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    Home » Rosalind's Ethiopian - Can I Get a Wot Wot?

    July 2006 Uncategorized

    Rosalind's Ethiopian - Can I Get a Wot Wot?

    rosalind's ethiopian, little ethiopia, los angeles, ca

    Rosalind's Ethiopian
    1044 S Fairfax Ave
    Los Angeles, CA 90019
    323.936.2486
    www.rosalindsrestaurant.com

    Whether it’s a single thoroughfare or a complete multi-square mileage neighborhood, Little Ethnic City/Country-towns are an easy way to travel and explore, without every having to deal with the hassle of a passport, expense of plane tickets, or in my case, the side effects of Xanax.

    Just about every major metropolitan area has a Chinatown. If there’s a Chinatown, the there’s likely a fairly respectable Japantown (or Little Tokyo). On the coasts, Koreatowns are also growing. For those of us who live in LA, we also have access to neighborhoods that go beyond the major Asian invasions. Vietnamese? Sure, it’s called Little Saigon in Garden Grove. Thai food? Elvis swerves his Blue Suede Shoes in Thai Town in Hollywood.

    You could do a whole tour of Asia, which is no surprise for Los Angeles, but there are some cultures that you might not have even known were represented. These may not even be official neighborhoods – a city block or two, a short stretch of an avenue, or even just a strip mall wholly dedicated to one ethnic cuisine.

    Westwood Boulevard from Wilshire on the north end to Olympic on the south end is the mini-heart of a body of Persian restaurants and stores called Tehrangeles. The area between Westlake and Echo Park is an unofficial Little Manila. If you seek out Zankou’s notoriously garlicky chicken, you’ll end up in Little Armenia in Hollywood. There’s even a tiny concentration of Russian restaurants along a small stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. What about Jewish food? Sure, there are delis scattered all over the greater Metropolitan area, but if you want to go to one area to do all your Kosher eating, head for Pico Boulevard near Robertson. Indian food? Well, there’s Pioneer Boulevard in Artesia, which is technically in Orange County, but if you drive slowly up and down Venice Boulevard in West LA, there’s a buffet of South Asian restaurants that also includes Pakistani and Nepalese.

    And what if your inner Angelina is pushing you toward Africa? That is multi-leg, multi-carrier, multi-day travel that will also require several bacteria-fighting cocktails taken by injection. Thankfully, you can just drive to Little Ethiopia, a stretch of Fairfax Avenue between Olympic and Pico. Of course, that technically 20-minute, actually 45-minute, drive through LA rush hour might not be any less of a nail-biting, hair-raising, nerve-wracking, fist-pumping, blood pressure skyrocketing ordeal than a 24+ hour trans-Atlantic flight to Addis Ababa.

    I am still new to Ethiopian cuisine, with my very first foray only a year or so ago at Fassica in Culver City, and a more recent dinner at Messob. It seems I am making way along the selection of restaurants along Fairfax at a reasonable pace with my third venture with Rosalind’s.

    While gursha, the practice of feeding one another with your hands, certainly makes for a romantic evening for two, the best way to experience Ethiopian food is with a group. Friends make it more fun to dive into platters of food that is served family-style, but let’s be real here. Taking friends is not free of self-interest. Having more people means there are more opprtunities to order a variety of things. We went, six of us. Oh, the possibilities.

    rosalind's ethiopian, los angeles, ca
    red, gold, and green, like my dreams
    rosalind's ethiopian, los angeles, ca
    out of africa

    Rosalind’s exterior is fairly non-descript save for the neon sign in typical red, yellow, and green. However, the restaurant’s interior screams Ethiopia. Narrow columns colorfully painted with geometric designs and African flora and fauna hold up thatched roofs that jut out over a small backbar and tables against the walls. Doorways between rooms are arched and painted over, windows are dressed with red, green and yellow fabrics, walls are covered with prints, African artwork, and travel posters for Ethiopia, and if natural wood-like chairs weren’t enough to suggest “Africa,” a second dining room is filled with the traditional Ethiopian tables that look like enormous straw baskets that have been tightly cinched in the middle. Even if you had never read the sign out front, Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.

    rosalind's ethiopian, los angeles, ca - tej
    liquid gold

    My friends and I shimmied ourselves into a booth, a tight-semi-circle facing the dining room. As is always the case when confronted with an entire cuisine that is still fairly new, I needed a drink to overcome the intimidation. We ordered a bottle of tej for the table to lubricate the menu negotiations. Tej is an Ethiopian honey wine that is sweeter and stickier than any dessert wine I’ve ever had. In a different setting, I would have shuddered at something so sweet before a meal, but when in Rome, well, do as the Romans do, and when at Rosalind’s, drink tej.

