Meals by Genet

Fairfax Avenue's Little Ethiopia is one of the grooviest enclaves in town, a long city block lined on both sides by coffeehouses, food markets, and places to buy both Ethiopian knickknacks and CDs of Ethiopian pop music, which is at the same time danceable and as inscrutable as Amharic poetry. Among the many restaurants on the strip, Meals by Genet stands out as an Ethiopian bistro, which is to say, a homey, soft-lit dining room that looks at least as French as it does African. The menu is short: a half-dozen stews and Genet Agonafer's delicious version of kitfo, a dish of minced raw beef tossed with warm, spiced butter. Her dorowot is jaw-droppingly good, vibrating with what must be ginger and black pepper and bishop's weed and clove but tasting of none of them, so formidably solid that the chicken becomes just another ingredient in the sauce. See full review.

• Cuisine(s): African, Ethiopian

  Hours: Sun,Wed,Thu,Fri,Sat 5:30pm-10pm

  Price: $$

• Payment Types: MasterCard, Visa, American Express

  Features: Takeout, Catering, Family Style

  Serving: Dinner

• Alcohol: Beer/Wine

  Reservations: Accepted, Required on Weekends

  Parking: Lot Available, Street