Ethiopian+Patricia Barber Monday January 28, 6:30

Hi all:

Reading the posts on the newly opened Demera with references to the Green Mill across the street got me thinking. And after jumping over to the Green Mill web site and seeing that Patricia Barber was playing her semi-regular Monday night gigs this month (with the exception of the 21st), I am hankering for a near-perfect evening of Ethiopian food, great music, good drinks, and terrific company. Anyone care to join me?

My work schedule just got crazy, so I'm going with a date closer to the end of the month:


Monday January 28, 2007

Dinner starting at 6:30
Demera
4801 N. Broadway
Chicago, Il
773-334-8787

And by 8:30 a quick jaunt across the street to to get seats for the Patricia Barber Trio:
Green Mill Jazz Club
4802 N. Broadway Ave.
Chicago, IL 60640
773.878.5552

Once I get a sense of how many people are interested, we can figure out from there about getting a pre-arranged menu with a set cost per person or ordering individually. And cover charge at the Green Mill is $6, I believe.

I now have Ms. Barber's "I Could Eat Your Words" playing in my head. "Suck the salt from erudition, drink remorse like a cabernet, sweeten with equivocation..."

Hi,

I would be interested if the date ends up being 1/28.

Jyoti

I'm interested for the 7th ... it was a great combo last night (sorry, don't remember the name of the group, but they were outstanding).

I'm interested. Either date works for me.

We would love to join you, both for the food and the jazz. I was busy this Monday, but the 28th works perfectly. Do you think we will need 2 1/2 hours for dinner?
Robert and Catherine

Not necessarily. It's just my past experiences with LTH dinners have been that they've been at least two hours. And there have been some early reports of semi-slow service at Demera, so I thought I'd budget extra time to be safe.

Puh leez -- sounds fabulous. One for me.

I'm up for this on the 28th. The only snag is that I can't guarantee that I can get up there for 6 pm given that I work in the Loop. If it's okay that I'm a few minutes late, then count me in.

I'm interested; if it's the 28th, I may have to consider it in light of existing plans for Chucks Mardi Gras the next evening, but I have been known to consider back-to-back LTH evenings a good idea in the past...

Joe - yes it is the 28th so I'm glad you can join us. And as for back to back LTH dinners, given what some members have been able to accomplish in one day of eating, surely you are up to the challenge of two dinners

And Aschie, I'm sure it'll be fine if you arrive after 6:00. So far, I have for RSVP's:

Jygach
chapulin +1
SGFoxe
aschie30
germuska
hellodali +2
nr706+1
Cinny's Mom
Dennis Huston +2


With a modest size group, right now I'm assuming we'll just order off the menu, but I will visit the restaurant in the next few days and talk to them about how we might best order to get the full Demera experience and will post a little closer to the date. Looking forward to it.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to bow out of this event. I decided somewhat last minute to seize a rare yoga training opportunity, so I've got to do some serious penny pinching--my stomach and I are going to have to do a little less feasting for the next few months. Hellodali--thanks for organizing. This is a great idea. I'l catch everyone next time!

Update for Monday's dinner at Demera. I made a reservation for 6:30 pm (note the time change) for 9 under Dimitra. Since we're a smallish group, I think we'll be fine ordering off the menu. Most items on the menu are $10-15 with salads at $9 and appetizers $4.25. Without alcohol, I'm guessing it will be about $25-30 each depending on how much we order. We'll have a separate tab for drinks to make things easier to calculate. I think that's all for now. Looking forward to seeing everyon on Monday.

Is there still room for two more?

Absolutely. Glad you can join us.

Hi, Can you add one more? This event sounds great.

Consider it done. Glad you can join us.

Hi all,

I'm a new LTH member per Joe Germuska, but long time fan. I'll be bringing my 2 daughters and another guest on Monday night to Demera. Both of my girls have been eating Ethiopian since their early days (1yr olds love Kik Alicha, btw)

re: Demera, I've been there twice now and my initial reviews are that the food is so so, but I'm willing to try again b/c the people are super nice. Both varieties of Tej (honey wine) are excellent, and much better than the other varieties I've tried at Ethiopian Diamond (which I also like) and African Harambee (which is a bit too much alcohol taste for my buds).

Looking forward to meeting other folks for the first time on Monday though and looking forward to other great future food experiences with the group.

Cheers, Dennis

Welcome to LTH Dennis and glad you and your daughters will be joining us.

We hate to cancel at the last minute, but Catherine has been sick all week. She was hoping to be well enough to come this evening, but she is still not quite back on track, and Robert is not feeling 100% well either. We certainly don't want to infect our fellow LTHers. We are looking forward to reviews and pictures! Again, apologies,
Robert

Dimitra-

Thanks for planning this event.

It was great seeing those of you I met before again and finally meeting others for the first time!

Dimitra -- you go girl -- we NEED an ArgyloRama

Thanks to Dimitra for organizing a great event. The food was delicious and the music was great.

