New Eritrea Restaurant & Bar
907 Irving Street (between 10th & 11th ave)
San Francisco, CA (Inner Sunset)
Yelp Review
Menu (courtesy of MenuPages.com)
E was a welcoming letter choice. Unlike D, which was a tough one for us, E for Ethiopian came as a recommendation from one of our regular A to Z patrons during our C for Cambodia dinner. Having never really tried Ethiopian food myself, the choice was a no-brainer. With Ethiopian food as our choice, we embarked on to a region that's more than 4,000 miles from our D for Dosa adventure in India.
Regional MapI've always equated Ethiopia with the pseudo funny South Park episode highlighting an Ethiopian child called "Starvin Marvin" and mocking Sally Struthers for her famous Christian Children's Fund Feed the Children role (80s YouTube Feed the Child Video here). As far as the food was concerned, I had no idea what to expect, but was definitely pleasantly surprised by the results. Ethiopian food is spicy but not burn your tongue spicy and a lot of the food, for lack of a better word, was mushy (i.e. nothing in our meal was really crunchy and this is predominantly due to Ethiopian's long stewing techniques). For the adventurous, Ethiopian food does have some unexpected dishes out of "left field" like their version of beef tartare (the Kitfo raw ground beef dish). All in all, Ethiopian food was surprisingly good and addictive - by the end of the meal you are disgustingly full.
Ethiopian FlagEthiopia is a landlocked country that sits at the Horn of Africa in the northeast region of the continent, a stones throw away from Saudi Arabia. The country is located in a precarious position adjacent to hostile African countries and downright frightening heavily armed seperatist factions that have been responsible for hundreds of thousands of genocidal killings over the last decade. Originally called Abysinnia, Ethiopia is Africa's oldest state and home to some of the earliest ancestral fossils, fossils that date back 5 million years. Believe it or not Ethiopia is the second most populous nation in Africa. Despite its size, Ethiopia remains one of the poorest countries on Earth and is notorious for famines and droughts, most notably the devastating famine of the mid 80s, where more than 1 million people died. The famine in the 80s generated international media attention that led to the Sally Struthers commercials and phone-a-thons noted earlier. Ethiopia unfortunately has never fully recovered from the crisis and is in the midst of another famine (currently, anywhere from 10-15% of the population is in need of aid). Rising food prices, the global economic crisis, and a terrible crop season in both 2007 & 2008 have all been factors that have led to the nasty situation in Ethiopia (a few articles on the crisis: USA Today, CS Monitor, and YouTube News Video).
Ethiopian cuisine is unique. It is the epitomy of family style cuisine where utensils are absent from meals and all entrees are placed onto one massive plate (I was bummed we weren't eating on the floor, but maybe at M for Morroco we'll have better luck). At the restaurant we ended up ordering more than 8 different dishes and each one ended up on a large pizza-pan-like platter with all of the food sitting atop Ethiopia's own "wonderbread", the injera. The injera (which is also served on the side like Nan at Indian restaurants) is Ethiopia's utensil (well not officially). You essentially use it to scoop your way through the mushy entrees. Injera bread is extremely filling with a subtle sour taste and the look and texture of a sponge. Injera is essentially a pancake-like sourdough bread made out of fermented teff flour. Teff is a species of lovegrass native to Ethiopia and is an important food grain in the country. The teff seeds are tiny (smaller than Quinoa seeds). You would think that something native to a country that's more than 8,900 miles from San Francisco would be expensive, but thanks to the great state of Idaho, the USA now raises its own seeds meaning costs have been kept down and teff is relatively inexpensive. Although the process of making injera bread can be challenging, here's a blog (courtesy of the Mestawot website) that includes an injera recipe for us all to try.
Prior to ordering the main dishes, we had some Sambusas (or Sambusac) to hold us over (I think we actually had these at the A for Afghan outing). Sambusas are essentially a variation of Samosas or Empanadas and are popular in Southwest Asia, the Horn of Africa, and North Africa. The vegeterian Sambusas we had were filled with lentils and were very tasty.
