Ethiopean - Berkeley/Oakland?

[evacarleton]

I love good Ethiopean food - but have not had any for years. I have seen the various restaurants on Telegraph but I have a feeling that none of them are very good. Can anyone recommend one?

Thanks!
Eva

[DiveFan]

For reasons I can't recall we usually end up at Red Sea or Addis in Oakland.
On the last visit, I had one dish that was unexpectedly great was gomen - spiced collard greens.

The only 'complaint' that I've had is that after dark, you must bring a Flashlight to read the menus! What's with the overly dim lighting?

[aloisius]

My favorite is Cafe Eritrea d'Afrique on Telegraph. Cafe Colucci is a good standby for when Cafe Eritrea is closed. There is something a little more Americanized about Colucci that I can't put my finger on.

[fruti]

Cafe Eritrea is also my favorite and I've tried almost all of the others mentioned. Also enjoy Finfine and Colucci but Eritrea stands out with their amazing veggie combo. They serve humus and ful along with other standards like collard greens. Service can be slow but it is so worth it to me.

[zippo]

Fetlework Tefferi who owns Cafe Colluci and Brundo, an Ethiopian market and spice shop, has recently opened Brundo Culinary Studio in a steel warehouse in West Oakland with classes in spice blending, coffee roasting and Ethiopian cooking. Sounds interesting.

http://oaklandnorth.net/2012/03/22/north-africans-in-oakland-a-love-and-devotion-to-ethiopian-food/

and a pdf on the studio:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&r...

Brundo Culinary Studio
1960 Mandela Parkway
Oakland CA 94608
510-601-7999

[Ruth Lafler]

Very interesting! Thanks!

[Dave MP]

This post was featured in the Digest Overheard column this week. Thanks for the great tip!

http://www.chow.com/digest/110188/ove...

[oakjoan]

Yeah, very interesting. Thanks zippo!

[happenstance]

Has anyone tried Yayu on Lakeshore yet? I am embarrassed to say that even though I walk by it almost daily, I haven't yet tried it.

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Lakeshore Cafe
3257 Lakeshore Ave, Oakland, CA 94610

[Tom Simonson]

I work in an environment with quite a few Eritreans and some Ethiopans. I recently asked some of the waitresses that I know the best whether there was any particularly good restaurant in the Bay Area. It's slightly off topic, but I got a very strong recommendation for Sheba in SF - Sheba Lounge / 1419 Fillmore Street / San Francisco, CA 94115-4114

It does have piano music as well. The website is not really up and running. My friend said that for her taste it was much nicer than the East Bay restaurants.

In the East Bay, another good friend recommended a new place - it is almost next to Colucci. I could not hear the name clearly - it was something like Dariah. She said that the food was prepared with more hotness/spice - more for the Ethiopean palate than some other places. I drove by - it may be right on the corner, two doors down from Colucci, but I could not stop to check it out.

[Robert Lauriston]

Dareye used to be across the street from Colucci, but moved a couple of miles down Telegraph, to near 25th St. That space is now the Hide-A-Way Cafe--diner-type menu.

Two doors down from Colucci is a grocery store and in between is a gift shop. I believe all three are owned by Fetlework Tefferi.

[Ruth Lafler]

I'm confused. The Hide-A-Way Cafe was there forever (okay, not forever, but at least 15 years). Then it changed to an Ethiopian restaurant and then it changed back?

[Robert Lauriston]

They never changed the sign--design review for signs is a major bureaucratic hassle in Berkeley.

http://dareyehideaway.com

[Ruth Lafler]

I'm still confused. The website you posted says it's an Ethiopian restaurant. You said it's "now" serving a diner-type menu. BTW, I believe it's actually in Oakland, so Berkeley sign regs would not apply.

[Oaktown Al]

The Dareye Hide-A-Way (formerly the non-Ethopian Hide-A-Way Cafe) has great Ethiopian breakfasts. Haven't found another Ethiopian restaurant on Telegraph which serves breakfasts.

[Ruth Lafler]

What's served as part of an Ethiopian breakfast?

BTW, we had a chowdown at Enssaro, and I thought it was excellent.

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Enssaro
366 Grand Ave, Oakland, CA

[Oaktown Al]

Cheapest--and my favorite--is a hot cracked grain cereal in spiced Ethiopian butter. Also various egg, veggie and meat combos, seved in traditional style. Plus juice, coffee, tea, wine, etc.

[moto]

from relatively recent visits to Finfine, Enssaro, Colucci, and Messob, my wife and I both prefer Ensarro, with Finfine second, not that the other two are deficient. we almost always get vegetable/legume samplers and prefer the veg's lightly cooked and not drowned in the clarified butter. Finfine was recommended by my spouse's Ethiopian colleague, and has a bit of the same cramped feel as Colucci (both seemed to be the busiest of the four places, as well).

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Messob
4301 Piedmont Ave, Oakland, CA 94611

Finfine
2556 Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704

Enssaro
366 Grand Ave, Oakland, CA

[Ruth Lafler]

Just a quick note that I had dinner last night at Messob and wasn't particularly impressed. Not in the same league as Ensarro or Colucci, IMHO. One thing it its favor is that they do use teff to make their injera.

[oakjoan]

Ruth, if Ensarro is the place we had the chowdown last year I'm with you. It was quite deelish.

[Ruth Lafler]

Yes, the last Ethiopian chowdown was at Enssaro.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/699858

[Joel]

For a while (maybe still) the Hide-A-Way was serving dinner:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/5708...

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Dareye Hide-A-Way Cafe
6430 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609

[Fine]

Just came across this thread.

