By Josh Novikoff, DCist.com
In a DCist interview several weeks ago, Tyler Cowen declared that Zenebech Injera at 6th and T Streets NW was serving up the best Ethiopian food in town. We put the advice of the economics professor/ethnic eats guru to the test.
On a sunny Friday afternoon, a steady stream of customers wanders in and out. Cabbies drive up to the door—literally onto the sidewalk—to grab their to-go containers. Definitely a good sign. The cashier dashes out to an idling bus to deliver lunch to its driver. A baker emerges from the kitchen with hunks of bread fresh from the oven. It is baked wrapped in banana leaves and accentuated with black seeds of which no one knows the English name. I’d only ever heard of injera. A Google search later reveals that the bread is called dabo, and the seeds are coriander.
Menus are hidden against the wall, but most patrons know exactly what they want. Those who don’t just ask the man at the counter. “I want something with lamb,” says a woman there for the first time. Spicy or mild? We go for the kitfo, the raw, minced beef that Cowen says is the thing to get. The pile of raw, freshly ground meat is completely lean and deep red in color. The taste is beefy but subtle, and a pile of berbere spice adds a powerful kick when dusted onto the kitfo.
Housed in the main refrigerator display case are the reddest slabs of meat you’ll ever see—cuts from a lamb slaughtered that very morning. That afternoon it was selling for $4.75 per pound. Lamb derek tibs, sautéed with onions, are deep in flavor, though they could be more tender. The quality of the kitfo and sight of the fresh lamb on display make you want to gnaw on the lamb in its raw form, or at least wish it were cooked a little rarer. Vegetable highlights include Zenebech’s shiro, so creamy you’ll swear it’s half butter, but it’s just spiced chick pea flour and vegetable oil. Gomen, collard greens flecked with minced garlic, is another highlight. Nearly all meals are $8.50 or $9. A veggie side dish is $2, but if you ask nicely, they may throw it in for free.
Sitting next to the lamb on display are a few jugs of peeled garlic cloves and plenty to drink. The case is filled with two liter sodas, juices, and Coronas. Heineken bottles and Bud Ice cans line each wall. Depending on the time of day, far more customers come in for a single beer in a paper bag (while they can) than for Ethiopian food. But along with the 40 oz. Steel Reserves are no less than five types of Ethiopian beer. At $2.50 a bottle, the retail prices may be Zenebech’s greatest asset. Styrofoam cups are available. Try the Meta.
And the injera? It’s why Zenebech occupies its Florida Avenue corner. Zenebech supplies the stuff to Ethiopian restaurants and stores across the region; they’ll sell it retail to you, too. All this means that the injera is impeccably fresh. Moist and spongy. No dryness or frayed edges. Zenebech was supplying close to 30 local Ethiopian purveyors this summer, though business is down at the moment.
We’re not ready to hand Zenebech the best in D.C. label just yet. We’re eager to try Meaza, praised recently by Cowen and Tom Sietsema. Two blocks away, Etete’s kitchen still earns our praise, and you can be served in their smart dining room for just a dollar or two more per entrée, but you’ll have to leave a tip and you can’t get a $2.50 beer. For an ambiance-free meal (or ambiance-filled if you think beer fridges are pretty), good, filling cheap food, or to supply the injera for your next Ethiopian dinner party, head to Zenebech.
Zenebech Injera
608 T Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
(202)-667-4700