Dukem Ethiopian on U Street

Around once a month I organize volunteer events for one of my alumni organizations.  This month we went to St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Columbia Heights to help with the Loaves and Fishes program.  Eight churches in the region share responsibility for cooking and serving lunch on Saturdays and Sundays every month.  Third Saturdays belong to St. Columba from Tenleytown, which has volunteered with Loaves and Fishes for the past 30 years.  We helped plate and serve meatloaf with mashed potatoes, vegetable, bread, brownies, fruit and peanut butter sandwiches.  It's a great program and I look forward to heading back in the summertime.  Afterwards, a few of us went to share lunch at Dukem, an Ethiopian restaurant near 12th and U Street.

 Lentil sambusa ($2.50).
Crunchy phyllo-esque wrapper with a spicy lentil mixture wrapped inside.

14 Vegetable Combination Platter with tibs.  I particularly liked the cabbage, collard greens, yellow lentils, fresh tomato and jalapeno salad, and spicy green beans.

We had a fried croaker as well.  Delicious.

With a group of 4, our meal was incredibly filling and relatively healthy (ok minus the beers), for only $22 per person.

Ethiopian Food at Dukem

One of the nice things about living in the DC area is discovering how delicious, group-friendly and inexpensive Ethiopian restaurants are.   While Etete receives rave reviews from the Post, I thought the restaurant's tables were too close together and very loud.  Madjet had good tibs, but they looked closed when I walked by.  Recently a group of friends gathered to go to Dukem on U Street. 

http://www.dukemrestaurant.com/ While some reviews mentioned service issues, I thought our waitress was pleasant and the meatless options were flavorful.

Spinach Sambusa $2.50

Fried on the outside, it's a different recipe than their vegetable sambusas from previous visits. 

Reminded me of a cheese-less spanakopita.  Hot and delightful.

 Combination Platter (6)

Tibs, Lamb Wot, Doro Wot (chicken), Minchet Abesh (ground beef in ginger and garlic sauce)

cottage cheese, cabbage, collard greens, yellow lentils, tomato-jalapeno salad, red lentils ($31.95)

This was enough for 3 people.

 Special Vegetarian Combination (12) $19.95

Cabbage, collard greens, green lentils, yellow lentils, red lentils, tomato-jalapeno salad, potato salad, chickpeas in spicy sauce.