Week 6: Ethiopian - Rosalind's

This week, the sisterhood ventured out to Little Ethiopia for a little hands-on experience of East African cuisine at Rosalind's Ethiopian Restaurant. This find was tucked neatly among several other Ethiopian restaurants and convenience stores on "Ethiopian Row" near La Cienega and Fairfax. The decor of straw huts and African art provided for a warm ambience. The restaurant was neatly partitioned into two sitting areas that included a small performance floor for live musicians to perform on Friday and Saturday nights.

Our evening began over a tasty combination plate of appetizers and authentic Ethiopian beer. The Gold Label Bedele Special Beer was pale and hoppy with a bitter and sharp after-taste. Appetizers included Kelewele (sweet fried plantains), lamb and fish cakes (ground lamb and fish rolled into balls with onions, eggs, cinnamon, ginger, coriander, garlic), yam ball (mashed yams seasoned with nutmeg and fried), O Jo Jo (beef and vegetable meat balls made with ground beef, sweet potato, irish potato, green bell peppers, garlic), Akara (finely ground black eye peas seasoned with African spices and herbs and fried) and grilled shrimp, all served with a healthy helping of Pilli Pilli Sauce (traditional West African pepper sauce of onions mixed with pilli pilli). Appetizers were followed by a simple but refreshing salad of crisp iceberg lettuce and ripe tomatoes dressed with lemon juice vinaigrette.

For our main course, we had troubling narrowing down our choices so we settled on two more Combination dishes. The Vegetarian Combination included Collard Greens, Stewed Lentils and Vegetable Alicha. The Meat Combination included Yedoro Wot (chicken in spicy red pepper sauce), Yebeg Siga Alicha (mild lamb stew with garlic and other spices) and Awaze Tibs (beef cooked with spicy red pepper paste). The waitress set a large platter in the middle of the table and proceeded to pour all our different dishes onto it, creating a beautiful mosaic of red, green and yellow (which are in fact the colors of the Ethiopian flag!).

A large plate of cold injera pancakes was brought out for us to use in place of utensils to grasp food from the platter. These were thin, spongy, slightly chewy pancakes with a sourdough taste that filled our bellies quite quickly. After only her second pancake, Ms. L. "Where's My Burrito?" W. exclaimed that her first of four stomachs was already full (she claims to be bovine and have four of them). Nearly all the dishes were akin to Indian curries but with onions and peppers and a slightly more tart taste. The favourites of the evening were the chicken, lamb, and lentil dishes.

Everyone enjoyed the interactive experience of eating the food with our hands. We were laughing and giggling each time we dug into the community platter with our injera and reached for a bite. This way of eating engaged all our senses (touch, smell, sight, taste) and it felt so natural and right. You can certainly say that we were "in touch" with our food.

1044 South Fairfax
Los Angeles, CA 90019
Tel: 323-936-2486
http://www.rosalindsrestaurant.com

Vegetarian friendly? Yes.
Parking: Street parking.
Entree pricing: $8-14 before 10% off coupon

THE SISTERHOOD HAS DELIBERATED: 7 ROSES OUT OF 10.