A One-Day Ethiopian Restaurant in Charleston
If You Go: Guest Chef Ethiopian Night at the Bluegrass Kitchen, 1600 Washington St. E., starting 5:30 p.m., Wed., Dec. 20. Vegetarian $17.95, and $21.95 for the chicken dish. Reservations at 346-2871.
There are some international cuisines deprived Mountain Staters crave and will make a beeline toward once they hit a place like Washington, D.C. Thai food used to be one, at least until a couple small Thai outfits opened locally. And Ethiopian? Fuggetabout it.
But, wait! For one day — this Wednesday, Dec. 20 — fans of Ethiopian food can get a fix when the Bluegrass Kitchen in Charleston’s East End serves up another of its Guest Chef nights, starting 5:30 p.m. and running “until we run out of food,” says the restaurant’s Keeley Steele.
You can sort of tell from guest chef Marybeth Beller’s name she is not Ethiopian. But Beller, a Marshall University political science professor, is an avid cook, a quick learn in the kitchen and a serious fan of the spicy, communal meals found in Ethiopian restaurants. “I fell in love with Ethiopian food on visits to Washington, D.C.,” said Beller, who is married to Gazette columnist and W.Va. State University poli-sci prof Gerald Beller. “When we had a child, I realized our trips to D.C. were going to be greatly curtailed.” So, she she sought out an Ethiopian cookbook and began doing some edible homework.
Both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishs will be the served, she said in a phone interview. “Ethiopian foods are generally cooked down into thick stews and eaten with a sponge-like bread called injera. One tears the injera and uses it to sort of scoop up the stews.”
She’ll serve doro wat, a thick, spicy chicken stew; carrot alecha, which is not hot to the palate like a wat is but is seasoned with lots of onions and ginger in a tomato sauce; and a cabbage alecha, cooked in much the same manner. “The final dish is iab – it’s a very soft cheese with some mild herbs that people eat often to calm the palate from the spiciness of the wat,” said Beller.
Patrons can eat their meals communally as traditional Ethiopians do, where everyone’s meal comes together on one large platter and people share, she said. “Or, if they prefer, they can certainly have an individual plate for themselves.” (The regular Bluegrass Kitchen menu will also be available that night.)
The Winfield native was a guest chef once before at Bluegrass Kitchen, for a night of Persian cooking this summer. Some people of Persian stock sampled her dishes and approved, she said. The same ethnic acid test will take place Wednesday night. “I understand from Kelley we’ll have a few Ethiopians there. I don’t claim expertise in anything—I just like to play. I’m hoping, number one, they’ll enjoy it. And, number two, they’ll help me perfect the art.
“Maybe they’ll help train us how to do it on a more professional scale in Charleston. Because it’d be great to have it here. Ethiopian food is so wonderful. It’s so delicious.”
– By Douglas Imbrogno
January 2nd, 2007 at 10:09 am
[…] This is what Charleston needs more of. Not exotic ethnic food, but restaurant owners willing to take a chance, and bring us something different, even for just one night. While I haven’t market researched or focus grouped this, I would bet that an Ethiopian restaurant would never fly in this town. But judging by the crowd, if not the food, the recent Ethiopian Night at the Bluegrass Kitchen was a hit. […]