Ethiopia meets Philadelphia at Gojjo

Being college students, it is vital for us to act like adults. However, a little place over at 4540 Baltimore Street allows us to remember simpler times. The Gojjo Bar and Restaurant lets us eat with our hands and share our food - and it even has a fun name. This quaint Ethiopian restaurant is owned by Habtamu Shitay, and the chef is his wife, Frehiwot Desta. The family-owned feel of the place really emerged as we were seated. We were actually waited on by Desta herself, and after she took our order, she went back to the kitchen to cook it for us. Though the menu is small, the range of dishes is large. We could select anything from a hamburger to lasagna to Ugali Na Nyama, a meal typically served in Tanzania and Kenya. My guest and I decided to order the trio platter ($22) of traditional Ethiopian food. The platter offered three kinds of meat dishes, two lentils and seven vegetable choices so we could get a sample of what they had to offer. To drink, we had the only exotic-looking item on the menu - mango juice ($1.50) - which turned out to be so good that it alone is enough of a reason to return to Gojjo. The place was quiet, as we were the only ones in the restaurant portion, and there was no background music. The bar seemed to be more popular and had patrons at 5 p.m. The decor was fairly sparse, but there was a TV with the local news on for entertainment. Our platter came on a huge plate for the two of us to share. We of course used injera, a slightly sour, pancake-like bread, to pick up what we wanted to try. The three dishes, doro wot chicken, kay wot lamb and alicha beef, were all very pleasing. Desta explained to us that the word wot means sauce and kay means red or spicy. Therefore, we knew that the kay wot was a spicy dish. In tasting it, we could tell the difference between it and the mild alicha, but it was not too spicy. I was surprised by the vegetables. Normally I try to avoid them, but they were well flavored. I generally refuse to eat eggplant, but this tasted like butter. I was told that many Ethiopian dishes use a spicy butter to flavor the food. The lentils were a different texture. They looked like little pea-sized discs. They also added a lot of color to the plate, because one of them had been made yellow. The colors of the whole plate signaled that it was something exotic, because they ranged from bright yellow lentils to the bright red sauce of the kay wot. The best part of the meal was the injera that lined the platter. It was also the messiest part of the meal, thereby making it the most fun to eat. Although Desta had given us smaller portions - the platter normally serves 4-5 people - we were stuffed at the end and still had food left over. There were some appetizers and desserts available, but the portions are so immense that you should order extras only after the meal. My overall impression of the place is that it would be perfect for a quiet evening in a small restaurant. The staff is especially helpful and considerate, making trying something new an enjoyable experience.

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