MOBY DICK HOUSE OF KABOB

1300 Connecticut Ave. Northwest, Washington, DC 20036

(202) 833-9788

Closest Metro: DUPONT CIRCLE (Red Line)

Moby Dick House of Kabob is a little Persian kabob restaurant just south of Dupont Circle, on N Street between 19^th and Connecticut. If you’re not careful and not looking very closely, you just might miss it. The restaurant is in a building that blends easily with the buildings adjacent to it, and when I went there were no street signs announcing its presence. It was only the couple of signs on the restaurant itself that revealed its existence.

Entering the restaurant is truly no better. With yellow walls and brown wooden tables, pictures on the wall of localized photos of DC, the first word that comes to mind is “unassuming.” The restaurant was also playing nothing but very soothing music while I was there. Any signs of accomplishment were placed directly to the right of the door, which is facing away from the restaurant and not immediately viewable when entering the restaurant. This included a plaque that features the cover of the Washingtonian “Where to Get Great Stuff Cheap” and below that an award from Express (a publication of Washington Post) for best Kabob. Needless to say, ostentatious they are not.

There is no waiter service in this place. One just goes to the counter and orders, sits and waits. This is one of those places too where there is a soda machine for fountain sodas. I spoke to the manager who took my order and asked him what he would recommend here, and he told me “chicken or beef kabob.” Makes sense, given that this is a kabob place. I ordered the chicken joojeh kabob platter. ($8.29) This consisted of boneless chunks of white meat chicken which was marinated in their seasoning, over a few pieces of pita, with salad, consisting of lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber, olive, and a little feta cheese. It also came with rice, which was a blend of yellow and white rice with no seasoning or spices, and cucumber yogurt sauce, which is essentially tzatziki sauce.

The chicken was outstanding. It had a chargrilled taste with a hint of lemon, yet very soft and juicy. The cucumber yogurt sauce might have been a little thinner than I expected, but not to the point of being liquid. The salad and rice were pretty much standard fare. But the real highlight of the show was the pita bread. The restaurant has its own clay oven, and the bread is baked fresh on the premises, so it comes out warm, and is not very doughy, like the pita bread one would buy in a grocery store. The place also has bottles of Texas Pete’s hot sauce, which also goes well with the chicken, if you are not into tzatziki sauce.

I sat in this restaurant marveling at the simplicity of it all. This is a very simple place with simple food. But what they do serve here, they do it well. It seems that they have more complicated dishes, such as Persian stews, which are reserved for their weekday lunch specials. Overall, I’d have to give this place an 8/10. Above average food, and portions, which are filling but not heavy, are perfect for lunch or a late night snack after a night out in DC. It’s good to know that this place is open until 4 AM.

Vegetarian Options: They exist here, such as falafel, melted cheese over fresh mushrooms, onion tomato and spinach on the pita bread, and a few different salads. One notable salad is the Shirazi Salad, which is a mix of diced cucumbers, tomatoes and onions with a lemon/olive oil dressing.

Amount spent: $8.29 for the chicken joojeh kabob platter

HABESHA MARKET

1919 9th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20001
(202) 232-1919
Closest Metro: U STREET/CARDOZO (Green and yellow lines)

Ask some random Washingtonians which cuisines make DC so well known, and chances are, you’re bound to hear the word “Ethiopian.” Due to the large influx of Ethiopian immigrants, Ethiopian restaurants dot the city. Like all restaurants, some are really good, some are mediocre, and some are just awful.

Fortunately, I had a guide to help me navigate through the DC Ethiopian restaurant maze. My friend Simret is from Ethiopia and lives in DC. So when first I came down here, I told him to take me to a good Ethiopian restaurant. He took me to Dukem, arguably one of the most famous Ethiopian restaurants in DC. I then told him to take me to a place where I could get a truly good authentic Ethiopian meal. He took me to Habesha Market.

