5846 N. Broadway, Chicago
(Red line to Thorndale, walk 1 block west to Broadway and 1.5 blocks south)
(773) 506-9601 www.rasdashenchicago.com
Given the unexpected closing of Ethio Cafe on Clark street, Ras Dashen is our current favorite Ethiopian restaurant in Chicago (there are only 3 or 4 total). Ethiopian food is eaten sans-utensils with a spongy flat bread called Injera and shared communally, so don't go with anyone who you don't mind eating after.
We've been there a couple dozen times and almost always order the same thing; an appetizer of either Spinach or Lentil Sambusa (light fried pastry with savory filling and AWESOME salsa-y dipping sauce) and the Vegetarian Combination with numbers 5, 6, 8, 10 and 11. According to the menu, that's: 5. Tikil Gomen Alicha (cabbage, potatoes and carrots) 6. Gomen (kale, collard and/or mustard greens) 8. Diblik Atkilt (green beans, potatoes, zucchini and carrots) 10. Misser Wat (lentils in spicy berbere red pepper sauce) and 11. Kik Alicha (yellow split peas cooked with onions, garlic, ginger and green peppers).
Two people sharing an appetizer and the Veg combo will have a perfect amount of food, and it comes to about $14 for both! There are several other tasty vegan options on the menu, but you really should get a combo to sample as many as possible. They have meat dishes as well, but I personally wouldn't want to eat off the same plate as meat, so if you're like me, work that out with your company or server in advance. The waitresses here are all sweet and adorable and they sometimes have live music on weekends. They also feature very nice African-American or Ethio artwork on the walls. The Ethiopian convenience store one door south sells Ethio CDs, dry goods and readymade injera bread if you just can't get enough.
Sample Dishes from Ras Dashen
Ras Dashen Sampler platter with several different options. Lots of pulses, but tasty fresh veggies too.
Ras Dashen Spinach sambusas with excellent dipping sauce, like great fresh salsa w/ cilantro! Lentil are awesome too.
Ras Dashen Sampler platter from another visit. Looks like the 5, 6, 8, 10, 11 combo. It's always exceptional.
Ras Dashen Sampler platter with several different options. Lots of pulses, but tasty fresh veggies too.
Ras Dashen This is Shimber Asa Wat (in center, red) ground chickpeas shaped into a dough and cooked in berbere sauce
Please note: My site is NOT any kind of official "Chicago Vegan" site. For a great restaurant guide from an excellent organization, visit VegChicago.com. With the proliferation of digital cameras and cheap web hosting, I encourage every vegan to document their own good-looking vegan food to share with the world...the more the scarier!
