DCist: Tibs The Season

slinkerton

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 12:30:47 -0500

I don't understand all the hype for Etete either. Their food, the whole experience of eating there, is so unremarkable. Especially when the best is right across the street at Queen Makeda's.

yonas

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 20:08:14 -0500

Ummm....Etete isn't even that good. Seriously, people. I have no clue where the hype comes from.

fuzio

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 19:51:05 -0500

Naah... Samantha Brown didn't do anything for the place it wasn't already doing for itself. Except that bit about people feeding each other by hand as customary... What a bunch'a hulla balloo !

monkeyrotica

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:28:24 -0500

Etete has been going gangbusters since Samantha Brown planted her sweet little ass down over a plate of kitfo. Mmmmm. Samantha Brown's ass and kitfo.

fuzio

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:17:27 -0500

What kind of review of Ethiopian Restaurants in DC forgets Etete ?? You're not done buddy !! plain and simple.

JonboyDC

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:22:07 -0500

The real question is why there isn't even one Ethiopian or Eritrean restaurant in this town that delivers? Even Takeout Taxi doesn't deliver any Ethiopian. It's just depressing.

edenman

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:59:40 -0500

The tibs in the photo are at the 7-8 o'clock position, but don't show up well because they were the stew-like preparation at Awash.

kylecc

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:43:55 -0500

oops. correcting last post "there is none better than dukem" should be "there is none better than madjet" damn flu...

kylecc

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:39:50 -0500

happy to see madjet getting its due respect here. up until november 2007, i had lived in DC for almost 10 years. in that time, i had made it a point to try every ethiopian restaurant in the city, several times over. at some point in time, my buddy and i made a decision to try madjet, and well, we just never looked back. almost universally, when you ask ethiopians what ethiopian restaurant in DC they recommend, and they'll usually say Dukem, but then you ask them what they think of Madjet, and they usually back up like they almost made a mistake recommending Dukem in the first place, and admit that Madjet is their favoirte. there is none better than dukem. on top of the extremely friendly owner who tends to work 12-14 hour days actually cooking the food with his wife, they also have the best tibs in the city. i'm jealous now because i don't live in DC, and i never got to try bambolino tibs as someone else mentioned, but i can heartily attest to what is the best meal in all of DC: Madjets Lamb Tibs on top of Shuro.... oh man, San Francisco just doesn't compare... I miss Madjet... yes, I'm obsessed. I'm coming back to DC for the inauguration, and you can bet Madjet is on this list of stops. oh, and Etete? pshaw! it's good, but nothing compares to Madjet. Or as the locals say, Maaadjet.

14thandYou

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:28:20 -0500

"I will definitely say skip Lalibela in Logan Circle...however it does have a nice patio and is ideally located for a night at galleries/theatre/whatevs." Quite the contrary, I say go to Lalibela. Along with Queen of Sheba, it's our favorite Ethiopian place in the city. (Of course it helps that we're only blocks away.) Personally, I find Dukem a bit overrated. Not bad, but I prefer Lalibela and the Queen. IMO, the Lalibela tibs are da bomb.

ricky d

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:00:28 -0500

Etete is the best Ethiopian restaurant in the city. The ranking can't be complete without them.

EdTheRed

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:52:33 -0500

@Ian Buckwalter: yep, such is the Power of the kitfo that it even hijacked the photo - no tibs in sight. Agree with dcavocado re: Lalibela - not the best food, but it's at least decent, they're friendly, it's got good outdoor seating, and it's about 1,000 times easier to get a table there for a large group than at places with admittedly better food, like Dukem and Etete. Zenebech is crazy good - like, maybe an order of magnitude better than anywhere else I've tried, but they've only got a few seats, and they've only got an off-license for beer. I just call ahead and get it to go.

Ian Buckwalter

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:46:06 -0500

The kitfo at the center of that picture is making me so hungry. EdtheRed has the right idea; it's all about the kitfo.

dcavocado

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:42:12 -0500

Lalibela may not have the best food but I'm a regular since it's near work and they're super friendly and always give me more food than I ordered. I have also been to almost all the Ethiopian restaurants in DC (I eat Ethiopian about once or twice a week). My favorites are Queen Makeda and Axum which are across each other on 9th street.

