Queen of Sheba

Spokane has Ethiopian food! Even better, Spokane as good Ethiopian food!

One of the great and many holes in the Spokane dining scene is the small, ethnic restaurant. We are simply short on options when we want something other than American- or European- based food. We are also short on options when we want to go out for dinner, but don't want it to be a big, fancy affair. We just don't have the small, casual, mid-priced restaurant, and our ethnic options are almost universally sad. No good Thai. No good Indian. No good, cheap Chinese. Fans of Gordy's may argue this last point with me, and I will say that I have had some fine meals there. But it is over priced and under consistent to really fit the niche I'm talking about. I am very fond of the pho at Pho Van, and their Division location is surprisingly chic (completely unlike their Hamilton location).

But this may no longer be true of our fair city, made fairer still by the advent of Queen of Sheba Ethiopian Cuisine in the Flour Mill. First, a disclaimer: I am no expert on Ethiopian food. I've only had it a handful of times before, if that. So, I'm in no position to judge how well the food at Queen of Sheba compares to other Ethiopian restaurants, or even how representative it is. But, I am in a position to say that the food was good, and perhaps even better than being good, it was interesting. Lots of complex flavors, a decent level of spiciness, and lots of sensations that you are unlikely to find this side of Seattle, and almost certainly not in your home cooking!

The basis of Ethiopian cuisine is ingera, which is often called a flat bread but more resembles a cross between a pancake and an english muffin. This is both bread and utensil in an Ethiopian meal, serving as platter and silverware. The ingera at Queen of Sheba is made from a mixture of teff, an Ethiopian grain, and barley, and it has a lovely taupe color and spongey consistency. This consistency is key, since most Ethiopian food is stewed in a rich, spice-filled sauce, so you need the big holes in the bread to transport that sauce to your mouth. The menu is split between vegetarian, with lots of lentils and chickpeas, and meat: poultry, lamb and beef (no pork). Everything has a lot of spice in it, but there are hot and non-hot versions of nearly everything.

Eating at Queen of Sheba is not for the germophobic (which is not to suggest the place isn't anything but spotless) or the socially faint of heart. The combination of no silverware and lots of sauce means you will almost certainly go through a lot of napkins, and that white shirts and ties are in danger. Most tables end up eating from a communal platter, served in a large basket, so go with people you trust to use the antibiotic wetnaps that arrive before the food. My table of four split the vegetarian platter and the meat platter, and left with full tummies and nearly empty plates.

One of the nicest things about Queen of Sheba is the owner, who is also in charge of the front of the house and seems to be the wait staff. According to the Inlander, she is an Ethiopian woman who worked as a teacher here in Spokane before opening the restaurant. She is not a professional restaurant person, and given the newness of the business (and the amount of risk she is no doubt incurring in opening it), she is understandably not entirely relaxed yet. But, she is enthusiastic, sincere, and obviously kind. It was an unusual, but strangely refreshing, restaurant moment when she chided my table for taking so much extra ingera, telling us that we better not waste it, since it was so labor intensive.

My one complaint may not be a fair one, but the Ethiopian restaurant I went to in San Francisco featured a heavenly goat yogurt as a condiment. It was rich and creamy and buttery, with just a hint of goat funkiness. I love goat funkiness. I ordered the yogurt condiment at Queen of Sheba, only to have it arrive the consistency of dry feta, with no discernible flavor.

I've said it before: a great restaurant town depends on a culture of great restaurant customers. Spokane's nascent dining scene will not thrive if we do not support new, risky, interesting ventures. Queen of Sheba is not cheap, but it is equivalent to Chilis or Olive Garden, and unlike both of those places, it serves food with flavor. Next time you have an option, go to Queen of Sheba (or Pho Van, if you are in the mood for spicy beef soup). Hopefully, not only will it survive and thrive, but its success will encourage other local people to open similar, non-cookie cutter, non-chain restaurants.