Ras Dashen

Before seeing a play wayyy no the north side (to me anyways!), I went to dinner with Allyn at Ras Dashen. We had decided to get off the Red Line at Berwyn and walk up Broadway, window shopping along the way to decide on our dining spot. Ras Dashen caught our eye, so we headed inside.

Seating at Ras Dashen is either typical Western seating - a table & chairs - or traditional Ethiopian seating - low seats, with a small rattan table the size of the serving trays. We sat at a Western-style table, but I'd like to try the other seating next time.

The menu is very extensive, and we spent a good bit of time reading it over - everything sounded wonderful. We decided on a combo, ordering Doro Wat (chicken and egg in spicy sauce), Yebeg Alicha (lamb tips in alicha suace), Misser Wat (lentils in suace), Diffen MIsser Wat (whole lentils), and Misserana Bowmia (lentils and okra in alicha sauce).

Our food came on a tray lined with Injera (bread) - the waitress tipped each dish onto the injera. We also had a basket of injera to scoop the food up with. Everything was fantastic - flavorful, perfectly seasoned. Both Allyn and I noted that the dishes seemed spicier than at the Ethiopian restaurants by Belmont, and wondered whether Ras Dashen's seasonings were more true to the original. In any case, this was the best Ethiopian food either of us had eaten, and we did our very best to eat everything on our tray.

We finished with a cup of Ethiopian espresso, which seemed like a good idea at the time, as we were off to see the play. It certainly was delicious. It must have had some serious caffeine, though, as we both had trouble getting to sleep that night!