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The Ethiopian Restaurants of Columbia Pike

Inspired by articles of women-owned restaurants in the area I decided, a while back, to Goldilocks style it and try out three of the Ethiopian restaurants of the Pike, each owned and run by women.  The choices were:  Dama Pastry and Restaurant (1505 Columbia Pike), Bethel Cafe (3045 Columbia Pike) and Meaza Restaurant (5700 Columbia Pike).  A note:  Dama and Bethel show up with different names on a Google search -- Ethio and Ayana respectively.  The "Greens and Teff" vegan Ethiopian appears to have vanished or merged with Bethel/Ayana (???)  In any case, I got a veggie combo at each location and a Sambusa at Bethel and Meaza.  Each dish came with roughly the same items -- a salad option (often shredded cabbage), yellow and red lentil mixes, a veg option (potatoes and carrots or a dark greens dish), and cabbage.  All offered an extra piece of Injera (wonderfully squishy fermented Ethiopian bread) in addition to the Injera the food was on.  Portions were large and very filling.  Each restaurant came in at about $20 with tax and tip.  

That is where the similarities ended.  Dama was the big loser, being the first Ethiopian food I've experienced in my entire life which was outright bland and forgettable.  The only item with any kind of seasoning was the salad which had a few slices of jalepenos.  That and the impossible parking means it was an automatic "off the list" for me.  Meaza came in at a nice comfortable middle.  The red lentils were zesty and the rest of the food had solid flavor, like you might have with home cooking.  I would imagine this is a good place to take people who don't eat a lot of Ethiopian food.  The winner for me was Bethel, a hole in the wall, which had a wide variation of flavors and good variations on the heat levels.  Everything seemed hugely fresh and the abundance gave me three meals for the price of one.  Bethel also won in the Sambusa category with a nicely flakey outer shell and nose-tingling seasonings on the inside.  The Meaza version was surprisingly bready and had distinct lentils but was otherwise "okay".  Both were served cold, however, which surprised me.  You would never see the Indian version served cold.  In any case I know were I'm going next time I want some flame and flavor.  Brava, Bethel.

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