ChickenArise

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:33:44 -0500

Mmm, I think that I need to undertake a version of this experiment, too. I haven't had Ethiopian in too long! The Ethiopian restaurant in Crystal City was good when I went. For German, the European Bistro has some decent meat and spaetzle offerings. They also have a good bar upstairs.

fuzio

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:31:00 -0500

My Man ! You gonna talk TIBS and INJERA in DC but forget ETETE ?.. FAIL.

Stockard Channing

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:11:06 -0500

I will definitely say skip Lalibela in Logan Circle...however it does have a nice patio and is ideally located for a night at galleries/theatre/whatevs.

NotTheRedBaron

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:03:18 -0500

Hey Out on an island, For German, I like Old Europe on Wisconsin Ave. Just north of Georgetown. The only other German Restaurants I know of in DC are Cafe Mozart and Cafe Berlin. I think Old Europe is better than the others. If you go, try the roast Ham hock!

out_on_an_island

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:57:04 -0500

OK, my Ethiopian co-worker says that Dukem is her favorite place in the city, and Maaza in NoVa is good as well. The city has plenty of African and Asian restaurants. Can anyone recommend some good German restaurants in the city (or burbs)?

hungeegirl

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:54:25 -0500

mmm, the absense of etete makes me want to eat it all the more.

EdTheRed

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:51:09 -0500

Tibs, schmibs. It's all about the kitfo, and Zenebech Injera makes the best kitfo. Mmmmmm, spicy raw beef mixed with clarified butter - *drool*.

Sexy Fitsum

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:50:06 -0500

zip car down to Skyline Cafe on South George Mason Drive in Alexandria. worth the trip. There's also another one off Columbia Road that begins with a "D". They provided alot of the catering @ my sister's wedding including the tibs -- otherworldly good. I think it was Dahma

out_on_an_island

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:46:44 -0500

My co-worker is from Ethiopia. I'll have to ask her where the best food is in this area. She says she hardly ever pays for cabs in the city.

run_for_the_hills

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:29:47 -0500

monkey Most def it was packed. It is always packed, that is the downside of being good at what you do. Some advice, don't smell the honey wine, just drink it.

edenman

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:29:24 -0500

monkey: Etete was on the schedule but I ran out of time. yonas: Nice, I'll add those to my list of places to try.

yonas

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:25:26 -0500

I've been to almost every Ethiopian restaurant in DC and here is my take on the tibbs: Habesha Market on 9th street has the best. Hands down (in my opinion). They have a few tibbs dishes, so to be more specific, it's the Goden Tibs that rocks the house down. Madjet on U Street is a very close second, but their best tibbs dish isn't even on the menu! But I'll let you non-Ethios in on the secret: the next time you're there, order the Bombolino Tibbs, which is their house tibbs dish, but made with tenderloin instead. It's expensive. But damn worth it. A very honorable mention is Selam Restaurant on U Street in between 15th and 16th. This place is technically an Eritrean restaurant, but hey - we're all one in my eyes. Anyhow, order their house tibbs dish and you'll be blown away....their MO is that they actually add a bit of wot in with it, and it's fantastic. A second honorable mention is yet another Eritrean restaurant called Zula on 9th Street. They also have a few tibbs dishes, but their BEST one is Zilzil Tibbs. Get it. Eat it. Love it. That's my two cents. I'm a self-styled resident expert, so I hope my advice leads to many delicious meals in the future :P

monkeyrotica

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:24:11 -0500

Although Ethiopian food tends to be characterized by the braised or stewed dishes called wat, tibs is a dish that resembles a stir-fry. Actually, I'd characterize it as "eating babyfood with dishrags." I kid! I kid! This monkey loves him some kitfo. Just gotta remember it do a bowl of All Bran when I get back to the slammin crib, otherwise I have a hard time "releasing the kaiser." Etete is conspicuously absent from the tibs list? Me thinks it was too damned crowded, perchance? Or perhaps they failed to pay a dcist kickback?