Lunch Review: Queen of Sheba

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The Down Low: Queen of Sheba offers savory Ethiopian dishes that are hearty and laden with tasty spices.  Be prepared to share – and forget the utensils.  They’re for wussies.

The Digs: On Howard Ave between Swann and Dale Mabry, Queen of Sheba inhabits a cozy spot decorated in warm, rich tones.  The smell of aromatic incense wafts from the dining room as you walk in- a visceral preparation of the meal to come.

The Delivery:  The wait staff is very friendly and not opposed to guests timidly pointing to their selection and saying, “I’ll take that…”  Don’t be afraid to inquire about the menu; they are happy to answer any questions you might have.

The Dish:   In an effort to prevent embarrassing mispronunciations, the menu is thoughtfully numbered next to each entrée’s title.  There are appetizers, entrees and combination platters, not to mention desserts and wine.  And have no fear, herbivores: vegetarian options are a-plenty. 

For the full experience, be sure to have the hot tea or Ethiopian coffee.  I tried a mug of the Yekemem Shai ($1.50) a naturally decaffeinated tea brewed with cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. It was full bodied and soothing.

We started our meal with a few appetizers:

The Beef and Vegetarian Sambussa (both $2.99) were constructed of homemade thin flat bread hand-wrapped and stuffed with a combination of whole lentils stew (or minced beef), fresh garlic, onions, peppers and herbs.  Both were served piping hot – crispy and delicate with tons of flavor.  The Beef Samussa was on the spicy side.  The catch: only one Samussa per order!  Comparable dish: think Samosas at an Indian restaurant.

An order of Buticha ($2.99) was placed in the middle of the table and promptly gobbled up.  Ground chickpeas are mixed with olive oil, diced onions, garlic, hot pepper and mustard. It’s served cold, with a few rolls of inerja (a large sourdough "pancake" made out of fermented teff flour) on the side to scoop it up with.  Comparable dish: think Hummus at a Greek restaurant.

As I mentioned earlier – you can opt for an entrée or combo platters.  Because we had a mix of meat-eaters and vegetarians at our table we decided to go with entrees to avoid cross contamination.  But even the carnivores wound up with veggie dinners.  It’s a good thing, too: all of our meals were served on a large round platter in mouth-watering mounds on top of inerja (which was just soaking up all the juices from the food for us to enjoy later).  With dinner, a basket of inerja is brought out for diners to rip off and dig in with. 

Our choices:

Ye Misr Wot ($7.99) Red split lentils simmered in finely chopped onion, garlic, ginger and seasoned with berbere (a spicy hot mixture of peppers, ginger, cloves, coriander, allspice and more).  

Ye Kik Alecha ($7.99) Yellow split peas simmered in finely chopped onions, garlic, ginger and turmeric powder.

Atikilt Alecha ($8.99) Carrot, potato and string beans stewed in a mild sauce.

There was a big ol’ salad in the middle – fresh greens with diced tomatoes and onions dressed lightly.  And piles of collard greens and cabbage dotted the spaces between our meals.

All of it was very good.  Intrepid diners should think of it this way: it is Ethiopian home cooking with familiar staples like carrots, potatoes, collard greens and cabbage.  Some of it’s spicy but it’s easy to stray away from those dishes

And for dessert (yes, we did it): Sambussa chips ($2.99): fresh, burn-the-roof-of-your-mouth chips dripping with melting honey.  Mmmmm.

The Damage: You can easily walk out spending over $50 – but it’s totally worth it.  You have to try it all.

The Deduction:  It’s pretty safe to say that dining at Queen of Sheba is not just a meal, it’s more of an experience.  So dive in with both feet and enjoy it. 

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