Meskerem, Washington, D.C.

There were so many things on my To Do list for today. Did any of them get done? Nope. My friend Jim was going to drive up from Virginia so we could go have a late lunch. I'd forgotten that this is commencement weekend at GWU across the street, so he had to drive around for over half an hour looking for a parking place.

We drove up to Adams-Morgan and found a parking place right outside of Meskerem. Jim, even though a two-year-long D.C. area resident, had never had Ethiopean food before, and Meskerem is one of those places I'd long heard about—after all, it was one of the very first Ethiopean restaurants in D.C.—but at which I'd never dined, so that's where we decided to eat.

We happened to get the window table where we were fully exposed to all of the passers-by on the sidewalk. We had a traditional basket table—a messob—and a little end table to hold drink glasses and other things. The walls were decorated with Ethiopean textile art and paintings of textile designs.

Now, the restaurant strip in Adams-Morgan is a vibrant section of the transition neighborhood, so most all of the places are in storefronts in not particularly restored or fancy old buildings. One of the window panes by our table was broken and covered with a board; the whole place had the look of an older, cheaper building that hadn't been decorated in years. Meskerem has both basement and mezzanine level dining rooms in addition to the main floor, and a bit later on Saturday nights, all of those would be full, but at 5:30, the restaurant was still slow and all of the patrons were seated on the main level.

Since it was Jim's first visit to an Ethiopean place, we opted for a sampler platter for two. It had a couple of beef dishes, a lamb dish, two chicken dishes, an interesting vinegared potato salad, lentils, and greens. The food was okay, but it didn't meet up to my expectations after all the recommendations and hype. I'd really much prefer the food at Zed's in Georgetown or Dukem on U Street. I also thought the service was rather slow, especially since there were three or four waitresses handling a dining room with only a handful of tables.

So, now I've had my Meskerem experience. Next time I'm in Adams-Morgan, I'll now feel free to try some of the dozens of other restaurants in the neighborhood.