I am sure my readers in large cities will find this to be old hat, but here in Buffalo, Ethiopian food is news. We actually now have three Ethiopian restaurants in town, so we decided to try one. The place we visited is called Lucy’s (they have no web site) and it is a tiny little storefront with 10 tables. We waited a while for a table and then threw ourselves on the mercy of our server, explaining we had never had Ethiopian food and some of us could not eat spicy food and some of us could not eat peppers of any kind.

He made some suggestions and we ordered. The food comes out on a giant tray (the size of trays servers in restaurants usually carry). On the bottom of the tray is a huge crepe, that is very light and airy, called injera. Injera is traditionally made from tef (a type of grass) flour. I don’t know what ours was made of, but it seemed to resemble buckwheat in color, if not in flavor. The food is placed in piles on top of the injera. You are given no silverware. The idea is to rip off a piece of injera and use it to pick up pieces of food. We had a beef stew, some pieces of lamb, a lamb shank, tomatoes, collard greens, carrots with cabbage, carrots with green beans, potato with carrot, cheese, and a cumin sauce. Everything was excellent. The lamb shank was spicy however. The beef stew was very tender. The lamb pieces were cooked perfectly and very tender as well. All the vegetables were tasty and the cumin sauce was a nice accompaniment to everything.

It’s a fun way to eat, and fortunately there was a big pile of napkins. Even my 14-year-old son enjoyed it and he can be picky. If there is an Ethiopian restaurant near you, I suggest you give it a try.

I am sure my readers in large cities will find this to be old hat, but here in Buffalo, Ethiopian food is news. We actually now have three Ethiopian restaurants in town, so we decided to try one. The place we visited is called Lucy’s (they have no web site) and it is a tiny … Read more →