Africa - Abyssinian Cuisine - Uncle Sam's Immigrant Cafe

Unfortunately this restaurant has closed but we encourage you to read their story.

As I walked eagerly over to my destination, I began to feel the chill of the night air as the sun descended behind the clouds. The dusk from the evening sun just lightly illuminating the restaurant’s sign. Ethiopian Eritrean Abyssinian Cuisine. I was prompt to catch the owners of the restaurant at the opening.

While waiting down the pathway leading to the front of Abyssinian Cuisine for its open, I noticed a man mingling in close proximity to where I stood. Cliff, whom I later discovered in conversation worked as a dishwasher for Moses and Sophia Russom’s restaurant. As we both waited, occasionally peering through the front glass windows, for someone to unlock the front door - Cliff to begin his shift and myself to dive in to a serving of Ethiopian cuisine - Cliff noted to me that the owners are usually always on time. I glanced down at my phone to check the time. 5:05 pm. And as I lifted my head, I saw a woman appeared in the door turning over the CLOSED sign to OPEN. Cliff and I entered, Sophia greeting us with a warm smile and welcome as we passed through the doorway. The dining area is cozy with incandescent lamps mirroring either sides of the artfully ornamented walls.

I walked to the end of the restaurant; Abyssinian Cuisine, and took a seat around the bar. Just across from me, Sophia and Moses’ 7-year-old son sat doing his homework. Moments later, Moses came out of the kitchen and placed a menu in front of me. After perusing through the menu for quite some time I settled on an appetizer. Dibulbul Tibs, marinated meatballs mixed with onions, green peppers seasoned with herbs and spices. The entrée arrived on a bed of lettuce sliced tomato, and onion. The meatballs were tender and well-seasoned. The tomato lettuce and onion came together like a salad and were drizzled with a light vinaigrette pepper dressing.

He demonstrated to me the custom way to eat injera. Typically, it is eaten with the hands. A piece is torn off and then used to scoop up the meat or side it is being eaten with. A vast majority of the menu is served with injera, but entrees served with rice are available as well.

As I continued to finish up my appetizer, people began filling in Abyssinian Cuisine. A diverse flow of people came in and out. Although Ethiopian food is not very popular in the Hartford region of Connecticut, Moses says he gets a lot of new customers all the time. While the restaurant itself has been around for over 10 years it just reopened in December of 2018.

Over the last couple years, they experienced some issues with their heating system. Abyssinian Cuisine went two winters with no heat. Just last winter, one of the pipes burst, flooding the restaurant and caused its temporary closing. During this time, Moses shared they lost a lot of customers.

His wife Sofia does a majority restaurant’s cooking along with two other chefs. Their family also helping out when needed. It was his brother-in-law to whom he modeled his restaurant after. His brother in law owns his own pizza restaurant out in California.

After migrating to the U.S., and living in Connecticut for only two years, Moses and Sophia opened their restaurant, in the hopes of introducing the Eritrean culture and food to America. Moses’s family hails from the Tigrigna tribe in Northern Ethiopia (Eritrea). There are 9 different ethnic groups in Eritrea, with 9 different languages. Tigrigna is among the 9 ethnic groups shared Moses to me.

Sprinkled throughout the restaurant, cultural artifacts, sculptures and paintings reflect their homeland and different tribes of Ethiopia. The restaurant’s name, as Moses explained is derived from the ancient name for the northern region of Ethiopia, Abyssinia.

After finishing my appetizer, I had decided I would return on another day to try a full-sized entrée. On my second visit, I had a comrade of mine accompany me. I came this time on a less busy day.
I ordered the Yesega Alicha Be Dnish, beef and potatoes cooked with vegetable oil, garlic, carrots, onions and green peppers served with injera of course.

Yesega Alicha Be Dnish, seasoned beef, carrots, and potatoes served with mashed lentils and steamed cabbage over injera (Ethiopian style flatbread).

My friend ordered the Doro Wot. Moses says this is favorite dish on the menu. The Doro wot is tender chicken marinated in lemon, sautéed in seasoned butter stewed in red pepper sauce flavored with onions, garlic and ginger root. It is served with Abyssinian homemade cottage cheese, a boiled egg and injera.

As we ate, Moses explained some of what goes into the food. The Doro Wot, uses a special Awaze sauce. There are 16 different spices used in the awaze sauce.

“It’s what gives the flavor of the food”, Moses exclaimed. “Back home, normally at the house, you have somebody who knows how many of what kind of (spices) to combine”.