When I first became of aware of Ethiopian restaurants--Blue Nile, circa '81, followed by Sheba, also on Telegraph, not long after--what pleased me more than anything else was how fiery hot many of the dishes were. I feared the timidity of the American palate would tame that authenticity pretty fast and, I suspect, that's exactly what happened, based on the few recent meals I've tried at various Ethiopian and Eritrean spots.

I recently visited Little Ethiopia (actually so-named with signage) in LA and had what might well have passed for baby food at a highly recommended spot. Even Ethiopia's famous hot sauce, berbere, was blah.

Not too long ago I read a recommendation in the SF Chron's "Insight" section from an Ethiopian writer or professor (found it--actually it's Verghese!) for a place deep on the Peninsula, Zeni's, San Jose, which I've yet to try.

One would have hoped that over three decades of increaed exposure to the world's cuisines, many infused with hot peppers, as well as the increased availability of chiles such as habaneros in produce departments and as plant starts, SFBA diners would have become far more enthusiastic about the joys of hot foods and cuisines featuring them would no longer have to water down their flavors, but ....

[Melanie Wong]

You'll find many reports in recent years here on this site recommending Zeni's in San Jose (not the Peninsula).

[chefj]

I am not sure if am reading the meaning of post correctly but I think that many of the restaurants serving chili hot cuisines are more popular and are not skimping on the heat. Ruen Pair, Chia Thai Noodles, China Village, Spices!, Addis, Jayakarta, Ajanta just to name a few.

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Jayakarta Restaurant
2026 University Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704

Ajanta Restaurant
1888 Solano Ave, Berkeley, CA 94707

Ruen Pair
1045 San Pablo Ave, Albany, CA 94706

[bigwheel042]

True, but these are still the exceptions and not the rule. For every Ruen Pair or Lers Ros there are a hundred "Thai" restaurants cranking out too-sweet pad thai and listless curries night after night. The tragedy is that at least some of these hundred probably have real skill at making certain native dishes and simply don't put them on the menu for fear of driving away skittish customers.

[Robert Lauriston]

And Ruen Pair closed.

[chefj]

I really like Addis. Grew up eating Ethiopian food in DC. Addis is really good ,has a reasonable seating situation and heat. Cafe Colucci has great food to but they pack you in like sardines and have a couple of space heaters.

[escargot3]

Another good one to try is Finfine in Berkeley -- on Telegraph at Carleton, in the same complex as Fondu Fred. Small, but really good food.

[Joel]

Personally I like Finfine.
The Ethiopian women who are wonderful Nursing Assistants at the place in which my aged mother resides prefer their own home cooking; however they usually recommend Addis.
The Ethiopian phlebotomist at the Blood Bank also likes Addis, although he told me "they're really all about the same."

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Finfine
2556 Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704

Addis
6100 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609

[Melanie Wong]

Before the mods remove these posts, a reminder that you can communicate with each other to work on dates and locations here,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebchowd...

[oaktowngirl]

Why do you have a "feelng" that none of them are very good? The Telegraph area is the closest thing to a "Little Ethiopia/Eritrea" I have seen in an American city. I like Cafe Colucci, Red Sea is okay, has a lunch buffet. Addis has a line on weekends.

[Ruth Lafler]

Apparently the only other US city with a lot of good Ethiopian food is Washington DC. But the places in Oakland, while they vary in quality, are pretty authentic, in that the seem to be run by recent immigrants from Ethiopia/Eritrea.

Enssaro on Grand has gotten some raves recently -- it's next on my list.

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Enssaro
366 Grand Ave, Oakland, CA

[abstractpoet]

Enssaro is very popular (and Yelpers seem to love it), but I was not impressed the one time I went (about a year ago). The food was OK, but none of it was memorable. Don't know if anything has changed since my visit.

[daveena]

I had a very good meal at Ensarro the other night - we ordered the special kitfo raw and spicy, and it was really, really good. Definitely spicier than I've had it at other places, but cooled down by the creaminess of the Ethiopian cheese. Doro wat was great, with really flavorful and tender chicken. Lamb tibs were really good as well. We rounded it out with a few veg dishes, which were all good, but their meat dishes are the ones that stand out for me.

[kishoripapa]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_E...

[evacarleton]

Thanks for the recommendations. I remember, I did go to one twice (the one at Telegraph and Russell) and it was not very good. I guess I said I have a feeling that they are not good because I have previously researched this, and it seemed to be there not one standing out is being really good. I will try Cafe Colucci then - thank you.

[Joel]

Ethiopia, at Telegraph near Russell (close to Ashby) is very close to my house, has a nice outdoor area in case the weather ever gets better. The food is not spectacular, however they were very accommodating to specific dietary requests and for larger groups. Very nice people.

Cafe Colucci has good food, is more crowded, and is very noisy inside. They have outdoor tables -- fronting on Telegraph Avenue, though.

So we usually prefer the calmer atmosphere at Ethiopia.

Best food, I think, is Finfine.

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Finfine
2556 Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704

Cafe Colucci
6427 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609

Ethiopia Restaurant
2955 Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, CA

[abstractpoet]

My favorite spot in Oakland is Cafe Colucci. By no means am I an expert, but it's the best Ethiopian food I've had anywhere.

Messob was pretty good the the one time I tried it, but maybe a step down from Colucci.

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Messob
4301 Piedmont Ave, Oakland, CA 94611

Cafe Colucci
6427 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609

[lexdevil]

Cafe Colucci on Telegraph or Messob on Piedmont.

[Robert Lauriston]

I can vouch for those two.

[cfarivar]

I third a vote for Colucci. Get the fried potatoes as an appetizer and the shrimp tibs. :-)