strange restaurant trip
John took me out for birthday dinner last night. I decided I wanted to try one of the Houston Ethiopian restaurants. I've been wanting to try one of them for a while. We've been to Blue Nile before, but its been a couple of years and that one is quite a drive. Yesterday was a good pick for a day to do this because traffic was light. So we headed out over to the 59/I-610 area and didn't hit any traffic the whole way, which is pretty good considering it was around 6pm on a Tuesday.
The place I chose was Addisaba Ethiopian Restaurant. I had called ahead to make sure they were open. We went slightly out of the way as the road sign for Fondren was not there and we ended up having to circle around to come back to it. But that was okay. Sharpstown appears to be an unusual and ethnic part of the city; lots of strange looking and strangely named stores once we got off Belaire Blvd. I think I may have to do more exploring over there.
We found the restaurant and I was a bit leery at first because there were no cars in front of the entrance at all. Indeed we went in and found that the restaurant was basically empty except for the waitress, one guy that might have been the bartender and one other guy who was just hanging out and had possibly already eaten dinner. He sat at the bar the whole time we were there, but was not drinking.
The decor just ...wasn't. There was nothing on the walls and nothing on the tables except table cloths and glass/plexiglas on top. Oh, and an ad for something happening at the restaurant on New Year's Eve under the glass. The place did not seem particularly clean so that might be a little worry for the place.
The restaurant/bar was fairly large, probably 20 or 25 tables I think, so that made it strange to be there completely alone. The waitress (owner/manager?) brought us some water and menus. We decided to get both the vegetarian and meat combo plates, at $8 and $9 a piece I certainly wasn't going to complain about the price. It looked like the single item dishes were in the $5 - $7 mostly. I took my insulin shot and we waited for dinner, mostly in silence except for the TV playing CNN news near the bar. I should say that I wasn't especially talkative since I've had a hoarse sore throat for a couple of days and it seemed to be getting worse, although I didn't really feel bad except a little sore in the throat.
Dinner came out - it reminded me quite a bit of the combination plate that they would serve at Ethiopian Restaurant in Austin back in the early 90's. How I miss that place. The food was quite good; not as good as our trip to Ethiopian in Seattle in August, but still quite a bit better than I remember the Blue Nile place as being last time we went in Houston.
There were at least two different lentil dishes, one cabbage, one spinach, one potato and carrots and chicken dish, one beef dish and one spicy lamb dish. Several of the dishes were fairly spicy, but nothing that I couldn't handle. Oh, there was some salad greens and tomatoes in the center as well, and one other dish that might have been chickpeas mashed up or some other type of bean maybe. All in all, it was a pretty good meal.
We told the waitress that we really liked the food (I think I was more enthusiastic than John although I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it too) and mentioned that we had driven up from the NASA area for my birthday. She insisted on giving me something for my birthday; I finally gave in and let her bring me a diet coke. I didn't think I needed dessert at that point (and as it turns out I didn't take quite enough insulin for all the injera I ate as it was). We left a nice tip for her since she was so nice.
We were the only folks that came and went the entire time we were there. I certainly hope it was just an abnormally slow Christmas week night for them.
Anyway, I recommend the place for the food, but don't expect anything fancy if you give it a try. I do wish they took a little more care of the place. The waitress certainly would have had time to wash down all the tables and make them look a little nicer, but still I did like the food quite a bit.
Afterward, John and I talked about it and we decided that someone needs to open a higher end Ethiopian restaurant. With the right location and decor and good food, I bet it could do quite well as there is a lot of good things to be said about well done Ethiopian food; and for a higher end restaurant, it could still be on the cheap end of things, I think.
Later, checked my blood sugar level and sure enough it was a little more than 1 unit of insulin high. Need to be more careful with eating the injera next time. Still, it was worth it.
By the way, I like the new L McKennitt CD my brother Joe gave me for Christmas quite a bit. Unfortunately, the sore throat seems worse today...
The place I chose was Addisaba Ethiopian Restaurant. I had called ahead to make sure they were open. We went slightly out of the way as the road sign for Fondren was not there and we ended up having to circle around to come back to it. But that was okay. Sharpstown appears to be an unusual and ethnic part of the city; lots of strange looking and strangely named stores once we got off Belaire Blvd. I think I may have to do more exploring over there.
We found the restaurant and I was a bit leery at first because there were no cars in front of the entrance at all. Indeed we went in and found that the restaurant was basically empty except for the waitress, one guy that might have been the bartender and one other guy who was just hanging out and had possibly already eaten dinner. He sat at the bar the whole time we were there, but was not drinking.
The decor just ...wasn't. There was nothing on the walls and nothing on the tables except table cloths and glass/plexiglas on top. Oh, and an ad for something happening at the restaurant on New Year's Eve under the glass. The place did not seem particularly clean so that might be a little worry for the place.
The restaurant/bar was fairly large, probably 20 or 25 tables I think, so that made it strange to be there completely alone. The waitress (owner/manager?) brought us some water and menus. We decided to get both the vegetarian and meat combo plates, at $8 and $9 a piece I certainly wasn't going to complain about the price. It looked like the single item dishes were in the $5 - $7 mostly. I took my insulin shot and we waited for dinner, mostly in silence except for the TV playing CNN news near the bar. I should say that I wasn't especially talkative since I've had a hoarse sore throat for a couple of days and it seemed to be getting worse, although I didn't really feel bad except a little sore in the throat.
Dinner came out - it reminded me quite a bit of the combination plate that they would serve at Ethiopian Restaurant in Austin back in the early 90's. How I miss that place. The food was quite good; not as good as our trip to Ethiopian in Seattle in August, but still quite a bit better than I remember the Blue Nile place as being last time we went in Houston.
There were at least two different lentil dishes, one cabbage, one spinach, one potato and carrots and chicken dish, one beef dish and one spicy lamb dish. Several of the dishes were fairly spicy, but nothing that I couldn't handle. Oh, there was some salad greens and tomatoes in the center as well, and one other dish that might have been chickpeas mashed up or some other type of bean maybe. All in all, it was a pretty good meal.
We told the waitress that we really liked the food (I think I was more enthusiastic than John although I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it too) and mentioned that we had driven up from the NASA area for my birthday. She insisted on giving me something for my birthday; I finally gave in and let her bring me a diet coke. I didn't think I needed dessert at that point (and as it turns out I didn't take quite enough insulin for all the injera I ate as it was). We left a nice tip for her since she was so nice.
We were the only folks that came and went the entire time we were there. I certainly hope it was just an abnormally slow Christmas week night for them.
Anyway, I recommend the place for the food, but don't expect anything fancy if you give it a try. I do wish they took a little more care of the place. The waitress certainly would have had time to wash down all the tables and make them look a little nicer, but still I did like the food quite a bit.
Afterward, John and I talked about it and we decided that someone needs to open a higher end Ethiopian restaurant. With the right location and decor and good food, I bet it could do quite well as there is a lot of good things to be said about well done Ethiopian food; and for a higher end restaurant, it could still be on the cheap end of things, I think.
Later, checked my blood sugar level and sure enough it was a little more than 1 unit of insulin high. Need to be more careful with eating the injera next time. Still, it was worth it.
By the way, I like the new L McKennitt CD my brother Joe gave me for Christmas quite a bit. Unfortunately, the sore throat seems worse today...