Mall overhaul 🍽

Taste of Ethiopia is a total surprise outside The Citadel, with fine decor, authentic eats and a cultural coffee component the furthers the warm, welcoming vibe

Apr 16, 2024

A combo vegetable plate with awaze tibs and key wot. Photos by Matthew Schniper.

Uchenna has been the Springs’ only Ethiopian restaurant for well over a decade. For the multiple times a week that I’m asked my favorite places in the Springs, Uchenna’s name is typically one of the first out of my mouth.

So, on the heels of reviewing a newly opened West African spot a few months ago, I was excited to hear that the Springs recently added a second East African eatery in the form of Taste of Ethiopia: a place for the East side to try the unique cuisine, and a welcome addition of another independent shop to a traditionally chain-dominant area.

Owners Estifanos Dagne and Rahel Estifanos (the house chef) spent months overhauling a former Red Robin location outside and overlooking The Citadel Mall; it was most recently an Elks Lodge. This is the couple’s first restaurant venture. They immigrated via Boston in 2011 and after four years spent another four in Denver before moving to the Springs. They also own a medical transportation company and Estifanos says he’s been wanting to open a restaurant for several years now: “When I saw this building I said ‘this is the perfect place.’”

How they’ve reshaped the building ranks beyond impressive. We were stunned walking in and being warmly greeted under large chandeliers suspended from tall ceilings that totally open up the space. You’d never know it was corporate before. There’s an attached coffee shop named Wongel Coffee (a tribute to their daughter) that’s open during full restaurant hours (11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., daily; until 10 Thursday-Saturday). That’s up a few steps to the left of the host stand, while to the right leads into the main dining room with a full bar at its rear. Pass through there and you enter a sunroom/lounge with both dining tables and outdoor-style lounging sofas — Ethio-jazz plays overhead. Outside there’s even more patio tables over an artificial lawn set with some yard games.

The furnishings are all a mix of traditional and modern, from mesob tables in the central dining room and a side display area decoratively set for “cultural coffee” service to sleek booths and bar stools facing large televisions behind the bar. When we order coffee post-meal — option to pair French Kitchen dessert pastries should you wish — we’re served out of a traditional jebena, a tall ceramic coffee pot with a narrow spout and wide handle. Our terrific server Barnabas pours ornate cups atop a brightly patterned coffee tray atop which incense (methinks its frankincense) burns in a charcoal holder shaped like a goblet. I can say I’ve never been served coffee with incense for aromatics and now I’m pretty sure I’m spoiled for life.

Service from the jebena of strong Ethiopian coffee.

If you do want to do the cultural coffee ceremony reservations are recommended but we’re told they take walk ins as well and they apparently pan-roast the green coffee beans in front of guests and pour coffees over the course of an hour or so. The Ethiopian coffee (roasted by Lucy Coffee in Aurora) is strong, muddy-dark and delightful (keeping us up late; we knew better, but there was no decaf option). If you’re seeking espresso drinks instead, Wongel has you covered from its coffee counter.

With your meal there’s an array of common domestic American beers and a few craft labels, including Bristol Brewing. There’s a limited wine selection too but we inquire about anything authentically Ethiopian to drink and are informed of many off-menu items (that we’re told will make a reprinted list soon). Barnabas brings us samples of a honey wine that tastes like sweet mead with a Riesling middle and yeasty beery finish, and also sips of grape-derived Arak spirit, pungent with anise and basically an ouzo. He also arrives with a tray of five Ethiopian beers I’ve never seen before, including a Harar Beer made by Heineken and several other light lagers that drink generally crisp and easy with the food.

At Wongel Coffee there's a legit La Marzocco espresso machine for lattes and the like. Pictured middle is the cultural coffee area. Ethiopian beers are available too.

Ah yes, the food, saved for last here. Estifanos tells us its Rahel’s recipes and that she loves to cook dishes like doro wat, which he says is a holiday/special occasion meal back home. For it, chicken legs slow-cook in a lightly spicy and highly fragrant berbere sauce and are served with a hardboiled egg. I recall Maya at Uchenna telling me that essentially every family has their own guarded recipe handed down, and Rahel’s (different and a little sweeter than I’m familiar with) momentarily makes us think of mole with bright, complex, layered spice notes and almost a dark cacao earthy bitterness. It’s interesting to compare the two interpretations.

The family imports spices directly via family members Estifanos says, and they acquire teff flour for their injera from a farm in Idaho that specializes in it. I notice the injera here doesn’t have as much of the fermented tang as Uchenna’s and it’s almost more crepe like. If you’re totally new to Ethiopian dining, this is what you pinch from and fold around whatever item you wish to scoop and eat; it’s effectively a utensil, as you eat with your hands, sans silverware.

I could go item-by-item here, from the split peas and lentils to cabbage, collard greens, chick peas, beets and awaze tibs (beef chunks with peppers, onions and awaze seasoning). But I’m feeling like letting you explore the flavors on your own. You know the base vegetal and protein ingredients, but the unique flavorings are in the spices, from simple garlic and butter to turmeric, ginger, rosemary and of course, berbere. Everything satisfies in a home-cooked, nourishing kind of way.

If like me, you know Uchenna well, Taste of Ethiopia offers a contrast on the familiar and you can pick your preferences. And again, if you’re new to Ethiopian altogether, this place makes a great place to dip a toe then dive right in and explore. It’s approachable, accommodating and outwardly welcoming and warm. It easily wins us over, and we’re glad to now have East and West options for Ethiopian in town. Not to mention the coffee component here that checks a whole other box.