It was a fun evening.

My favorite dish by far was the buttery rich kifto tere - a steak tartare with butter and herbs that virtually defines the term unctuous. The sambussa appetizers were also standouts.

With so many cameras around, I only took a pic of one plate. The salmon was especially interesting - good salmon flavor coming through, with the Ethiopean spicing enhancing the flavor without overpowering it.

(from top, clockwise) unidentified pepper dish (sorry), Ye-Salmon Dulet, Ye-Dnichena Carrot Alicha, Ye-Shrimp Wat.

Seeing the Patricia Barbara Quartet in such a historic location across the street made for an excellent proxy for dessert.

Great to see everyone, and meet a few new LTHers. My thanks also to Dimitra for pulling this together.

I quite enjoyed dinner last night. Hellodali did a great job of ordering for the table, and despite my prior skepticism about the practice, it seemed to work fine to pass the platters around the table. As usual, the LTH contingent proved congenial, funny, and to be good sharers!

I think my favorite tastes were the raw kitfo, the yemisir wat (lentils) and the shrimp tibs. I was underwhelmed by the doro tibs, which are my absolute favorite (when they are "on") at Ethiopian Diamond. The sambusa at Demera were much better than I've ever had at the Diamond, where they tend to be smaller and harder, either overfried and/or a wrapper with the wrong consistency. At Demera they were tender and tasty.

There were so many other things I could barely keep them straight. I was not all that excited about the lamb ribs, which were pretty chewy and not terribly flavorful. I liked the tilapia (fish tibs? not sure how it was listed on the menu) but wasn't that fond of the salmon, which I think was more a matter of personal taste.

No need to play favorites! I am happy that another good quality Ethiopian restaurant is in town.

Dimitra, thank you for organizing a very enjoyable evening. Thank you, in particular, for taking care of the ordering--I'll never be coordinated enough to do that on the spot for a group of any size, so I admire people with such skills.

I was pleasantly surprised by the food at Demera. Before going, I had spoken with two non-LTH friends who had had underwhelming meals there, but I was impressed by the quality of nearly everything we ate on Monday.
I actually liked both the raw and cooked kifto. The raw was lovely for the demureness of flavor. In contrast, I really liked the assertive spicing of the cooked kifto. I also liked the shrimp and Demera's version of doro wat, which (like their red lentils) seemed like they were spiced somewhat differently than the versions of these dishes to which I'm accustomed. They were more cinnamon-y (if not cinnamon exactly, in that direction of sweet-savoriness). I also liked trying the shredded sour injera (didn't catch the name), though I think I gave up on it prematurely. I should have just tried eating some with a fork and maybe some chicken or lamb. Instead, I just ate it with my hand with plain injera, which was not exciting in any way (though I'm always looking for new carbo-loading ideas, so maybe injera with injera is worth a try in place of plain, buttered spaghetti for my next pre-race meal...).

I'll definitely be back to Demera.

I'm sorry I wasn't able to make the dinner last night, but I'm planning on going next week, so I'm glad for all the recommendations -- thanks for the recaps!

Question: I know they have a winelist, but do would you recommend it, or do they allow BYOB?

The tej was pretty good Monday night; on a previous trip, I asked about wines - the choice was red or white. They're pretty accomodating, I imagine they'd let you bring in a bottle, but I'd call (773-334-8787) first.

I didn't see a wine list per se - tej (honey wine) appears to be traditional, however, GWiv BYOB'd by accident and stated that they didn't seem to care. I'd still call ahead and ask. But I'm a wine person myself, and I enjoyed the tej just fine with the food.

Further perspective - although The French Couple wasn't able to make the dinner, I asked Robert about the question that came up regarding whether or not honey wine is traditionally drunk with dinner.

chapulin wrote:When I was in Ethiopia, tej was not traditionally consumed with meals. It would be the sort of beverage you might have in a cafe or a really traditional bar.

FYI

nr706 wrote:Further perspective - although The French Couple wasn't able to make the dinner, I asked Robert about the question that came up regarding whether or not honey wine is traditionally drunk with dinner.

chapulin wrote:When I was in Ethiopia, tej was not traditionally consumed with meals. It would be the sort of beverage you might have in a cafe or a really traditional bar.

FYI

To clarify - I did not mean to convey in any authoritative sense what was "traditional" to drink (I do not even attempt to have an opinion about that) - but that what appears to be the traditional -- ie common at Demera -- wine offering is tej. I understood winegirl1973 to be inquiring about not what people in Ethiopia would drink but whether or not Demera offered a wine list (separated by region and/or varietal), and the answer to that is, no, I did not see such a wine list. That is not to say that a variety of wines won't pair well with this cuisine but that if you go there, you're likely to be offered tej, which I found to be fine, pretty good, in fact, whether or not it is indeed traditional to drink with food in Ethiopia.

I hope that clears up any confusion.