Hands down, Arada's Ethiopian fare a joy

Friday, September 8, 2006

Adrian Monk, the hyper-phobic TV sleuth, would freak out if he ever had to work on a case while dining at Arada Ethiopian Cuisine.

For one thing, customers are given no utensils: no forks or knives, and spoons are just for serving. Entrees such as the sloppy joe-like minchetabush ($9.50) - finely chopped beef butter-sautéed with ginger, onion, cardamom and pepper - are eaten by pinching up a taste with a piece of sponge-y, sourdough injera flatbread.

That's right, Mr. Monk, you eat with your hands. More precisely, your right hand only, even if you are left-handed. All I can say is that there's a very good reason for this tradition.

By the way, at Arada you don't get a plate, at least not an individual one for each guest. All the entrees for a table are served on one round platter lined with a large, single round of house-made injera. As much as you might like to, finger licking is considered poor form.

You deduce correctly that all the different foods touch each other, including a choice of sides such as tomato fit-fit, a sort of bread salad; fresh tomato salad; slow-simmered green beans; cooked greens; and velvety mild split yellow pea puree.

With everyone reaching into the platter, sometimes you actually touch the other diners. It's enough to make one compulsively obsess.

The same communal attributes that might make someone like Mr. Monk moan are the very reasons I love dining at Arada, I thought, as I shared a platter with my sister on a recent Saturday night.

She and I gabbed about family members, friends, politics, religion and other juicy stuff as we ripped ragged pieces of injera and grabbed tastes of yebeg siga alitcha ($10.95), a mild lamb stew, and siga wot ($10.95), the latter with chunks of beef in a much zestier sauce. By the time we were finishing, the excellent, not-too-sour injera that covers the bottom of the platter had soaked up all the myriad juices, sauces and spices and was a dish by itself.

With all this sharing and exceptionally welcoming, relaxed service, my only problem was remembering that I was working and needed to notice the nuances.

When I returned with three foodie friends we dove headlong into the experience, broadening our conception of Ethiopian cuisine.

For instance, we think of these meals as a lengthy one-course affair, but Arada's appetizers are highly recommended. We especially love the beef sambusas ($4.95), three triangle-shaped pastries with a wonderful flaky-but-chewy crust.

Straight from the fryer they are hot but not greasy with a chile-fueled, complexly spiced filling. The vegetable sambusa ($4.50) is equally zesty. We balanced the heat with special hummis dip ($5.95), an incredibly creamy dip with a cinnamon hint that we scooped with butter-griddled pita-like bread points.

The azifa ($7.95) is a whole different starter. The lentil dish with little rolls of injera looks quite innocent, but one bite reveals a stealth kick of heat following the first touch of garlic, onion and lemon. The green bits mingled with the lentils are jalapeño and sprinkled on top is a polyphonic spice mixture.

Your taste buds don't know if they are coming or going but they sure enjoy the ride. Any lingering thoughts we harbored about this fare being generally mild were burned away.

Among our favorite entrees was kitfo ($9.95), which is often referred to as "Ethiopian steak tartare" but it's really something completely different. The raw ground lean steak is tossed with tasty, clarified butter plus chiles. Sidled up to it is wonderfully fresh-tasting, house-made cottage cheese to break the heat.

The resulting mouthfuls of the cool, yin-yang dish are concurrently meaty, smoky and satisfying. The cooked version is kikil kitfo ($9.95).

Another must-order dish is gored gored ($11.95), boasting tender beef chunkettes in a dark, butter-rich, almost mole-like sauce thick with ground spices.

Best poultry bets are doro wot ($9.60), chicken leg stewed in red pepper sauce until it virtually melts, and kid-friendly doro alitcha ($9.50).

Arada also offers a bevy of combination meals if you don't want to choose, as well as many vegetable dishes. However, purists should note that meat- and meat-free dishes all come on the same platter.

No matter your dietary persuasion, an Arada meal is a post-graduate course in sophisticated seasoning. Nothing is a single note but rather layer upon layer of heat-producers. Red and white pepper back up baking ingredients such as cardamom alongside high herb notes. Don't even try to deconstruct the flavors.

Luckily, we had malty Ethiopian beer, honey-thick wine and mango juice to cleanse our buds through all these flavor changes.

Ever since Arada moved from its original Colfax location to Santa Fe among the art galleries and Mexican restaurants, a growing corps of regulars is stopping by for a gracious helping of owner Haime Asfaw's hospitality. The room is quite cozy with a full bar lined with stools near walls covered with examples of Ethiopian Christian art.

Here, there is no disconnect between body and soul. Eating together is a wholly spiritual undertaking.

By the time you're done, you're stuffed, so it's a good thing that Ethiopians don't believe in dessert. All that's needed is a small colorful cup of black, thick coffee braced with cinnamon and cardamon.

Some Monk-like folk are advised to avoid Arada where human contact is the whole point. For everyone else, I think it's a crime not to expose yourself to the considerable pleasures of Ethiopian dining.

Arada Ethiopian Cuisine

• Grade: B-

• Address: 750 Santa Fe Drive, Denver

• Hours: 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday

• Food: Ethiopian

• How much: $5-$8 starters; $8-$16 entrees

• Reservations: Yes

• Information: 303-329-3344; www.aradarestaurant.com

John Lehndorff is the dining critic; lehndorffj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5103.