I have sometimes argued that there is no such thing as a bad Ethiopian restaurant. Maybe they exist in the wilds of America outside the DC area, but it’s certainly hard to find one in Silver Spring, Petworth, Shaw, Falls Church, or Alexandria. Something about berbere-spiced meats and lentils arrayed on springy injera makes it difficult to go wrong. This doesn’t mean some aren’t better than others. Here are a handful of exceptional places that stand out even in the DMV’s stellar Ethiopian food scene.
Beteseb
8201 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring
This Silver Spring corner spot has become one of the city’s most recommended for a reason. Everything is done with aplomb here. Crispy beef tibs arrives at your table crackling and sputtering like a pan of fajitas. Bozena shiro, a silky chickpea stew, arrives bubbling in its cauldron. At dinner, the crowd is diverse and buzzing; at breakfast, it’s a laid-back mainly Ethiopian crew of diners filling up on fava bean ful and chechebsa (hunks of bread mixed with spices and ghee). This is essential Ethiopian dining.
Buna Coffeehouse
4400 Georgia Ave., NW
Is this the most distinctly DC cafe in town? Where else but this laidback Petworth corner spot could you get a lox bagel, tibs, waffles, or an Ethiopian breakfast platter of kinché (cracked wheat porridge), firfir (torn injera in a berbere-laced sauce), and habesha eggs for breakfast? You can linger here over coffee and try a bit of everything— maybe an order of electric mitmita-spiced kitfo for lunch, then coffee and a muffin later on. Strange pairing? Sure, but I saw someone order it on a recent visit.
Chercher
1334 Ninth St., NW; 3608 14th St., NW; 4921 Bethesda Ave., Bethesda
Alemayehu Abebe opened Chercher—a ten-seat subterranean space several blocks beyond the borders of DC’s Little Ethiopia—in 2012. It has thrived since then, expanding more recently to two new locations on upper 14th Street and in Bethesda. Abebe’s vegetarian deluxe platter features ten dishes, including the usual spicy lentil and dark greens, but also unusual finds such as suf fitfit (sunflower-juice-soaked injera). Meats are a draw too, especially the rich bone-in lamb stew (yebeg wat), with ginger-and-cardamom-laced sauce that demands mopping with extra injera.
Doro Soul Food
2108 Eighth St., NW
Buttermilk-marinated fried chicken with berbere seasoning, biscuits drenched in qibe butter, mac and cheese seasoned like doro wat, ayib ricotta pie spiced with korerima: chef Elias Tadesse’s experiments with Ethiopian flavor and soul food recipes are inspired and addictive. Try them out before a show at the 9:30 Club next door.
Dukem
1114-1118 U St., NW
Some longtime Washingtonians may have had their first encounter with Ethiopian food at this 29-year-old U Street institution with wood panelling and moody lighting. It may have been eclipsed by newcomers as Little Ethiopia grew a few blocks away, but Dukem still serves a worthy combo centered on crispy tibs or minchet abesh, a gingery braise of ground beef that bears some resemblance to the stuff they serve at Ben’s Chili Bowl across the street.
Eatopia
1301 U St., NW
To see the new guard on U Street, head two blocks west of Dukem to this dark, elegant dining room run by Addis-born former DJ Surafel Gizachew and his wife Eden Yime, who is the chef. They serve generous communal platters of veggie and meat dishes, but also unusual items like kitfo made with ahi tuna; anebabero (triangles of layered injera slathered with sauce); and a trio of Ethiopian white cheeses. Cocktails are original too: try a gura becha, which blends single malt with tej (Ethiopian honey wine).
Effoi
8233 Fenton St., Silver Spring
A big hangout for Ethiopian Tigrayans, this Silver Spring eatery serves several dishes you won’t find elsewhere in town. In fact, hlbet (whipped fava beans and fenugreek topped with a spicy sauce), bula genfo (porridge made from the false banana plant), and tihlo (barley dough balls speared with skewers and dipped in minced-meat sauce) aren’t often served anywhere else outside of northern Ethiopia. Classics like beef tibs and the veggie combo are unimpeachable here as well.
Elfegne
2420 18th St., NW
Along with Tsehay across the street, this comfortable restaurant is a terrific representative of Ethiopian food right in Adams Morgan. Its name refers to the dining halls in ancient Ethiopia where kings and queens ate. The chefs are generalists here, so dabble away: the Mehaberawi platter includes four veggies and four hearty meat stews—spicy kaye wot, buttery alicha wot, and both spicy and mild variations on what could be the city’s best doro wot (chicken stew). A traditional coffee ceremony is available, too.
Enat
4709 N. Chambliss St., Alexandria
Mellifluous Ethiopian pop blares from a TV in this gold-toned strip mall space, where the cooks are known for their fine take on kitfo, the finely minced beef tartare to be scooped up with with injera and topped with ayeb cheese. It’s not all meat here though. The menu has an extensive vegan section, and one of our favorite dishes is timatim fitfit, a zippy salad of chopped injera, sweet tomatoes, peppers, garlic, and olive oil. The vegetarian combo here is top-notch: a rainbow of stewed legumes that each taste distinct and sophisticated.
