If you love Ethiopian food, there’s no better city to live in the U.S. than Washington D.C. The Post has reported the Ethiopian embassy estimates D.C. is home to 200,000 people of Ethiopian descent, the largest concentration out of the country. For years Ethiopian cuisine in the city was dominated by Zed’s in Georgetown and Fasika’s, Meskerem and a handful of others in Adams Morgan. However, recently a number of eateries along U Street have been attracting most of the attention. Led by Dukem, the concentration of eateries in the area inspired the Post to dub the neighborhood Little Ethiopia. You may remember that way back in August we observed the neighborhood could be Little Addis Ababa, but the name didn’t seem to stick.

In past experiences we found uninspired food at Zed’s, slightly better at Addis Ababa and Meskerem, and by far the best at Dukem. On Saturday we stopped by Etete (pronounced “teh-teh”), located adjacent DC9 at 1942 9th Street NW. The small and tastefully decorated restaurant only has one basket (where we sat), some tables, and a small bar in the back. They also offer live music Thursday through Sunday, but the musician had just arrived at 10 p.m. as we were leaving. We sampled a platter of doro wat (chicken with spicy seasoning), derek tibs (a beef dish), and gomen (collard greens and spices). The Doro Wat was good, however with only one drumstick it was a smaller serving size than we expected, and the tibs and gomen were very good. All the food was brought out in small serving dishes and placed on our tray at the basket, a nice touch we had not seen before. The berbere served on our tray was very spicy, as it should be. Finally, the injera — a spongy whole wheat sourdough bread made with the Ethiopian grain teff — was fresh and flavorful.

Although the food was satisfying, the most pleasant surprise at Etete was the honey wine, an Ethiopian specialty. The honey wines we had previously tasted were fairly straight forward — clear, sweet wines, with a straightforward bouquet. However, Etete’s was unlike any we had tried. It was unfiltered and had a dusky color and a complex flavor that didn’t end too sweet like we have experienced in the past. The entire dinner ran $20 per person for a group of three. Although Little Ethiopia contains many other options we need to try, we would certainly recommend Etete to anyone looking for high quality Ethiopian cuisine in an intimate setting.