PATRICK FORT

Ruth and I are on a lunch adventure: Fast casual Ethiopian food at Union Market. And Ruth
feels…uncomfortable.

PATRICK FORT
What do you feel like?

RUTH TAM
I don’t know, like, one of those food Instagram people. You know what I’m talking about...

RUTH TAM
This place is called Gorsha and the stand has a really sleek look. Minimalist and modern.
And that’s pretty on brand for Union Market.

PATRICK FORT
One Gorsha bowl and an order of injera pockets -- basically, Ethiopian tacos -- set us back
thirty dollars. That’s pretty standard actually for a fast casual spot in D.C.

PATRICK FORT
It tastes like Ethiopian food that I’ve had...What about you?

RUTH TAM
Everything is drizzled in this like...yogurt honey sauce. Which is kind of giving it tahini
vibes?

PATRICK FORT
Ruth and I aren’t experts, but I think we can say that Gorsha tasted similar to meals we’ve
eaten at places like Zenebech or Habesha Market…

RUTH TAM
But something about eating it at Union Market of all places made me feel like... I don’t
know...The worst caricature of my millennial self?

PATRICK FORT
We were used to big platters of Ethiopian food -- shared, celebratory! At Gorsha, everything
was designed for one person to eat alone.

RUTH TAM
I think that’s why we felt weird about it. There was a bit of a cultural disconnect. Take the
restaurant’s name: the word “Gorsha” describes the Ethiopian practice of feeding someone
by hand. And yet….we ate our Gorsha Bowl, as it was called, with a fork!

[theme]
RUTH TAM
This is Dish City from WAMU. I’m Ruth Tam.

PATRICK FORT
And I’m Patrick Fort. We tell stories of city change through D.C.’s iconic foods. This time,
we’re talking about a D.C. mainstay, Ethiopian cuisine.

RUTH TAM
When we were at Union Market, it felt maybe unfair to judge Gorsha for being a quick lunch
for a solo diner. It’s made by a young Ethiopian chef. If he can’t experiment with Ethiopian
food, who can?!

PATRICK FORT
Still we felt like things were just...​off.​ Where was the group? The shared platter?

This time on Dish City: What happens when a three thousand year old cuisine gets
remixed?

MARCUS SAMUELSSON
That this is happening is both healthy and bad. The healthy thing is that people are entering
it from a level of passion. The other side of that is that you’re going to have a lot of bad
food.

---

PATRICK FORT
D.C. is home to the largest population of Ethiopian immigrants in the U.S. Many of them
came here because of a civil war that lasted from the 1970s to the 1990s. There was a
famine, a military coup and more than a million people died.

Many fleeing the country were drawn to D.C. because it was a majority black town --
Chocolate City. It was also home to the Ethiopian embassy and Howard University, one of
the nation’s premier historically black colleges.

RUTH TAM
By the 1990s there were Ethiopian community centers, Ethiopian newspapers, and there
was even a separate phone book to index Ethiopian businesses throughout the Washington
region.

Parts of the Shaw neighborhood began to go by the name “Little Ethiopia” and that same
thing happened on 18th Street in Adams Morgan.
TSEDAYE MAKONNEN
There would be a day when it was clearly all the Ethiopian restaurants cooking because it
would smell like onions up and down 18th street. I remember that growing up.

RUTH TAM
Tsedaye Makonnen is a local Ethiopian American artist who often focuses on identity and
migration.

We wanted to learn about Ethiopian cuisine from someone who grew up with it, so we met
up with her at Zenebech one of D.C.’s most popular Ethiopian restaurants and,
conveniently, the one closest to my apartment.

Tsedaye brought her friend Kume, and her young son, Senai.

TSEDAYE MAKONNEN
Tsedaye (to Senai) - In Ethiopian culture you wait till everyone is at the table to eat.
Patrick and Ruth (to Senai) - Well, thank you for waiting for us.
Senai- But we’re not in Ethiopia.
Tsedaye - Well, we’re in an Ethiopian restaurant.

PATRICK FORT
Zenebech is the kind of place where you take an out-of-town friend to catch up for hours.
One, because it’s delicious and two, because it feels both special and unique to D.C.

