Meals By Genet
One of the great small joys in life is when someone hands me a warm clean wet washcloth. They do this on planes sometimes, and I like, freak out. (I recently found out that it is considered kind of disgusting and raccoon-like to use the warm washcloth to clean your face, which I have done a number of times, and will continue to do.) Something about people walking around handing out little bundles of hot towels with tongs makes me feel I'm classy.
They do this at restaurants too. At Meals By Genet, which I'm posting about today.
I was hesitant to post about my love for Meals By Genet. I don't know what it is, but non-Ethiopians who love Ethiopian food always seem super insufferable. It's like the place the pretentious pseudo-villain in the Whit Stillman movie invites the girl out for a dinner. I'd much rather have you guys think I'm into straightforward turkey sandwiches and chips. But it ain't true, y'all.
I think Ethiopian may be my favorite food ever. It is so fucking delicious, you guys. In the tradition of delicious Third World ethnic cuisines like Indian, it's wonderfully goopy and spicy, and there is a lot of it.
The famous and best dish at Meals By Genet menu is their Dorowot, a super rich saucy dish that's full of chicken cooked on the bone and hardboiled egg. The amazing Jonathan Gold (who recently won the Pulitzer Prize for his food writing)
has rightly compared it to a Oaxacan mole in terms of it's denseness and complexities of flavors.
It's ladled over injera bread, a sourdough crepelike bread. The injera spreads over an enormous shallow plate and the "sides" line the perimeter of the plate. Meals By gives you about fifteen different sides when you order the vegetarian platter, and it the quality of these sides that sets it apart from the other interesting Ethiopian places on Fairfax.
The portions of the sides are small - about the size of an ice cream scoop - but they're also dense and delicious and when you look at the enormous communal plate you feel you the luckiest motherfucker of all time. Sauteed collard greens, a spicy lentil dish, a peppery ground nut chutney...the sides are insane.
Ethiopian food is eaten family style and with your hands. So, I wouldn't bring your new girlfriend's WASPy mom and dad here unless you want a "Meet the Parents" type disaster set piece on your hands.
This is Genet, the lovely and talented chef who owns and runs the place.
As for drinks, well, there's not really a huge selection. I ordered a Tej, an Ethiopian Honey Wine. They do not fuck around with the this Tej stuff. Basically it's like a glass of honey with the tiniest bit of alcohol in it.
Like, sweeter than dessert wine. It was kind of like I was giving myself diabetes, but I'll admit I liked it too.
Also, if you are dining with a person who isn't feeling that adventurous, they have a cool Italian menu as well, because of Italian influences in Ethiopia. How interesting and dinner conversationy is that?
Good for: Do you like Indian food? Are you sick of going to The Bombay Cafe every other night? This is a good place for you. It's a rad date place too, because you can totally touch your date's hand while you eat, and the informality of eating with your fingers make people feel close and happy and stuff. Extra points if you can get your date to eat out of your hands.
Price: Two people can eat extremely well, with drinks for about $40.
Meals By Genet
1053 S Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles 90019
Btwn W Olympic Blvd & Whitworth Dr
They do this at restaurants too. At Meals By Genet, which I'm posting about today.
I was hesitant to post about my love for Meals By Genet. I don't know what it is, but non-Ethiopians who love Ethiopian food always seem super insufferable. It's like the place the pretentious pseudo-villain in the Whit Stillman movie invites the girl out for a dinner. I'd much rather have you guys think I'm into straightforward turkey sandwiches and chips. But it ain't true, y'all.
I think Ethiopian may be my favorite food ever. It is so fucking delicious, you guys. In the tradition of delicious Third World ethnic cuisines like Indian, it's wonderfully goopy and spicy, and there is a lot of it.
The famous and best dish at Meals By Genet menu is their Dorowot, a super rich saucy dish that's full of chicken cooked on the bone and hardboiled egg. The amazing Jonathan Gold (who recently won the Pulitzer Prize for his food writing)
has rightly compared it to a Oaxacan mole in terms of it's denseness and complexities of flavors.
It's ladled over injera bread, a sourdough crepelike bread. The injera spreads over an enormous shallow plate and the "sides" line the perimeter of the plate. Meals By gives you about fifteen different sides when you order the vegetarian platter, and it the quality of these sides that sets it apart from the other interesting Ethiopian places on Fairfax.
The portions of the sides are small - about the size of an ice cream scoop - but they're also dense and delicious and when you look at the enormous communal plate you feel you the luckiest motherfucker of all time. Sauteed collard greens, a spicy lentil dish, a peppery ground nut chutney...the sides are insane.
Ethiopian food is eaten family style and with your hands. So, I wouldn't bring your new girlfriend's WASPy mom and dad here unless you want a "Meet the Parents" type disaster set piece on your hands.
This is Genet, the lovely and talented chef who owns and runs the place.
As for drinks, well, there's not really a huge selection. I ordered a Tej, an Ethiopian Honey Wine. They do not fuck around with the this Tej stuff. Basically it's like a glass of honey with the tiniest bit of alcohol in it.
Like, sweeter than dessert wine. It was kind of like I was giving myself diabetes, but I'll admit I liked it too.
Also, if you are dining with a person who isn't feeling that adventurous, they have a cool Italian menu as well, because of Italian influences in Ethiopia. How interesting and dinner conversationy is that?
Good for: Do you like Indian food? Are you sick of going to The Bombay Cafe every other night? This is a good place for you. It's a rad date place too, because you can totally touch your date's hand while you eat, and the informality of eating with your fingers make people feel close and happy and stuff. Extra points if you can get your date to eat out of your hands.
Price: Two people can eat extremely well, with drinks for about $40.
Meals By Genet
1053 S Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles 90019
Btwn W Olympic Blvd & Whitworth Dr
posted by mindy ephron at 7:27 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home