Author: ENU

Abesha Ethiopian
4929 Shattuck Ave. @51^st St., Oakland, CA 
Their website is very flaky: http://www.abeshacuisine.com. Yelp reviews at: http://www.yelp.com/biz/abesha-ethiopian-cuisine-oakland 
Review date: October 2012

Yes, I know…another Ethiopian/Eritrean review! They're everywhere in Alameda County these days, so we are far from finished. We've done seven of them over the last few years, but there are still six remaining to cross off our list, before we can say which one of these injera restaurants we like best. And that's only in Oakland, LOL.

We've been past Abesha a zillion times but never realized it. It's an obvious case of tunnel vision, because once you know it's there, the sign is definitely noticeable. We can't even use the excuse that their sign is painted, not neon, so it doesn't show up well in the dark, because 95% of the time we're in this immediate area, it's during midday.

Once we realized our error, we scheduled dinner to try out Abesha with my niece Suko and her husband Peter, with whom we'd gone to Cafe Eritrea two months ago. On a Tuesday evening there was no need to make a reservation. Parking is easy at night (and correspondingly more difficult during the daytime when Abesha serves lunch, because of the types of businesses in the strip mall across the street, including the neighborhood post office). 

Peter ordered the shurro, Abesha's version of Eritrean shiro, the garbanzo bean stew. Suko and I both opted for the vegetarian platter. Carlos picked the mixed meat platter, and asked that his order and mine be combined family-style. Suko requested her and Peter's orders also be combined, but in the friendly-but-sloppy-service that afflicts so many of these restaurants, the waitress not only missed Suko's request, she missed Peter's order entirely! 

Fortunately Abesha, like Eritrea and Red Sea, properly stews/braises all their entrees. So once we managed to get the waitress' attention (which wasn't easy) she brought the shurro within a few minutes so that we all had our food.

There are seven vegetarian entrees; Abesha lets you choose any five. This is a nice change from the set platters so many other places have, where no substitutions are allowed. In the early days of Ethiopian restaurants (well before Eritrea split off from Ethiopia), all the restaurants allowed you to mix whatever you wanted in various combinations of meat and vegetable entrees. 

We became accustomed to this, although it probably wasn't traditional, and really miss this flexibility. We love the vegetarian food, but we like a mix of the different dishes, not just one dish at a time. We appreciated seeing a note on Abesha's menu that you can order sides of any vegetarian dish for a modest $2.95/each.

(Note: I can't guarantee that I have the correct names for some of these; there's slight differences between Ethiopian and Eritrean names for many dishes)

For my Veggie Combo, I picked Mushroom Wot, Shurro, collard greens, yellow split peas, and the cabbage & potatoes.
-  Mushroom Wot: thick sliced crimini mushrooms in a spicy sauce. I liked this, Carlos was okay with it, Suko was surprised by the amount of chiles, Peter didn't like it.
-  Shurro: this garbanzo bean puree was almost bright red with spicy chiles – more like Yemisir Wot. But otherwise it was one-dimensional in flavor compared to the exquisite (non-spicy) version Cafe Eritrea made. Peter also likes Cafe Colucci's version of this dish, which we haven't tried yet. Carlos was fine with it, while I agreed with Peter.
-  Gommen: collard greens. Both Carlos and I liked Abesha's version. It was nice that they were generous with the portion, too, since this is one of our favorites. 
-  Kik Alicha: yellow split peas. Again, both Carlos and I liked this, but I can't think of an Eth/Er restaurant where we don't, LOL. 
-  Atakilt Wot:  Cabbage & potatoes. I couldn't find any potatoes, which wasn't a problem as the cabbage was properly cut (1" square dice, not too large or too small) and very tasty. This is always one of my favorite vegetarian dishes, and it goes very well with the spicy braised meats.

Carlos' Meat Platter was a combination of the Beef Wot, Yebeg Alicha, and Yedoro Wot. 
-  Beef Wot: beef cubes simmered in seasoned red pepper sauce, onion and garlic, flavored with spices. The cubes were more like shreds, which is easier when you're eating with your fingers. This reminded me of the zigne at Eritrea and Red Sea, but not quite as good.
-  Yebeg Alicha Wot: lamb stew seasoned with spiced curry onions, garlic, ginger and jalapeno pepper. We like mutton, so the strong gamy flavor of Abesha's lamb was fine with us. Carlos really liked this dish, because he prefers mutton to lamb. I preferred Red Sea's version, and even Eritrea's chicken alicha. It's good, but not quite as complex on the spicing as their competitors' version.
-  Yedoro Wot is the Ethiopian equivalent of the Sebhi Dorho we had at Red Sea, a spicy chicken dish prepared with sautéed onions, spiced butter and flavored with special spices. There's a chicken drumstick and a hard-boiled egg. Supposedly it has cottage or farmer's cheese on it, but we didn't see any. Carlos loved this – he's always loved hard-boiled eggs in a spicy or curry sauce, one of his fondest childhood memories of Hong Kong street food. I was okay with it, although I preferred Eritrea's Beef Wot.

Afterwards, the four of us agreed that although the food is good, there's no one dish at Abesha which is exciting or that really stands out in our minds. Abesha's cooking is competent, but not complex. It's workman-like and the injera is very good, thin and tender, stretchy and just the right tanginess to it. Carlos liked it more than the rest of us did, and I agree that their willingness to let you add vegetarian sides for a nominal sum earns them an extra star. 

We'd like to see more of the Eth/Er restaurants go back to doing this. It's annoying that if I went to Red Sea and wanted to order the garbanzo beans, okra, collard greens, and spicy chicken, I'd have to pay for four separate entrees. When one considers that almost all of Eth/Er restaurant dishes are long-simmered stews that can be held for several days, it would seem tailor-made for pre-fixe menu pricing, or a "two from Column A and one from Column B" option. 

Ah, well. So far we've liked most of the Eth/Er restaurants we've tried, we just haven't liked everything equally well at any of them. The best dishes have been the shiro and kitfo at Cafe Eritrea, the lamb alicha and bamiya at Red Sea, and the beef samosas with red chile sauce at Enssaro (who also shows a refreshing flexibility about ordering small sides of various dishes). We do feel the injera at Abesha is very good and would come back for the Yedoro Wot and Atakilt Wot. YaYu on Lakeshore Ave. (reviewed Sept. 2010) and Messob on Piedmont Ave. (reviewed February 2010) are a full level below these competitors, and we wouldn't return to either one.

No matter which injera restaurant you go to, they are possibly the best bargain ethnic meal in the Bay Area. The tab for the four of us was less than Carlos and I pay for lunch at many places. As long as you like injera and spicy stews, your dollar goes a lot further at these places than anywhere else, even taquerias.

Four people: three platters, one entree, one beverage, with tip was a mere $60.