Eating Ethopian in Chicago

How to find out about restaurants
You get the best leads for restaurants asking other travelers in the airport shuttle. This time the driver was a Hindu from India displaying Ganesh, a Hindu God that removes spiritual blocks, and Vishnu on his dashboard. It turns out he is also a cook and every morning cooks 300 samosas (a triangular stuffed small pastry filled with veggies or meat) for delivery to Indian restaurants. Then at 1PM he begins his taxi/ shuttle work.

One Other Passenger
The only other passenger, Cecelia, was an African American lady who works at Northwestern Universityi n Chi. She has a job I never even knew existed. She's the student behavior go-between for the criminal activities of students at NWestern. She deals with the parents, the legal system and the students for such crimes as arson, assault, rape, and all the normal ills of society. You have to think of this large Univ as a mini city with all the ills of a city. I was amazed.

Back to food!
She told me of a great Ethopian and the driver told me about a superb Indian restaurant, Mt Everest. The Hindu Driver heartily agreed that Addis Abeba (yes, that is how they spell it) was really good too. It turns out we pass the Addis Abeba and it's very close to my friend's house where I'll be staying. Leah and Russ have eaten there and it's really good they say. Now I'm really interested and we go there that evening.YUM YUM YUM!

The atmosphere is really kind of cool.. mud cloth fabrics are the tablecloths. How authentic is that! When I go to a new restaurant I want to try everything so I look for a combo type plate so I can get a taste of many things. Food is an adventure. Some people sky dive, I dive into food. So I ordered the 1 meat, 2 veggie combo.

Ordering Ethopian style
Now ordering is interesting. The waitress must take your order in your seating configuration. Why? Cuz when the food comes, it's all on one huge, round, pizza type pan. Everyone's order is on that pan, each person's order positioned right in front of them. Very clever! Oh one thing more. Thereare absolutely NO utensils of any kind used.

The Bread
They serve a kind of flatbread, crepe like, that is very spongy, called injera. You tear a piece ofit off and pinch some of the food on the big tray, and eat. Many culturesuse this method. Personally I love eating this way. And having it all as a big shared meal is very bonding for a group. I know in this day and age people freak out about germs. Well, then this style wouldn't be for you. But for the adventurers who are after the unusual, the flavorful and the fun, go there as soon as possible!

Main Courses
I had ordered a sort of shredded spiced lamb which was very tender and flavorful. The spices were sweet, like cardoman,and nutmeg, not hot, tho I could have gotten it very hot spicy. HOT spicy is not my style. One veggie dish was red lentils w/ cinnamon and cardoman.. that was divine. The other veggie was cabage and carrots... interesting, again, sweeter spices and all went together very well. This was very easy to eat and very easy to digest. My friends had split peas, one had spinach with similar sweet spices... I must say that was wonderful too. Each of us had a little lettuce salad with a simple dressing on it, right next to our food choices. I'd definitely go back for more.