Updated: Unfortunately, Ethiopian Restaurant has closed permanently.

We both grew up in the Cooperstown, NY area. Now, if you’ve ever been to Cooperstown, you know it’s a very small town surrounded by even smaller towns and lots of fields. Sure, there were a few smallish cities not too far away but in general Cooperstown is the epitome of small town America. Small towns have a lot of advantages, and we both have fond memories of growing up in one. However, if you’re looking for ethnic cuisine, then you’re probably not going to find it in a small town. After all, Cooperstown didn’t even have a Chinese restaurant until the early 1990s (and then oddly, all of a sudden, it had two).

Which is why one of the things we really value about living in Fort Wayne is the large array of ethnic dining to be found. We both love trying new things, plus we’ve found that if you really want to learn about a culture the two most direct routes for doing so are through its music and its food. So, as you might imagine, we were delighted to read about the opening of the Ethiopian Restaurant a few months ago and wanted to visit it right away. As things usually work out though, one thing led to another, and “right away” ended up being four months later. Honestly though, after tasting Ethiopian Restaurant’s food, we’re sad we waited so long.

We finally found our way to E State Blvd and Ethiopian Restaurant a couple of Saturdays back and were happily surprised to find it packed and everybody looked as if they were enjoying their food. Ethiopian Restaurant is a family affair run by Girma and Genet Hussen who were both on hand taking orders, serving, and guiding uninformed diners through the menu. The family atmosphere is appropriate to the Ethiopian eating experience. It’s a social thing, with everyone at the table sharing a communal plate, scooping up the food with pieces of injera bread. Ah, the injera! It’s the defining element in the Ethiopian equation. If you like it (or, in Catherine’s case, want to marry it), it’s the perfect medium for the food and if you don’t like it, well, that’s a problem.

We decided to order the Doro Wat (a chicken dish with a drumstick and a hard boiled egg) because Catherine had had it in the past and knew it was a sure thing, the Yesiga Wat (a sweet beef stew seasoned with ginger and simmered in berbere sauce) and the Gomen (fresh collard greens sauteed with garlic and ginger). Our order was served, as is the tradition, on a large piece of injera along with Tikl Gomen (a lightly spiced cabbage), assorted vegetables and boiled potatoes. Plenty of injera was also provided on the side. Quite frankly, Leo wasn’t wild about the meal. Having never had Ethiopian cuisine before, he wasn’t sure what to expect. While he quite enjoyed the stews and veggies, he just couldn’t find it within himself to love the injera in quite the same way as Catherine does.

Catherine, on the other hand, couldn’t have been more pleased with the meal. After a long hiatus, she had just eaten at an Ethiopian restaurant in NYC and found the Fort Wayne venue to be completely on a par. The doro wat, her standby, was mildly spicy and delicious and the beef dish which Leo chose was unexpectedly good. It was also on the spicy side and very tender. The collard greens, however, were another point of contention. Initially we both found them overly bitter, but they grew on Leo as the meal went on. Catherine though could have done without them.

While Catherine and Leo were divided on the food, they were happily united on the dark and potent coffee.It had a robust, woodsy flair and reminded us of a very smooth espresso. The meal was certainly enhanced by Genet’s artful performance of the traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony which involved the burning of copal while she roasted and ground the beans and then brewed the coffee. Not your usual cup o’ joe.

Overall, Ethiopian Restaurant is a place we’d recommend. It’s true that Ethiopian cuisine may not be for everyone, but you owe it to yourself to expand your horizons and give it a try. You also owe it to the community to support and celebrate the wide variety of ethnic food options that are available to us in the Fort. Admittedly, the decor is spartan. Still, don’t be put off by its unassuming appearance. Ethiopian Restaurant provides a window into a rich culture beyond its suburban strip mall facade. Four out of five garlic bulbs.

Ethiopian Restaurant
2805 East State Boulevard
Fort Wayne, IN 46805
(260) 483-9787
Monday: Closed
Tuesday – Thursday: 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Friday & Saturday: 11:00 am – 11:00 pm
Sunday: 11:00 am – 8:30 pm
($6.99 lunch special every Tuesday – Friday)

This review was co-authored by Catherine and Leo.

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Each time you visit one of the participating restaurants you’ll get a stamp for your card. Collect eight stamps and you’ll be entered into a contest for a VIP Party for you and all of your friends at Columbia Street West plus a night’s stay at the downtown Hilton.

