePixie52

Meskerem in NYC is excellent!

Christopher_Robbins

Because I want to eat good Ethiopian food in my underwear, at home. That's why. And this "prepackaged" stuff is better than a lot I've had in restaurants...

swampyankeesmom

queen of sheba on10th & 46th is pretty good but nothing compares to moms home cooked.

fosiacat

i go there all the time. my fav. i've had in NYC by far.

schmeep

I'm sure that's true- my point is about prepacked- nowhere near either homemade or restaurant. A microwave can't reheat that experience.

Mouhamed Sylla

Just give a try before criticizing,I have been to so many Ethiopian restaurants in DC and new york and I was at first reluctant to try it and to my surprise it turned out to be better than some overpriced restaurants especially here in NY