Rahel Millennium Special
By Joshua Lurie
For dineLA.com
Little Ethiopia is a lengthy block of Fairfax packed with restaurants and markets befitting Addis Ababa. Every restaurant serves injera, the sour Ethiopian sponge bread that doubles as your utensil, but you’ll find important distinctions.
Meals By Genet has been the block's beauty queen since 2000. Genet Agonafer's refined restaurant features low-lighting, white tablecloths and Ethiopian art on the walls. She emigrated from Kebena, Ethiopia, and worked for 16 years in LA restaurants to support her family, including seven years at the Bel Age Hotel. She still makes dishes she learned there, including pasta pomodoro, but stick with explosively flavored Ethiopian options like Hirutye's Yebegsiga Alitcha—tender lamb chunks stewed with garlic and ginger. Genet imports sun-dried spices like berbere and mitmita from Ethiopia. Her chicken dorowot stew takes two days to cook and contains hard-boiled egg, red pepper paste and Ethiopian butter. Quell the spice with a bottle of sweet honey wine.
1053 S. Fairfax Ave, 323.938.9304
The graceful African antelope called a Nyala is depicted just inside the entrance of Elizabeth Goshu’s 20-year-old stand-by. It’s best to visit at lunch, when the vegetarian buffet hosts bottomless pans of dishes like Kik Alecha - yellow split peas - and Yatakilt Wot, a turmeric-stained mix of carrots, potatoes and cabbage. Whatever you spoon onto your plate, expect plenty of garlic and ginger. Since Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, conclude your experience with a coffee ceremony for two, where fresh-ground beans are brewed in a clay pot. Frankincense and myrrh are fired on charcoal to unleash complementary aromatics.
1076 S. Fairfax Ave, 323.936.5918
Rahel Woldmedhin moved Messob from La Brea to Fairfax in 1997, and left six years later to open Rahel—which she calls “the only vegan Ethiopian restaurant in the world.” She has the distinction of naming the neighborhood, remembering, “The LA Times came to talk to me and asked me the future for this area. I said, ‘I want this area to be called Little Ethiopia.’” Little by little, people adopted the name. Green upside-down umbrellas hang from the ceiling and you can dine at colorful hand-woven tables known as “messobs.” Woldmedhin’s grandmother taught her to cook in Addis Ababa. Her Millennium Special includes twelve tastes, highlighted by spice-slathered pumpkin and cabbage stew. To drink, the nutty 3D incorporates flax seeds, sunflower seeds and barley, sweetened with agave.
1047 S. Fairfax Ave, 323.937.8401
A wooden giraffe greets you at the entrance of Rosalind's, a community mainstay with yellow walls and thatched “roofs.” Fekere Gebre-Mariam moved his concept from La Cienega in 1989, replacing a West African restaurant. “The area has changed a lot,” he says. “When we came here, it was a very bad area…There were a lot of gangsters who used to run all night, a lot of graffiti.” What changed? Business owners formed the Little Ethiopia Business Association. Now “the future is very bright.” Gebre-Mariam prides himself on Adulus Special Tibs, sizzling strips of beef cooked with onion, jalapeno, garlic salt and a spicy powder called mitmita. You’ll still find African dishes like fried yam balls seasoned with nutmeg.
1044 S. Fairfax Ave, 323.936.2486
For more information about Little Ethiopia, CLICK HERE to learn more about one LA's Hidden Gem Neighborhoods.
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