    We started with a couple of appetizers, which I had not seen on menus at the two other Ethiopian restaurants I visited. Sambussa is a triangle-shaped pastry filled with lentils, and if I d
    idn’t know any better, would have thought they were the same thing as Indian samosas. Somewhere in history, back when we were all happily living on Pangaea, India and Ethiopia must have shared the same kitchen.

    rosalind's ethiopian, los angeles, ca-sambussa
    when ethiopia and india shared a kitchen
    rosalind's ethiopian, los angeles, ca - shrimp and pilli pilli
    pilli pilli, not too spicy spicy

    Clearly, Africa is the origin of a lot of inter-continental cuisine. An appetizer plate with shrimp and a couple of vegetable fritters was served with pilli pilli as a dipping sauce. Pilli pilli is made from hot peppers, and with the power of Interweb intelligence, I am deducing that pilli pilli refers to the tiny African birdseye chili also known as piri piri and peli peli. Piri piri is, of course, a Portuguese hot pepper sauce that Bameril Lagasse loves to push. I was wrong, however, of the direction, because the peppers came to Africa by way of Portugal from the New World. So there’s the culinary history lesson of the day.

    rosalind's ethiopian, los angeles, ca - green salad
    the ONE thing mussolini was good for

    The main portion of the meal was immediately preceded by a salad with an Italian accent. I found it oddly charming the first time I saw spaghetti on Fassica’s menu, thinking that the restaurant was offering it as an alternative for any non-adventurous type who had been roped into joining a group going for Ethiopian food. I didn’t know that the small Italian influece on Ethiopian cuisine was the remnant of Mussolini’s 5-year occupation of the country. Wow, who knew you could learn so much about geo-political history through food?

    There were several different “combination” orders, but Rosalind’s put them together around the perimeter of large platters lined with injera, an Ethiopian flatbread made from a grain called teff. Injera is grayish-beige in color and has a texture that can only be described as a sponge-like cashmere pancake. The teff is fermented before being made into injera, which explains the bread’s characteristic sour taste. In Ethiopian cuisine, there are no eating utensils. Instead, injera is used to pick up the various items by hand. I am not sure what they do for spaghetti, though.

    rosalind's ethiopian, los angeles, ca - vegetarian
    perfect plops
    rosalind's ethiopian, los angeles, ca - yedoro wot
    can i get a wot wot?

    The larger platter had the vegetables: collard greens, vegetable alicha, red lentils, and split peas, and a smaller platter had meats. I know I am still a novice in Ethiopian cuisine because the only thing on the meat platter that I could recognize and remember by name was the yedoro (“doro”) wot, a thick, rich chicken stew with a hardboiled egg as a centerpiece. I am sure there was lamb (probably yebeg siga alicha) and beef on there somewhere, but I’ll just blame my ignorance on the tej.

    The food was good enough to garner a return visit, but unfortunately, Rosalind’s service was sorely disappointing. Perhaps I had been spoiled by Seble’s warm, nurturing and wholly dedicated attention at Fassica. Perhaps I don’t have a clear understanding of the cuisine’s traditions. Whatever the reason, the service felt slow, with uncomfortably long gaps between courses, confused, disinterested, and at some points, slightly hostile. We didn’t notice much, but we did notice.

    I may go back to Rosalind's, but not before I've tried a few more. I’m beginning to think that all of the Ethiopian restaurants along Fairfax have the same menu, and it’s only the paper on which it is printed that differs. The setting and service are what will distinguish a diamond amongst broken glass, and I’m happy to hunt on a safari that takes me as far east as Fairfax. I’ve got two down. Six to go:

    Little Ethiopia Restaurant
    Meals by Genet
    Merkato
    Messob – check!
    Marathon
    Nyala
    Rahel Ethiopian Vegetarian
    Rosalind’s – check!

    ** a year ago today, i went korean kah-pae style at home with kimchee dooboo (tofu) **

    tags :: food : and drink : ethiopian : restaurants : reviews : los angeles

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    Comments

    1. Eudaimo says

      August 22, 2006 at 9:22 pm

      I too love teh_Rosalinds. Especially the sizzling beef thingy.

      Reply
    2. Rachael says

      August 28, 2006 at 1:48 am

      You know i love me the Rosalinds. But for clarification, its not really Ethiopian, they actually claim to be more generalized African...(says so right over the doorway.)