Ethiopic
401 H St., NE
This stalwart has occupied the same bright H Street space, decorated with patterned letters of the Amharic alphabet, since 2010. Owners Samuel Ergete and Meseret Bekele make great tibs and timatim salad, but I’ve always particularly appreciated their choice to include shimbra asa wot, a stew of spicy chickpea flour dumplings, in the house veggie combo.
Habesha Market
1919 Ninth St., NW
What is possibly DC’s most spartan Ethiopian restaurant is also one of its best. Habesha Market is open til 11 to serve U Street revelers, and you won’t find doting service or elaborate coffee ceremonies here. What you will find is the Taste of Habesha platter, featuring spicy lentils, yellow split peas, collards with beef, chickpea flour shiro, salad, cabbage, and two rich stews—doro wot and menchet abesh—all on one crowded injera. Dinner for at least three for $35.
Heat Da Spot and Ice n Slice
3213 Georgia Ave., NW (Heat Da Spot); 3937 Georgia Ave., NW (Ice n Slice)
Twin sisters Semret and Timnit Goitom and their brother Ben Solomon invented a new type of only-in-DC Ethiopian restaurant, and opened two on Georgia Avenue. The first, Heat Da Spot, is a kind of zany deli or diner. If you get one thing here, make it what the menu calls “Ethiopian Style X,” an aggressively seasoned scramble with eggs, peppers, and tomatoes, ringed by a folded injera and topped with one sambusa. At Ice ‘n’ Slice a little further up the road, the speciality is pizza: think doro wat pizza and the Addis Ababa pie, topped with all the cabbage, lentils, chickpeas, and spinach you’d get on a typical Ethiopian veggie combo.
Keren
1780 Florida Ave., NW
This 40-year-old Adams Morgan Eritrean spot was down for the count for two years after a kitchen fire before a triumphant remodel and return this year. All-day breakfast is still a major draw here, centered on ful (slow-cooked fava bean mash topped with bright tomatoes, jalapeños, and yogurt), flaxseed silsi (tomato sauce infused with the fiber-rich superfood), and kicha (torn flatbread fried in clarified butter).
Letena
3100 14th St., NW
Yamrot Ezineh may stop by your table at her warm, stylish Columbia Heights restaurant to help guide you through its mighty shareable platters. She’ll point you to tender beef lega tibs, extraordinary berbere-spiced kay siga wat, and my favorite, the garlicky braised lamb yebeg wat. Sweet-and-savory carrot wat and mushroom tibs are among Letena’s slightly less typical veggie offerings, and the lentil sambusas are essential. You can buy a package frozen to take home.
Makeda
516-A S. Van Dorn St., Alexandria
Most evenings, this sleek strip-mall eatery hosts live jazz and traditional Ethiopian music, providing a lovely soundtrack for the wonderful east African cooking coming out of the kitchen. Each colorful lentil variety, each beefy entrée, each stewed vegetable gets its own distinctive preparation. Plus, you’ve got your choice between deep-brown imported injera made from 100 percent teff flour and the supple locally prepared stuff with wheat mixed in.
Nazret
3821 S. George Mason Dr., Falls Church
At the heart of Build America Plaza, the destination-worthy Ethiopian strip mall, lies Nazret, a destination in itself. Owner Endalkachew Mekonnen ran a cooking school in Addis Ababa for years. He makes everything from scratch here, taking measures like pickling the lemons he uses to dress his house green salad. Mekonnen’s speciality, though, is huge hunks of beef: goden tibs (fried short ribs with rosemary and tomatoes); shint tibs (ribeye seasoned with Ethiopian spices); and tire siga (big slabs of raw beef to be dipped in seasonings—a tartare for the bold).
Negus Winery
5509 Vine St., Alexandria
If your association with mead is medieval England, you should know about tej, the traditional Ethiopian honey wine on the table at all celebrations. Alexandria-based producer Gize Negussie provides tej to restaurants like Elfegne and Chercher, but he also runs this off-the-beaten-path tasting room. There’s a syrupy sweet variety and a dry, beer-like option. Pair them with an Ethiopian-inflected charcuterie board of salami, cheese, olives, injera crisps, and sambusas.
Shagga
6040 Baltimore Ave., Hyattsville
This longtime Hyattsville restaurant, occupying a light-filled standalone building that was once a donut shop, is all about traditional dishes. Opt for smooth, creamy shiro, cooling azifa lentil salad, and lamb stews (spicy or mild). Chicken or lentil sambusas are great here too. Plus, Shagga does double duty as a coffee shop with wi-fi, so you can stay a while.
Tsehay
2429 18th St., NW
Recognition in the Michelin Guide has never been essential for a great DC Ethiopian place, but it was a welcome honor for this relatively polished, vibey Adams Morgan restaurant. The $50 Ye Belay (“superior”) combo lets your table test out beef tibs, lamb tibs, kitfo, red lamb stew, yellow beef stew, and housemade ayeb cheese.
Ike Allen covers politics, food, culture, and transportation in DC and writes the monthly Hidden Eats column for the magazine. He grew up in DC.