Habesha Market is located on 9^th Street NW near U Street, in an area informally called “Little Ethiopia.” Habesha Market is more than just a restaurant. It’s a place that sells Ethiopian ingredients, such as spices, shredded wheat, unground coffee beans, injera bread, sodas, even fruit tobacco, phone cards and Ethiopian music. Think of a cross between a small market and a restaurant. But I came for a good Ethiopian meal. This is the type of place where you go to the counter and order. They will give you a beeper to alert you when your food is ready and then you go from there.

One of the features of this place that struck me the most was the open faced industrial kitchen behind a stainless steel counter containing different Ethiopian vegetarian dishes, such as spicy lentils, spicy potatoes, yellow peas and collard greens. For the curious, watch them cook your food. I chose to pass on that. In a way, it detracts from the pleasure of enjoying a good meal, and is just something that I don’t need to see. Instead, I went into the dining area in an adjacent room and viewed the pictures of rural Ethiopian villages.

As Simret described to me, Ethiopian cuisine stems from a pastoral society, so chicken is rarely consumed. Beef is really the primary meat here, and in America, the land of cheap meat, it is served abundantly. Simret recommended that I try the tibs, which is steak on the off the bone that’s sautéed with onion, and served with jalapeno and diced tomatoes and garlic. ($7.50) But I had to pass. I was here to get one of my favorite dishes, which is the Kitfo, or beef tartar that they prepare with butter, mitimita (a spicy seasoning used to flavor food), and cardamom. Kitfo can be consumed three ways – raw, cooked, or medium. I chose medium. I also chose to have mine with diced onion and diced jalapeno ($8.95 – FYI: This dish is $5 more at most other Ethiopian restaurants). With it, I also got a few sides of lentil, yellow peas and spicy potato. Overall, the kitfo was spicy, which is how I like it. Then again, I ordered the spicy one, but that is optional. Fair Warning: I’m a fan of spicy food, and my tolerance to spice is higher than most people. The spicy lentils were a misnomer; since they had a sweet taste and not spicy one, but the yellow peas had a very mild taste that one comes to expect from yellow peas. It was all served over injera bread, with an extra piece on the side. The injera bread tasted like standard injera bread, a little like sourdough.

The place is wonderful for vegetarians. You can get a four veggie combo for $6.95, which comes with spicy lentils, yellow peas, greens and house salad. For $2.00 more, they will add cabbage and shiro (ground chick peas with spices). For an extra $3, you can add a piece of fried fish, which is actually a whole white fish that is julienned so you can pick off pieces and eat. Just be careful for bones. I can’t write on the fish now because I did not have it this time, but I don’t remember it being bad.

There are two words that I could use to summarize Habesha Market:

1) Value. You get a lot of food for the price you pay. Also, the quality of the food is above average, especially for the price. But the phrase “you pay for what you get” does not apply here. In this case, “higher price” does not correlate to “better food.”

2) Authenticity. This place does not try to be anything more than it is, other than an Ethiopian restaurant serving good food. Possibly one of the surest indications that this place is authentic is that many Ethiopians eat at this place as well.

Simret added a third word:

3) Consistency. Some Ethiopian restaurants can be hit or miss, depending on what you get. Some Ethiopian restaurants specialize in certain kinds of food. But he pointed out that the quality of this place has always been good.

Overall, I left that meal feeling extremely full, especially when eating a portion here by myself. I would recommend this as a lunch place or a dinner place to come in with a group of friends. Given the heavy nature of Etiopian food, I would not recommend it as a late night snack. Still, Ethiopian is probably one of the best kinds of cuisine for a communal meal. Take-out is also an option here. Ultimately, I would give this restaurant a 7.5/10. Like I said, above average food, portions were fairly large, and you could eat a substantial amount of good food for at or just below $10.

Vegetarian friendly: Very. It is very easy to eat well here as a vegetarian.

Amount Spent: $8.95 for the kitfo, and some vegetables and injera bread on the side.