TSEDAYE MAKONNEN
Can I...so instead of the timatim fitfit, I’d would typically probably go with more gomen, the
greens, there’s also spinach though...

RUTH TAM
The food arrives on an injera-lined plate: Beef tibs seasoned with the Ethiopian chili spice
blend, berbere. Lentils, collard greens, beets, green beans. Tomatoes and jalapenos. We
grab pieces of injera and scoop up the veggies and the meat. It’s a pretty classic
presentation.

PATRICK FORT
Zenebech originally opened in Shaw as an injera bakery in 1993. Then it grew into a
restaurant.

It eventually became a favorite in the neighborhood, a spot that was for Ethiopians by
Ethiopians...
RUTH TAM
Michael Demissie, the son of Zenebech’s founders, says the original location was like a deli
slash grocery slash restaurant

MICHAEL DEMISSIE
If you walked in, it would look like a hole in the wall. That’s what a lot of our customers
would say, “It’s a hole in the wall.” But once you get in, it’s warm, it feels like you’re literally
at your dinner table at home.

RUTH TAM
Over the next 20 years or so, Shaw changed radically. Fancier buildings attracted a new
clientele, and locals like Tsedaye noticed.

TSEDAYE MAKONNEN
There are no Ethiopians, or not no but there are a lot less Ethiopians who were their
customers. There is something jarring about that. Same thing with Dukem. Dukem used to
be packed with Ethiopians. I would be there, a bunch of people I knew would go there. Now
it’s, I don’t know, I walk by and I look inside and I don’t see any Ethiopian, let alone person
of color.

PATRICK FORT
By 2016, Zenebech sat on a piece of land worth about one million dollars. ​After holding out
for years, the family behind Zenebech decided to sell, along with their neighbors. Michael
and his family moved the restaurant to Adams Morgan, determined to keep the family feel of
the place.

MICHAEL DEMISSIE
We tried to recreate that aspect of everything, but not the hole in the wall aspect. We’d like
it to be a proper restaurant that you’d be proud to bring guests over or out of town friends if
you want to bring them over.

RUTH TAM
Zenebech added a bar, got rid of the fluorescent lights, and put up artwork.

Michael and his family also considered setting the tables with forks. But that was never a
real option according to his mom, who Zenebech is named after.

ZENEBECH DESSU
We eat together by our hand. This is our culture. We don’t know spoon.

PATRICK FORT
That’s the Ethiopian concept of “gorsha.” Adding utensils to the table would remove the
intimacy of sharing a meal.

ZENEBECH DESSU
We drink, we eat, we talk, we laugh. This is Ethiopian culture.

RUTH TAM
So Michael and the rest of his family were relying on traditional food, while upgrading their
space to attract new customers in Adams Morgan.

But obviously…that’s not the only way to grow your business. Back in Shaw, the
neighborhood Zenebech vacated, a family restaurant called Etete was trying a new
strategy. So they called Chris Roberson.

CHRIS ROBERSON
These African entrepreneurs have a restaurant. They want to change it over. They’re
looking to go in a new direction. Their mom’s retiring...They want to really have like hot, hot
restaurant over here.

PATRICK FORT
Chris had been working as a chef in the D.C. area for years, including at the acclaimed
French restaurant, Central. And he answered the call from Etete -- the family wanted him to
create a hip version of Etete’s menu to bring new business to the restaurant.

He pushed the traditional platters to the bottom of the menu and leaned heavily into small
plates.

RUTH TAM
Some of the new dishes repackaged Ethiopian food as items from other cuisines. You’d see
it in their injera tacos, in their lentil hummus and beef tartar kitfo.

PATRICK FORT
But kitfo and beef tartare are both just similar presentations of raw beef. So the name is the
only thing that’s really changing?

RUTH TAM
Yeah, Beef tartar, kitfo and a lot of Etete’s flavors were already familiar if you had eaten
traditional Ethiopian food before. But Etete’s new presentations and the names for their
dishes seemed to target a different crowd.

