Grand Rapids' Ethiopian Food
Prior to moving to Grand Rapids, my experience of Ethiopian food was non-existent. Up until five years ago, the same could be said of virtually all Grand Rapids residents (in fact, now that I think of it, that's probably still true). Nonetheless, relatively speaking there's been an explosion of Ethiopian cuisine in Grand Rapids.
"Explosion" may be an overstatement in that Grand Rapids has gone from having zero Ethiopian restaurants to having two.
For those of you who have never had Ethiopian food, I'll mention a couple basic facts about the cuisine. First of all, you eat with your hands. There are no utensils. You rip off pieces of injera (a flatbread similar to a pancake), grab the food with it, and place it in your mouth.
The food ranges from vegetarian (beans, cabbage, squash) to meat (lamb, beef, chicken). More often than not, it turns out to be stew-like and can be quite spicy.
There are only two Ethiopian restaurants at present, but I'll list all three that have ever existed in Grand Rapids:
Gojo Ethiopian: Located on Monroe mall, Gojo served a mix of meat and vegetarian entrees. Unfortunately, the owner of the building in which Gojo was located wanted to redocorate and told them to find a new place when their lease expired. They decided to close instead.
Little Africa: Located at Diamond and Fulton, Little Africa serves vegetarian food only. This is not because the owner is vegetarian. Loul Negesh (the owner) just isn't convinced that it would bring in enough business to justify the expense. Little Africa's the first place I ever ate Ethiopian food. I never missed the meat.
Ibex Ethiopian: Located in the strip mall on Kalamazoo near 44th street, Ibex serves both meat and vegetarian entrees. Kristen and I got take-out from there last night. It's good. I may say more when I've had a chance to experience more of their menu.
One great thing about Ethiopian restaurants in general is that they're pretty cheap places to eat. Entrees range from 5-10 dollars and you'll definitely get full on even the cheapest meal.
Comments
We ate at Little Africa this week. We'd picked up food there to eat at home before, but this was the first time we'd eaten in the restaurant.
I'm not a big fan of Injera. I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but I suspect I'd be happier if I could eat with pita bread instead. But the rest of the food is great, and their variety platters work very well for groups.
Posted by: James Stewart | February 5, 2005 9:52 AM
We're very lucky to have a lot of Ethiopian places here in Portland. There's one in our neighborhood, two more very close by, and three others within a ten minute drive, and that's just on this side of the river. I'd suspect the NW part of town has one or two as well,
The thing I always look at is the zilzil wat. Some of the local places pull their punches and it's not so spicy. The restaurant that does it best and is the closest is also the one with the weirdest hours, and it only takes cash.
Still... a bounty of Ethiopian food here in the PacNW.
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February 5, 2005 1:28 PM
James:
Injera is pretty wierd for a bread--lemony (acidic?) taste plus squishy texture. I like it a lot myself, but I've heard other people say they didn't like it too (for example: a chef at a cooking class I took).
Michael:
I haven't had zilzil wat (knowingly... I tend to get combination platters), but it sounds good. I'm guessing that most of the places around here lower the level of spice as Grand Rapids tends toward the bland in flavoring food.
I've often been curious about kitfo. In Ethiopia its raw ground beef mixed with spices and pepper. Gojo used to serve it, but I never had the nerve to try it.
Posted by: Jim Zoetewey | February 5, 2005 2:27 PM
We've loved Ethiopian food for some time now. Nate and Suanna introduced us to it on a trip to DC about 8 years ago. I missed out on Gojo, but when Little Africa opened, I was there almost immediately.
Haven't been there in awhile, but I suspect I will soon, since I've been craving Doro Wat for a few weeks now.
Haven't tried zilzil wat (to my knowledge), but I'm going to go find a description now.
I love injera.
Posted by: jonathan | February 8, 2005 1:34 PM
If you haven't been to Little Africa in Grand Rapids (Diamond & Fulton), now is time to check it out. It's my favorite spot in town for food along with San Chez, Gaia and perhaps Little Mexico, and I'm sure that Lou could use the business at Little Africa because he survives purely on word of mouth to the best of my knowledge. I found this site as I was looking for info about the new Ethiopian restaurant in town, Ibex. Sounds like I need to check it out. Take care, all.
Posted by: Todd | February 25, 2006 3:13 PM
I've been to Little Africa. It is great. Alas, from what I can tell, Ibex has closed between my initial entry and the current date.
Posted by: Jim Zoetewey | February 25, 2006 3:48 PM