Ethiopian cuisine is a huge part of the rich and complex dining scene in and around the nation’s capital.
“I don’t know who told me about America. I don’t know where I got it, but I always said, ‘I’m going to America,’” Elsabete Yirge, chef and co-owner of Elsa Ethiopian Kitchen, told me as we dug into a spread of classic Ethiopian dishes presented in the traditional way, atop injera bread on a large communal tray.
Of the many immigrant populations with deep footprints in this region, Ethiopians have an initial arrival story that sharply demonstrates how America has been a beacon for suffering people around the world. A civil war that lasted almost two decades, coupled with years of famine, led to the forcible displacement and persecution of millions. Beneficiaries of the landmark 1980 Refugee Act, Ethiopians fled to the United States, and the largest number in the diaspora made a home for themselves in the Washington metropolitan area.
For years, this region has laid claim to the best range of Ethiopian food in the country.
(Hector Emanuel for The Washington Post)
(Hector Emanuel for The Washington Post)
(Hector Emanuel for The Washington Post)
At Elsa, bringing Ethiopian food to Americans is about keeping it authentic, not adapting.
Hard-to-find dishes like kitfo, an Ethiopian variation on steak tartare, appear on menus.
As does the traditional doro wat chicken stew.
Although in the early years sourcing many traditional ingredients was nearly impossible, Yirge’s husband and business partner Beniam Belay tells me that now even teff, the ancient gluten-free grain needed to make injera, is being grown domestically.
Around Washington, with its large Ethiopian immigrant community, non-Ethiopian customers have come to expect nothing less than the real thing.
Jason Rezaian: What are the challenges of being an immigrant restaurant owner?
Elsabete Yirge: There are no special challenges. The challenges are all the same. You have to build the business. You have to work hard, especially when you start a new business. Double shifts. It’s hard to pay staff. You have to have everything covered for the employees.
The first customers are a miracle. People didn’t know me. In the first month, I cooked maybe one dish or two — that’s all I made. Then, after the first month, it was around the fasting time [before Easter], I started cooking with no dairy, no eggs — basically vegan dishes. And all of my Ethiopian customers, they started talking about my food — they loved it.
At this location, however, most of my customers are not Ethiopian. We have all kinds of different people living in this neighborhood. We also have tourists from the hotels, mostly because of the National Zoo.
How do you connect with non-Ethiopian customers? What dish do you serve that’s most popular?
Yirge: I think that dish is tibs. People know beef; they know lamb. We add onions, jalapeños, tomato and spices. If someone has never tasted Ethiopian food before, we suggest they have the veggie combo, or one meat plus the vegetables. The one meat is usually tibs, all served on injera bread.
Beniam Belay: For me, authentic means keeping the original, traditional way. I talk to a lot of people; they want authentic. When you come here, you really want to eat Ethiopian, not Americanized food. We make it 100 percent the same way. The only thing we change a little bit is to reduce the spice. We’re not trying to make people sweat here.
Yirge: The dishes we make, everything is the Ethiopian way.
What are the ingredients you need to make your dishes that aren’t readily available here?
Yirge: Everything is organic back home. So, the taste is a little bit different. Even the spices. But we can get everything here. Most of the stuff is coming from Mexico and India. Even [the spice mix] berbere — we make it here.
Belay: Yeah, you know, the world is connected. You can get anything you want right now. Anything. Even the spices from Ethiopia. And you can make it and mix it easily. You can go online, buy a small grinder. It’s the same thing they do back home.
Is there an aroma or dish that takes you back home?
Yirge: That’s roast coffee. And incense. We roast coffee at home. It’s different, you know? We make it in clay pots. And when you make coffee, you have to invite your whole neighborhood.
What dish is most emblematic of Ethiopia to you?
Yirge: I would say doro wat — which is chicken and egg, with a hot and spicy berbere sauce. And we have a mild sauce, too. When I was growing up, that’s what we’d eat for the holiday. If guests come to your house, that’s the dish you’d always make.
There is also kitfo, which is raw beef, to which we add some mitmita — which is spicy like cayenne, but made a different way. Here, people don’t always order it raw. We can cook it a little bit, but raw is better.
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The map shows African restaurants in DC.
African restaurants in the D.C. metro area
Elsa Ethiopian Kitchen
Source: Yelp
African restaurants in the D.C. metro area
Elsa Ethiopian Kitchen
Source: Yelp
African restaurants in the D.C. metro area
Elsa Ethiopian Kitchen
Source: Yelp
Elsa Ethiopian Kitchen
2614 Connecticut Ave N.W., Washington, D.C. (202) 290-2948. elsaethiopiankitchen.com
Hours: Monday, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
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