To get your free Downtown Dining Club Card, just visit any one of the participating restaurants and you’ll get your card right along with your meal. Nothing could be simpler, and you get to save a few shekels while enjoying some seriously good eats and supporting your local restaurateurs. Everybody wins.

Hmm… And lunch is only an hour away…

Read on for the full list of participating restaurants…

Downtown Dining Club Participating Restaurants

• 1020 Bistro
  1020 S. Calhoun Street
  Buy one entrée, get one FREE.
• 816 Pint ‘n’ Slice
  816 S. Calhoun Street
  FREE soda with purchase of pizza slice.
• Bourbon Street Hideaway
  135 W. Columbia
  FREE appetizer or dessert. Tues/Wed/Thurs only. Limit one per table.
• Casa D’Angelo
  3402 Fairfield Ave
  FREE bottle of Casa salad dressing with the purchase of any monthly feature.
• Cindy’s Diner
  830 S. Harrison Street
  The “Garbage” Breakfast special, buy one get one HALF PRICE.
• Club Soda
  235 E Superior Street
  $10 OFF Dinner for two. Valid Monday–Thursday 4-10PM.
• Columbia Street West
  135 W. Columbia Street
  Buy one menu item, get 2nd item of equal or lesser value HALF OFF.
• Cut’z Restaurant
  1020 S. Calhoun Street
  Buy one entrée, get one FREE.
• Dash-In
  814 S. Calhoun Street
  FREE fountain drink with purchase of a lunch entrée.
• Deli 620
  620 S. Calhoun Street
  Buy one sandwich and get $2.00 OFF the second sandwich.
• Don Hall’s Gas House
  305 E Superior Street
  FREE dessert with purchase of entrée.
• Henry’s
  536 W. Main Street
  Buy one dinner entrée and get $2 OFF the second entrée. Sunday or Monday only.
• Higher Grounds
  101 W. Wayne Street
  FREE drip coffee or HALF OFF any espresso drink.
• JK O’Donnells
  121 W. Wayne Street
  One FREE regular dessert with minimum food purchase of $12.
• Lincoln Tower Soda Fountain
  116 E Berry
  Free soda fountain drink with purchase of a sandwich.
• Loaf and Ladle
  817 S. Calhoun Street
  Buy a lunch entrée and get a cookie for 50¢.
• The Oyster Bar
  1830 S. Calhoun Street
  FREE slice of Banquet du jour cheesecake with purchase of a lunch or dinner entrée.
• Park Place
  200 E Main Street
  FREE white chocolate symphony, our signature dessert, with purchase of entrée.
• Peony Tea House
  503 W. Wayne Street
  FREE pastry with purchase of a lunch.
• Takaoka of Japan
  305 E Superior Street
  FREE dessert with purchase of entrée.
• Toscani Pizzeria
  120 W. Wayne Street
  Lunch: Buy one lunch special, get the second HALF OFF.
  Dinner: Buy one pasta entrée, get 2nd HALF OFF.
• Window Garden
  1300 One Summit Square
  Buy one lunch special and get a 2nd of equal value FREE.

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Our strategy to beat the crowds by coming for lunch worked out beautifully with only a handful of other families there enjoying their meal when we arrived. Of course, we missed out on the opportunity to partake of the complimentary Magna Doodles provided for those guests with limited attention spans because the friendly wait-staff promptly took our order. We decided to go with the Toasted Ravioli for starters, followed up by splitting one of Casa’s famous salads. For our main course, Catherine sacrificed her favorite Melanzane Parmigiano for the good of the cause and ordered the Capellini Con Funghi Fresca. Meanwhile, Leo had the Rigatoni Carne Al Forno. Since we knew we were going to feast on Mexican candy and cheap wine later (you’ll learn about that soon enough) we decided to stick with water and pass on dessert, but the Quadruple Chocolate Mousse Pie was tempting.

We both enjoyed the Toasted Ravioli, a decidedly kid-friendly dish. It’s not too filling, with a mild flavor that doesn’t overwhelm the rest of the meal. Casa Salad is, needless to say, famous in the Fort and the dressing, which you can buy in the foyer, deserves all the accolades accorded to it. However, both of us thought the salad was a bit too dressing drenched for its own good. Not that we minded.

Catherine was delighted with her bold departure from Casa tradition. The capellini had great mushroom flavor (pleasing both Catherine and Leo who can’t get enough of either mushrooms or garlic) and there was just enough of the light, olive oil based sauce for the mushrooms and pasta to play happily together. Leo enjoyed his baked rigatoni, sausage and pepperoni but he did think it was a little too salty, although not overbearingly so. This seemed like the kind of dish your little, old Italian grandmother would make for you, should you be so lucky as to have one.

