Monday, August 3, 2015

Tanzania is in Africa


We were the only diners at Safari DC on Sunday, which meant that three toddlers were able to wreak a small amount of havoc in the dining room without disturbing anyone. While this worked to our advantage, I can't say why as the food was quite good. There are several African (mostly Ethiopian) restaurants in the area, so that may explain it. Or maybe Sunday lunch isn't when most Petworth residents crave ugali or injera? In any case, the menu does have a lot of Ethiopian options (which most of my party ordered -- very good) and both the waitress and cook were Ethiopian on Sunday (although the waitress initially told us that while she is Ethiopian, she wasn't sure where the cook was from - Africa? Maybe Kenya. Not sure if she considers Ethiopia not African or what to make of this.) There are also plenty of Tanzanian options (possibly Kenyan??? though some dishes specifically mentioned Tanzanian spices). I stuck to the program and ordered what I hope is something that might be served in Tanzania: sautéed goat with ugali and cooked greens. The goat, while a little fatty, was really tender and flavorful. The greens were also quite good, though the ugali was pretty unremarkable. Ugali is basically African polenta, but it's quite refined and there's not a lot going on in terms of flavor (the toddler loved it). My goat wasn't very saucy and the ugali was plentiful. I wasn't really expecting to love it -- I ordered it because I'd read it's one of Tanzania's national dishes -- and I didn't. There might be better Ethiopian food in the DC area (though Safari's was very good), but I don't think you'll find better (or worse for that matter) Tanzanian dishes anywhere around here.

Safari
4306 Georgia Avenue, NW (Petworth)

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