CHRIS ROBERSON
People are looking at me like, oh you’re messing with Ethiopian cuisine, what’s wrong with
you? And I’m like, hold on, this family wanted me to make something. I’m kind of like,
building an idea we have here. You’re not really prepared for what the community has to
say about this.

PATRICK FORT
The Washington Post wrote a story about Etete describing Chris as an innovator. The
headline? “This restaurant serves modern Ethiopian food that you don’t eat with your
hands.”

RUTH TAM
The internet kind of freaked out at the implication. Is eating with your hands a bad thing?
What would you say if someone suggested that a Chinese restaurant was more modern
because they didn’t serve food with chopsticks?

CHRIS ROBERSON
Me, I'm not telling people that this is the gospel and you have to do it this way and I’m
making this better and twisting my moustache being like, “You peasants don’t understand
refined cuisine.” Like, nah. That’s somebody else’s...somebody else can do that. I’m just
making food that I think tastes good. If you want come try it, come try it and let’s have a
good time.

RUTH TAM
Etete’s owner said at the time they wanted to make Etete the “Rasika of Ethiopian
restaurants.” And why not? Rasika is a high-end Indian restaurant in D.C. and it’s been
popular for years. Certainly Ethiopian cuisine is worthy of the same attention and acclaim as
Indian food. But here’s what happens when you try to repackage traditional food in a “fine
dining” context: People argue it that doesn’t taste “authentic.”

PATRICK FORT
Surely there’s room for chefs to put their own spin on a cuisine. But how much can you
remix traditional dishes before they become something else entirely?

After the break, we ask maybe the most famous Ethiopian chef in America to weigh in.

MARCUS SAMUELSSON
I just think if you’re passionate about traditional Ethiopian food, double down!

PATRICK FORT
That’s next.

-----
PATRICK FORT
So, we’ve got two different strategies...Zenebech upgrading their space and moving to
Adams Morgan, but sticking to traditional food. And Etete staying in Shaw, taking a risk and
going upscale.

RUTH TAM
While all this was going down, celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson came to town to film an
episode of his television show, “No Passports Required.”

Television Show
As an immigrant, born in Ethiopia, and raised in Sweden, food has always told a deeper,
more personal story...

RUTH TAM
Food media has treated Marcus as sort of an ambassador for Ethiopian cuisine, even
though he’s not necessarily known for traditional Ethiopian cooking.

PATRICK FORT
He rose to fame in New York as the executive chef of Aquavit, a Swedish fine dining
restaurant. Then he attempted upscale pan-African cuisine but received lukewarm reviews.
He left and opened his hit soul food restaurant Red Rooster in Harlem and now he runs
nearly a dozen other spots.

RUTH TAM
Even though Marcus isn’t based in D.C., the city holds sentimental value for him. He’s been
visiting the District for 20 years and he says in his show that it’s the first place he first
started to identify as Ethiopian. So he’s got some skin in this game. We sat down with him
and asked, what does he think Ethiopian restaurants should do to survive?

MARCUS SAMUELSSON
I just think if you’re passionate about traditional Ethiopian food, double down. Have a
smaller community to cook for, but people come more loyally, double down. If you’re coming
at it from a level where you’re introducing Western techniques and you’re mixing it, be great
at it. Make a commitment and you know, work at it. The rest will follow.

PATRICK FORT
Marcus Samuelsson thinks if you cook traditional, the diners will come.

RUTH TAM
Is that all it takes, though? You might be able to cook traditional food that people love like
Zenebech, but I’m kind of skeptical that commitment is really all it takes to survive in a place
like D.C., especially if you’re in a changing neighborhood like Etete is in Shaw.
I guess I thought it was a little bit more complicated than that. So, in an attempt to push
back, I tried to describe the fork in the road I thought local restaurants were facing.

RUTH TAM
I think there’s this idea, though, that certain cuisines that have previously not been
considered American are now starting to get more popular in major cities, like the D.C. area.
But you know, Ethiopian food is one of these local cuisines that a lot of people love but it’s
still kind of in this stage where people consider it quote-unquote ethnic food. You’re saying
double down...

