It’s a little lazy of me, but most of the time when I go to an Ethiopian restaurant, I just order the veggie sampler. You know what I’m talking about. A big, round platter, blanketed with a layer of injera, the spongy flatbread that defines many an Ethiopian dish. I’m a sucker for variety and I hate making decisions, so a roundup of dishes like mesir wot, gomen, and alicha really gets me going. Imagine my carnivorous delight, then, when I saw the menu at Meaza Restaurant in Falls Church.
The combinations at the expansive restaurant, café, and market don’t end with lentils and cabbage. There is more than one dish at Meaza that combines flavorful, meat-filled stews on that expanse of injera. I ordered the key wot and alicha wot combination. The dish is described on the menu as a “combination of mild and regular beef marinated with Ethiopian butter and spices, ginger, onions, and garlic.” But this is only a small picture of what diners will taste.
If you want to spend all day sniffing your fingers to smell niter kibbeh (the aforementioned Ethiopian butter, actually more like ghee) and berbere (Ethiopia’s greatest spice mix) as I did, this is the dish to order. The alicha wot tastes mostly buttery and beefy in a most comforting way. I preferred the spicy but equally rich key wot. However, the greatest pleasure came when I found myself combining both sauces on a single piece of injera. The salad that also occupied the platter, a tangy blend of onion, cabbage, and slices of a green chile, went mostly uneaten, as I tore through the toothsome flesh.
The best thing about visiting Meaza, though, is the convenient presence of its market. I walked feet away from my table to buy berbere and mitmita (a blend of hot chile powders). I even contemplated bringing home some injera. Because one meaty feast deserves another, this time made at home.
5700 Columbia Pike, Falls Church
Feature image by Alice Levitt
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