Cafe Abyssinia on Magazine pioneered Ethiopian food in New Orleans
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Loading... - Solomon Afful
- 11 Aug 2022
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Ethiopian native Ermias Alemu settled in New Orleans in 2007 as the city was rebuilding from the levee failures after Hurricane Katrina. He worked many jobs, including driving a cab.
When customers asked him where they could get authentic Ethiopian food, Alemu was stumped.
“Ethiopian food wasn’t really something that New Orleans offered,” he said. “Before I moved here, there was a place on Earhart called Red Sea Eritrean and Ethiopian, but it wasn’t open very long before it closed.”
Now Alemu serves authentic Ethiopian cuisine at Cafe Abyssinia, a small restaurant at 3511 Magazine St.
Seeing a need for the cuisine that he grew up enjoying, Alemu enlisted the help of his mother, Asselefech Wako, the person he calls the true cook in the family. Together they crafted the dishes that would frame Cafe Abyssinia’s menu.
“My mother was living in Chicago, and when I decided to open this place, she came here and taught me how to cook all of the food,” he said.
Cafe Abyssinia quickly began to take shape with an extensive menu of lamb, chicken, beef, seafood and vegan dishes prepared with traditional African spices. The restaurant opened in 2010.
Ethiopian food is eaten with the hands and served with injera, a spongy flatbread used as a utensil while it soaks up flavors. Read More...