MARCUS SAMUELSSON
There are so many things that you just said that I cannot...that is like...Stop, before you
get...You are just like so off-base with what everything you just said.

RUTH TAM
Okay, tell me where I went wrong.

MARCUS SAMUELSSON
Come on, what are you talking about? Like, Ethiopian food is not American food because
it’s from Ethiopia. It’s doesn’t make it worse or better or anything, but why chase some
ratings not even made for you? Ethiopian food is delicious, and it was delicious for about
circa 3,000 years before America was even discovered. I don’t think any Ethiopian mom
that tries to do incredible Ethiopian food gives a shit what America thinks about it. She
knows, “I’m going to cook good food and people will come to it.” There are thousands of
great examples of that. That’s why you have very successful Ethiopian mom and pop shops
just like you have with other ethnic restaurants. So it’s not some goal to end up on
someone’s list. It’s a goal to make a living for your family and stand for something.

RUTH TAM
This conversation still makes me squirm. Ethiopian food isn’t American food? What is
American food if not an amalgam of different immigrant cuisines? And what is he saying
when he says ratings weren’t made for Ethiopian food? If we’re going to hold onto ratings
and reviews as markers of success, then they should be available to all restaurants.

PATRICK FORT
I think maybe….he misunderstood what you were saying? I think there are Ethiopian mom
and pop shops that care definitely what America thinks of their food. The family at Etete did.

RUTH TAM
We’re weighing two different things: Critical acclaim and commercial success. There’s
overlap. I mean, a good review might lead to more customers walking through your door,
but at the end of the day, a restaurant needs foot traffic to stay open. Etete had good
reviews, but it didn’t lead necessarily lead to diners.

PATRICK FORT
And Marcus is right. You don’t need critical acclaim and high ratings to be successful. But
they help.

RUTH TAM
They’ve definitely helped Marcus.

PATRICK FORT
Right. You do what it takes to get people in the door. It seems like every restaurant owner
has to ask, what will Washingtonians pay for?

RUTH TAM
Yeah, I think that’s the question we’re trying to answer here. If you’re Marcus, yeah, you can
say you don’t care about what mainstream American thinks of your food. But if you’re not a
celebrity chef, you might need mainstream America to come eat your food, to keep your
doors open. And if the America on your block is changing?

PATRICK FORT
Yeah. Chris Roberson, the chef who revamped Etete, he definitely knows what that feels
like.

CHRIS ROBERSON
I feel like they wanted everybody to come to the restaurant. They wanted money through
the door, right? It doesn’t matter who’s bringing it, but it definitely wasn’t for the Ethiopian
community. The Ethiopian community isn’t messing with that. They are going across the
street to Habesha Market, they’re gonna sit down, they’re gonna have a good time...but you
gotta accept what comes with that.

RUTH TAM
Etete closed in August of 2018

PATRICK FORT
How did you know things weren’t working towards the end?

CHRIS ROBERSON
Oh you know things aren’t working in the beginning. The end is just the end. Everybody else
knows it’s the end. When you’re looking into an empty restaurant, you’re like, “Ah shit, it’s
over.” You’re a new place, you’re in a pretty busy area. There’s a lot of foot traffic out here.
You don’t have people in here? You’re not going to make it.
PATRICK FORT
​ esigned for D.C.’s Ethiopian community.
Chris says it was clear that the restaurant ​wasn’t d
He says it was for gentrifiers.

CHRIS ROBERSON
When you’re standing on that street as a liquor store owner or a hookah shop, restaurant
and your like “Damn they’re not coming in. These young white kids, or whatever aren’t, or
even our young Ethiopian kids...” Whenever you’re in it --that goes beyond ethnicity--
whoever is standing on their block in their neighborhood in their community looking out and
being like “I'm not getting the business I used to get. What can I do to keep money going
into my kids’ college fund?” Whatever it is…there’s gonna be CBD-infused berbere up in
here or something.. I don’t know. It’s gonna be whatever we can put on this plate to get you
in here.

RUTH TAM
Okay, I don’t know about CBD-infused berbere...but I get it. There’s so much competition for
diners that it seems you really have to do something crazy to get people’s attention.