With the check coming to less than $25 this was, quite simply, a superior meal. While it would be easy to talk solely about the food, a big part of the Casa appeal is the atmosphere. The decor pulls off the remarkable feat of going right up to the line of kitsch without crossing it. The effect is a warm and charming setting which is out of the ordinary yet completely comfortable. We both left Casa’s with the sense that it was an hour well filled with good food and content in the knowledge that this dependably pleasant experience is only ever a few blocks away (no matter where you are in Fort Wayne). Five out of five garlic bulbs.

Casa D’Angelo
3402 Fairfield Avenue
Fort Wayne, IN 46807
260-745-7200
Monday – Thursday 11:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Friday & Saturday 11:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Closed Sunday
http://casa4pasta.com

This review was co-authored by Catherine and Leo

Updated: Some of you are coming here looking for a recipe for Casa salad. While we can’t provide you with the actual recipe we think this one is pretty close:  DIY Casa salad.

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I loathe bus stations – terrible places, full of lost luggage and lost souls.

— The Doctor

I’ve always loved that quote from Doctor Who. Having traveled by bus a fair bit it certainly rings true for me. The thing is though, it could apply equally well to supermarkets. Well, not literally but the spirit of the quote applies I think. You see, I enjoy food and I adore the time I spend with Catherine cooking but I really detest supermarkets. It’s a bit of a running joke in our relationship how much I hate going shopping.

But I can’t help it. Supermarkets are dreadful, dreary places and everybody there seems to want to be somewhere else. Which is kind of odd considering how so many people can be found parked in the middle of the aisle having endless cellphone consultations about what sort of ketchup to buy. And then there’s the whole organizational thing. I understand why supermarkets are laid out the way they are but I can’t help but think of it as a personal affront that I have to traverse the entire length of the supermarket and back again just to get a quart of milk. I won’t even go into the numerous indignities to be suffered while waiting in line.

Thus Marketing Daily’s report on a new study that shows people will be increasingly choosing to shop at a number of smaller, specialized grocery outlets comes as no surprise to me. As Susan Reda, executive editor of the industry magazine Stores says,

“Grocery retailers answered the call to build bigger, more efficient one-stop shops where their customers could buy merchandise and groceries in the same place. Now, the pendulum seems to be swinging back, as consumers are saying they prefer more intimate, smaller, customized grocery stores.“

Unfortunately, large grocery retailers are responding not with more logical, compartmentalized layouts but with amounts to in-store fast food restaurants as they add separate entrances and dedicated checkouts for prepared foods.

Fortunately though, Fort Wayne has a large number of smaller ethnic grocery stores servicing our large Hispanic and Asian communities. These are great places to not only get that hard-to-find ingredient for that special Thai dish you’re making but all around nice places to shop in general. And let’s not forget Three Rivers Co-Op. I might wish they didn’t sell homeopathic remedies, and they are on the pricey side, but their food can’t be beat. Why not give one of our smaller grocery stores a try? You just might discover something new and you’re almost sure to avoid clueless drones phoning home from the ketchup aisle.

In the coming months Catherine and I hope to profile some of the smaller grocery stores (and some of the big ones too) in the area and let you know what we find. Keep on reading or subscribe to our feed to be notified of new posts.

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There were no less than three large-screen flat-panel TVs in Granite City’s dining room. I can see why this rubbed Scott the wrong way, it certainly would me. I’m not a luddite or some anti-television crusader. Indeed, I think amidst the sea of excrement there are more than a few jewels. Besides, I have my guilty pleasures too. But, and I think the many would agree with me, I don’t want TV inescapably forced on me (and how can it be anything but inescapable when there’s three of the damn things) at my dinner table! Especially when I’m paying through the nose for the damn dinner!

OK, perhaps I’m channeling my inner curmudgeon. However, a night out is meant to be special. It’s meant to be a time away from the distractions of everyday life and a time for pleasant conversation and a good meal with friends and loved ones. So why would Granite City think that anyone wants to have that time intruded upon, and distracted from, by TV?

Almost forty years ago that professional curmudgeon Harlan Ellison described television as The Glass Teat. As he noted in the introduction to his volume of television criticism, the book wasn’t really about television so much as it was about “… the stupidity of much of our culture“. Granite City’s choice to foist television viewing onto its’ dinner patrons, presumably because the chain believes that’s what people want, only goes to show that not much has changed.

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