New Eritrea Restaurant Platter
A main component of Ethiopian meals are stews, referred to in Ethiopia and the region as "Wats". Wats usually begin with chopped red onions cooked until softened, then mixed with spices, vegetables, legumes, and/or meats, such as fish, chicken, goat, lamb, and beef (pork is not served at Ethiopian restaurants due to the Muslim and Ordodox Jewish makeup of the population). Stew options were aplenty at New Eritrea. For simplicity sake, the group defaulted to the veggie combo platter, which included three to four different stews: lentil beans (Tumtumo), okra, collared greens, and a potato and bell pepper stew. In addition to the veggie platter, we ordered some meat dishes: lamb dish in curry sauce, carrots, and potatoes (Allicha Bagee), a chicken dish (believe it was the Kilwa Borho), and the infamous Kitfo. For the Kitfo, we were asked if we wanted it raw (seriously?) or rare (likely an "Americanized version"). Kitfo is a traditional Ethiopian cuisine, which consists of raw ground beef marinated in mitmita (a spicy chili powder) and niter kibbeh (a seasoned clarified butter). The spices really hide the raw, reddish beef color (you can be fooled into thinking it is cooked through). At the restaurant, the dish was served in a small bowl tucked at the corner of the large serving platter. At first glance, the dish looked like it had been cooked and I forgot we ordered it "rare" (ok, yes I admit we were wimps for not ordering it raw), but as soon as you bite through the chewy, mushy texture you know there's something funky going on here (quote from an AtoZ patron: "the texture was a little disturbing"). Surpringly, the inner anamilistic side in me enjoyed this dish (I can't speak for everyone though). Admittedly, after eating half the bowl and both feeling that gooey rawness drip down your chin and that raw cow texture coat your esophogas, you can only help but pause and ponder whether this is even sanitary. The dish tasted ok though so I wrote off any concerns and kept chowing down. With no toilet hugging / stomach pumping episodes that night or the next morning, I call the Kitfo a success, although I don't think I'd order this dish again as I only found it to be ok.
All in all, New Eritrea in the Inner Richmond was a good find. The food was decent, pretty consistent, and cheap (would not consider this one of the top A to Z spots we've been to, but would definitely come back here again if I'm craving Ethiopian food). If you're ever in the mood for having a massive Kitfo binging party New Eritrea is great for large groups (we sat in a seperate section in the back). Next up on the list is Filipino food. From what I can tell there are some borderline sketchy places scattered around San Francisco, so we'll see. Let's hope F will be as good as E. Stay tuned. Aman (Ethiopian for Goodbye).
Prior to ordering the main dishes, we had some Sambusas (or Sambusac) to hold us over (I think we actually had these at the A for Afghan outing). Sambusas are essentially a variation of Samosas or Empanadas and are popular in Southwest Asia, the Horn of Africa, and North Africa. The vegeterian Sambusas we had were filled with lentils and were very tasty.
New Eritrea Restaurant PlatterA main component of Ethiopian meals are stews, referred to in Ethiopia and the region as "Wats". Wats usually begin with chopped red onions cooked until softened, then mixed with spices, vegetables, legumes, and/or meats, such as fish, chicken, goat, lamb, and beef (pork is not served at Ethiopian restaurants due to the Muslim and Ordodox Jewish makeup of the population). Stew options were aplenty at New Eritrea. For simplicity sake, the group defaulted to the veggie combo platter, which included three to four different stews: lentil beans (Tumtumo), okra, collared greens, and a potato and bell pepper stew. In addition to the veggie platter, we ordered some meat dishes: lamb dish in curry sauce, carrots, and potatoes (Allicha Bagee), a chicken dish (believe it was the Kilwa Borho), and the infamous Kitfo. For the Kitfo, we were asked if we wanted it raw (seriously?) or rare (likely an "Americanized version"). Kitfo is a traditional Ethiopian cuisine, which consists of raw ground beef marinated in mitmita (a spicy chili powder) and niter kibbeh (a seasoned clarified butter). The spices really hide the raw, reddish beef color (you can be fooled into thinking it is cooked through). At the restaurant, the dish was served in a small bowl tucked at the corner of the large serving platter. At first glance, the dish looked like it had been cooked and I forgot we ordered it "rare" (ok, yes I admit we were wimps for not ordering it raw), but as soon as you bite through the chewy, mushy texture you know there's something funky going on here (quote from an AtoZ patron: "the texture was a little disturbing"). Surpringly, the inner anamilistic side in me enjoyed this dish (I can't speak for everyone though). Admittedly, after eating half the bowl and both feeling that gooey rawness drip down your chin and that raw cow texture coat your esophogas, you can only help but pause and ponder whether this is even sanitary. The dish tasted ok though so I wrote off any concerns and kept chowing down. With no toilet hugging / stomach pumping episodes that night or the next morning, I call the Kitfo a success, although I don't think I'd order this dish again as I only found it to be ok.
All in all, New Eritrea in the Inner Richmond was a good find. The food was decent, pretty consistent, and cheap (would not consider this one of the top A to Z spots we've been to, but would definitely come back here again if I'm craving Ethiopian food). If you're ever in the mood for having a massive Kitfo binging party New Eritrea is great for large groups (we sat in a seperate section in the back). Next up on the list is Filipino food. From what I can tell there are some borderline sketchy places scattered around San Francisco, so we'll see. Let's hope F will be as good as E. Stay tuned. Aman (Ethiopian for Goodbye).
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