CHRIS ROBERSON
I think that people should just make what they wanna make. Make what they love making.
Make what they’re gonna be proud of. And don’t be ashamed of making a business decision
because you need to feed your family. If you want to put a burger on the menu, put a burger
on your menu and see if you get more people in there. I don’t know.

TSEDAYE MAKONNEN
I can see both sides of it.

PATRICK FORT
Local artist and Ethiopian American Tsedaye McKonnen.

TSEDAYE MAKONNEN
From the perspective of like, you know, someone who takes pride in my culture, and being
black, and wanting things to cater for the people, by the people, kind of mentality. That...It is
upsetting to see some of these restaurants turn their backs on their community in that way.
At the same time I think about it in terms of survival. How are they gonna keep up with the
changes? A lot of Ethiopian restaurants are shutting down. It almost feels like they’re
making a choice, but to a degree, it’s a forced choice. Because if they want to stick around,
and afford staying in whatever neighborhood, they probably do have to keep up with the
times, you know.

RUTH TAM
I’m Chinese American and I’ve felt this same tension as restaurants try to make Chinese
food “trendy.” On one hand, it’s uncomfortable to watch Chinese food get redefined for the
kind of diner that goes to Union Market. On the other hand, does Chinese food in America
need to stay traditional in order to be considered “authentic”? This is such a stress point for
Asian Americans that it popped up in the romantic comedy “Always Be My Maybe” on
Netflix. Here’s a scene where the stoner boyfriend Marcus debates his celebrity chef
girlfriend Sasha.

Marcus
You know what other term I hate? Elevated Asian cuisine. Asian food isn’t supposed to be
elevated, it’s supposed to be authentic. That’s what you used to make with my mom. I don’t
know why you’re doing this kind of stuff now.

Sasha
So, now you’re saying my food isn’t authentic?

Marcus
It’s not authentic. Asian food shouldn’t be served in a shot glass, it should be served in a big
ass bowl. You’re just catering with rich white people.

RUTH TAM
Personally, I think authenticity is kind of a made-up standard for gate keepers. Whenever
someone says something is “authentic,” all they mean is that it’s true to ​their ​experience!
Can “authentic food” only be served in a big ass bowl, or on an injera platter? Can it only be
made by grandmas? Foods, like people, change! If you’re cooking and presenting the food
with respect, there’s no reason why Chinese food or Ethiopian food for that matter shouldn’t
reflect other cooking techniques, cultures and experiences

TSEDAYE MAKONNEN
Maybe it’s time about that time for Ethiopian food to now go through that. It’s been around in
the States of a couple of decades… That seems to be the trajectory for immigrant food, that
it eventually comes to a point where there seems to be some kind of fusion that happens.
It’s probably easier for me to accept than my parents’ generation. For them, they’re like,
“What the hell is this?” I never thought about it this way, but maybe it’s a reflection
that...This culture is producing generations in the United States. The food, along with the
actual culture, is changing.

PATRICK FORT
When the food you order at a restaurant arrives at your table, You don’t know what is
motivating the chef. You don’t know why certain choices are made. I think that explains why
we were uncomfortable at our meal at Union Market.
RUTH TAM
Yeah...and I think we’ve learned...you have to give whoever is cooking...some room.
Because there’s no way to know what authentic means to that person.

RUTH TAM
Dish City is produced by me, Ruth Tam

PATRICK FORT
And me, Patrick Fort. Our editor is Poncie Rutsch.

RUTH TAM
Our theme music is by Daniel Peterschmidt. Ben Privot mixes the show.

PATRICK FORT
WAMU’s general manager is JJ Yore. Andi McDaniel oversees all content.

RUTH TAM
Find us online, we’re on Twitter and Instagram @dishcity. And our email is
dishcity@wamu.org​. If you wanna talk to us in person, we’ll be grabbing drinks at bars
around the district the Tuesday after each episode drops. You can find details at
dishcity.org.

PATRICK FORT
If you love Dish City, tell a friend about it! And review us on your podcast app! It helps future
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hit that subscribe button! That way we will be in your queue when you wake up on
Thursday. Thanks for listening.