      That is the veg-combo plate, right? I LOVE that. Deceptivly filling. The cold potato-cabbage stuff is my fave...mmm. And so cheap!!! LOVE it. I always get it with the yam balls. Weirdly pasty, but oh so good.

      Super glad you are giving them props!

      Reply
    3. LACheesemonger says

      August 28, 2006 at 2:46 pm

      For ‘clarification’ Rosalind’s is named Rosalind Ethiopian (makes no difference that the claim to serve African, “Hong Kong style seafood” restaurants here in So. Cal. Almost always have items on the menu as ‘Schezwan’ and other regional areas of China, even on the dim sum menus, and likewise egg rolls and potstickers are kind of universal Chinese items).

      Little Saigon, at least what most So.Cal. Vietnamese consider, is in the OC @ Westminster. Little Jerusalem? Most well known Jewish congregation/concentration would be the "Fairfax District" on D'oh... Fairfax Ave. right around Canter's Deli (Pico & Robertson serves smaller Jewish community around wealthy Cheviot Hills neighborhood. India & Philippine restaurants are scattered all over the place, no real block of them like Westwood Blvd. has over the last few decades turned into a Persian centered street, with a few other Middle Eastern cuisines also represented.

      You can read about “Ethiopian cuisine” on Rosalind's Ethiopian Cuisine restaurant’s website link. Speaking of "Enjera" pancake used as kind of a wrapper for a ball (and tying in Sarah's year ago Korean entry)...

      for some reason I’ve downloaded (link for free video streaming site, requires you to enter 3 character code @ upper right of page, and hit ‘download’ radio button before the server gets you a download link page for the mpeg file) this Hyori eats jokbal and similar styled Korean small dish table complement? and the typical iceberg lettuce wrap (what’s up with those lavender nails??? Circa 2004 when she came out with her 1st solo album and had the ‘blond-copper’ colored hair), video segment; reminds me of a DTV style clip seeing how there is the Korean character overlay + annoying sound FX, all the while playing contemporary Western(ized) music hits.

      A lesson for Sarah, Hyori in low-maintenance mode, dual layered T-top, moderate makeup, light eyeshadow, black eyelid liner on tip lid only, no massive build up of mascara on her oh so cute short Asian eyelashes, some lip gloss (and powder to keep severe cameral lights from causing massive reflections off of her cheeks); and she’s good to go (red raspberry beret optional ;) ). I viewed with QuickTime Vid player, did the slow-motion to see that Hyori has learned to use chopsticks in the ‘wrong’ non-precision way, see her index finger, digitus secundus, surround the chopsticks and closed over her thumb. Btw, does Sarah or anyone know what background music song is playing, kind of sounds Janet Jackson-esk? And why do I keep, hitting the play button over and over, watching Hyori stuff her mouth with lettuce wrapped Korean food, lol ;) ?

      Reply
    4. sarah says

      August 28, 2006 at 6:12 pm

      eudaimo: hm...which is the sizzling beef??i have never had it!

      rachael: yeah, i saw that their menu has a section dedicated to "African" dishes from Ghana, Nigeria, West, and South Africa, which I definitely want to try. i mean, who doesn't want to order out loud "yam balls and o jo jo!"

      lac: well, there is a strecth of venice blvd in west l.a./palms/culver city that has quite a few south asian restaurants.

      Reply
    5. Anonymous says

      August 29, 2006 at 10:43 pm

      it's pretty straightforward to make your own tej (aka mead) - honey, water, yeast, and time. it's even easier than making beer (which you don't like anyway)!

      Reply
    6. hermz says

      August 29, 2006 at 11:51 pm

      red, gold, and green, like my dreams LOL!

      Reply
    7. Anonymous says

      October 04, 2006 at 11:07 pm

      As a veg head I can't totally comment but I always found Merkato to be the best restaurant around. The service is alright and the food is cheaper. Also there was quite a bit of indian presence in Ethiopia which probably influenced the cuisine..just a bit more geo-political culinary history :)

      Reply
    8. sarah says

      October 08, 2006 at 11:06 pm

      anonymous: how about YOU mkae the tej and I'LL come over with a basket of injera (picked up from rosalind's). :)

      hermz: aw, hermz, you're always the only one who ever appreciates my backhanded references. ;)

      anonymous veghead: next up...merkato!

      Reply
    9. dara says

      October 29, 2006 at 2:10 am

      found this post when searching in technorati. i LOVE ethiopian food. it's good to know that more people are trying it. if you ever visit Washington, D.C. you'll have an even larger variety of Ethiopian restaurants to choose from (i think they boast the highest population of Ethiopians outside of Ethiopia).

      Reply

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