Blue Nile is located in a store front in an area which needs, shall we say, a little revitalization. As soon as you step through the front door, however, you know you're in for a treat. The restaurant is decorated with straw baskets and Ethiopian artwork, and each table is boasts a single rose. No table has silverware, and none is offered, as you're expected to eat with your hands. The waitresses, all Ethiopian immigrants, couldn't have been more friendly or more patient with us; they made suggestions on what to order and explained how to eat it. For the first time in a long time we were completely outside of our element, and it was more than a little fun.
We ordered vegetarian sambusa as an appetizer. We were treated to a freshly fried pocket filled with a spicy lentil mash. One was enough for both of us to try, and it was a nice start to the meal.
For the main course, I ordered Yebeg Tibs, a lamb dish sauteed with onions, jalapenos, tomatoes, and a spicy sauce. Our waitress recommended it. My husband ordered the Goden Tibs, beef cubes cooked with hot pepper and onions. It all arrived on the same plate, along with a red sauce, some kind of slaw made with cabbage, and a green salad (which I believe was added for American palates, as it didn't seem to fit with anything else). Never seen Ethiopian food before?
Now you have.
Everything was served with injera, a spongy flat bread made with the extremely nutritious teff grain. Alone, injera tastes a little bit like sourdough, but it pairs well with just about anything. What you do is tear off a piece of injera and use it to scoop up and eat the various other components on the plate. And though it might not look like a lot of food for two people, it fills you up quickly.
My lamb was well prepared, and not nearly as spicy as one might imagine. However, the real standout on the plate for me was the red sauce. It tasted like something I enjoyed eating as a child, although I couldn't really place it. At the end of the meal I was using the injera just to scoop up the sauce and eat it alone.
Not only was this a very filling and tasty meal served by some very nice people, but it was cheap too -- each entree was under $15, and the sambusa was only $2.75. You probably can't do better than that for a nutritious sit-down dinner .
