lalibela, amma, & el rinconcito -- three restaurants recommendations

dc makes a great lab to try foods from all over the world. so follow me on a selective three-course-meal through africa, asia, and latin america.














lalibela
-- p & 14 streets, northwest

i was promised red flavorful lentils, warned of spongy bread, and had seen it advertised all over north west and east washington dc -- ethiopean food. finally i got a chance to try. the menu offered many beef and lamb dishes and comparatively fewer vegetarian options.












but the "vegetable combinación" turned out to be a good choice. it offered color- and flavorful portions: starting counterclockwise with the big circle of yellow lentils in front, creamy spinach, spiced potatoes, ground peas, cabbage with carrots, and tomato and onion salad. in the middle were brown lentils, which were the hottest of all samples but not too hot. in terms of taste most spice mixtures reminded me of indian food except for the cabbage and fresh tomato cubes.

see in the upper right hand corner the pieces of bread? it turned out to be just as spongy as promised. it also served as the bed for the vegetables and pulses and is a very thin, flexible layer of dough similar to a crepe but slightly sour in taste, of rubbery substance, and cold. it was perfect to mob up the boiled veggies and filling to the stomach.

one of us ordered a salad and it was a pretty basic mixture of lettuce, onion, tomatoes, and cucumbers but looked fresh. everything was served promptly and our water glasses were barely empty. just having been there once i would definitely go back and maybe try one of the other vegetables dishes. although with the sample platter i feel like i already tasted every vegetarian option there is.














amma
-- 3191 m street, northwest

with simple blue tape in a nondescript building along one of georgetown's shopping axis, this establishment on the second floor was recommended by my personal restaurant guide in the city.
it's hard to forgo south indian food as it often stands for vegetarian only dishes. you don't have to worry about sorting out the meat dishes from the menu, you can order everything!! (just beware of the cilantro...)


















for starters we picked two cutely pyramid-shaped samosas -- these are deep-fried dough pockets filled with spiced potatoes and peas. they came with two dips: a bright green mildly hot mint-cilantro chutney and an extremely tasty shiny brown tamarind sauce. despite my disinclination toward the herb, i enjoyed the sauce.

because the samosas were so delicious and rather small, we gulped them down greedily before i could take a photo. after satisfying our worst hunger, we were more patient to consider the dosai menu. the dosai came in different flavors, that is made with a dough from different flours and lentils. the waiter was happy to explain some of them to us. our orders came promptly.












i chose the rolled dosai, a paneer dosai that contained shredded indian cheese and peas. the cheese is indeed fried and spiced milk solid. my dosai was so crispy that i had a hard time folding pieces to dip them in the sambar (the soup at the side) or to grab some of the juicy coconut chutney at the side. jerone picked a mysore masala dosai. it came with a layer of chutney worked inside the dough of the dosai, which was softer and more flexible to use it between thumb and fingers to take some of the mashed potatoes and onions from the filling from inside his triangular dish. there was no room for dessert. but we shall return. it was a nice restaurant experience for food, service, price, and location.




















el rinconcito
--1326 park road, northwest

this el salvadorean place offers tasty pupusas, dough pockets filled with cheese and with or without meat. the choices without meat are hard to distinguish from each other. one variety comes with a green herb that between my spanish and the waitress's english we never could identify. likewise, when the order came after a while it was hard to find the much talked about flower either.

generously, one order of these heavy pockets comes in threes. but just one or two of them will do the job for a regular meal according to my stomach. they are served with a deliciously marinated salad of shredded white cabbage and carrots at the side. this reminded me a lot of the Rohkostsalat [raw slightly sour marinated cabbage] germans eat for snacks. a spicy red sauce completes the dish.

it's a nice fairly inexpensive snack you can enjoy sitting down or as a take away when you happen to be in columbia heights. look for the "little corner" just across from the giant supermarket.