For the adventurous Boston diner, a culinary trip to East Africa
Type: Ethiopian
Hours: Daily 10 a.m.-11 p.m.
Good choices: Alitcha beghie, alitcha derho, kitfo.
Credit cards: None accepted.
Access: Main floor entrance; bathroom not wheelchair- accessible.
MASS CAFE
605 Mass. Avenue, Boston
(Between Washington Street and Shawmut Avenue)
(617) 262-7704
Restaurant reviewed 02/05/98 by Linda Matchan
There are scores of restaurants in the Boston area serving Thai, Japanese, Mexican, or Chinese food. But Ethiopian and Eritrean? Now that's a different story.
But it could happen that one day you'll wake up feeling adventurous and have a hankering for, say, fit fit, or alitcha derho, or zegenie beghie. In that case, you might wander over to the Mass Caf� in Boston. This is a tiny (eight tables) restaurant near Boston Medical Center catering to the small, tight-knit Ethiopian population in the Boston area. Mass Caf� is a low-budget establishment but correspondingly low-priced; the most expensive item on the menu is $8.95 - a filling dish of kitfo, hand-chopped, very lean beef seasoned with hot mitmita pepper.
It's a cheerful, hospitable, family-owned restaurant with flowered cloths on the tables, and hand-crafted Ethiopian basketry and scenic Ethiopian posters on the walls. The Eritrean immigrant owners, Haile and Nigisti Berhe, have made accommodations for American diners who might be hesitant converts to this cuisine. Thus, the menu includes a few American standards such as spaghetti ($5.95), hamburgers and fries ($3.50), and steak and cheese subs ($3.95). But they're happy to explain the basics, and the etiquette, of Ethiopian dining to newcomers, the features of which are communal-style eating from large platters; spicy dishes; and hearty single-course meals, without appetizers.
The first Ethiopian word in your vocabulary will almost certainly be injera, because pretty much all the entrees are served on top of it, or with it. Injera is a soft, spongy tortilla-like bread that is an Ethiopian staple like rice is to Chinese food. It's made from teff, a grain grown in Ethiopia, and has a sour, fermented flavor that some Americans might consider an acquired taste.
However, if you eat at Mass Caf� you'd better acquire it pretty fast since you won't get too far without it. The multi-function injera is your only utensil, used for dipping into the food and mopping up sauce. It might not strike Americans as an efficient way to eat, but definitely has its advantages: It forces you to eat slowly, and fills you up quickly.
Alas, too quickly. We were stuffed on our first visit. (The staff will produce forks if you are inclined to eat in the Western way.)
A first-time Ethiopian eater will also be pleased to see that the menu explains the contents of every dish, and provides a map of Ethiopia and Eritrea for the truly disoriented.
Our waiter explained that the food from both countries is "basically almost the same." The entrees are based around beef, lamb, chicken, and vegetables, generally sauteed or simmered in sauces that range from mildly spicy to staggeringly spicy, depending on the amount of hot mitmita pepper. At the milder end of the spectrum is alitcha beghie ($7.65), a wonderful stew-like dish of lamb chunks cooked in an onion sauce flavored with turmeric and garlic, with delicious potatoes and carrots. Likewise the alitcha derho ($6.50) is a tasty chicken dish cooked without pepper, flavored with ginger and garlic, and served with a gigantic hard-boiled egg. Kitfo ($8.95) is a tender dish of lean beef seasoned with pepper, but served on the mild side.
On the other end of the spicy spectrum is zegenie beghie, lamb cooked in a spicy "berbere" sauce ($7.65). It is flavorful and deceptively hot, continuing to tingle well after you've eaten.
Desserts are not customary in Ethiopian dining, but cake is served anyway, no doubt as an American crowd-pleaser. The restaurant's own very lemony lemon cake ($2.50) is, if a bit overbaked, very light and quite delicious.
Tips & hits
