Based on the Injeera thread popping up, I was thinking Ethiopian after seeing a play at Ashby Stage - and hadn’t had Ethiopian in forever. GF had it once, but Ethiopian is very poorly represented on the peninsula and san jose, so we poked around on Y*lp a bit, and found Lemat well reviewed nearby and open late … but it wasn’t open late, there was no one there so they closed early. We ended up at Cafe Eritrea d’Afrique, one of the older school places, which is at about 40th and Telegraph, and had a bang-up meal. The spices could have been a bit brighter, but the injeera had that satisfying tang without being overwhelming, and everything was very good. We sat at the bar and were served by a woman who could only be the owner, and probably her daughter. Most of the language around us was not English, and the place was hopping - at 10pm Saturday we snagged the only seats in the house
. We got a “special platter for 2” which was really enough for 3 to 4, so we took a lot home. They had some kind of Ethiopian “craft beer” ( St Johns? ) that was simply a beer made with a bit more malt and better ingredients.
The hipsters, or even old “foodies” like me, hadn’t invaded yet. It was like eating in the Oakland I love, with locals, cooked by locals.
When I used to live in the area, I mostly ended up at Asmara at 51st because it was closest to my house. There is/was Red Sea across from the Kingfisher, there was a place further up near where my drummer used to live… but all that info is more than a decade old.
The point of writing - what’s the state of play for Ethiopian along Telegraph these days?