Zoma, new and stylish Ethiopian in Harlem

[Fat Guy]

The Ethiopian restaurant Zoma opened earlier this month (I think) on the corner of 113th Street and Frederick Douglass Blvd. (aka Central Park West, aka Eighth Ave.). It's not what you think. This restaurant is fresh, young, stylish, sleek, intimate, modern -- it's the Ethiopian (actually they call it Abyssinian) equivalent of the new wave of Indian places that are popping up, or the smart nouvelle bistro-type places on the fringes of Harlem. Nice graphic design on the menu, business cards and -- yes -- website. Bar bottle display nicely illuminated from underneath.

I found the food to be categorically superior to what's served at the standard Ethiopian places around town.

The staff was incredibly solicitous and really seemed to want to promote the cuisine -- in addition to what we ordered, they brought out tastes of honey wine and a couple of extra vegetable sides for us to sample. The man who waited on us most of the evening seemed to be a combination of manager and bartender, super-articulate and enthusiastic about the cuisine. A waitress who came on later and took over half the room was equally friendly.

After long consultation, we chose the Tibs Wett and the Assa Tibs. The Tibbs Wett is described as "strips of sirloin" but is actually chunks of beef. It's stewed in the most amazing mixture of spices, herbs and other things -- garlic, berbere (sun-dried hot peppers ground with ginger and a blend of spices), kibe (seasoned butter), cardamom, coriander and certainly a dozen others. Most of the entrees come with two vegetable sides. We chose Gomen (collard greens simmered with onion, garlic, ginger and spices) and Misir Wett (red lentils with berbere, black cumin and many other spices), and they also sent out Fassolia (string beans with garlic and tomato) and Kik Aletcha (split peas with green peppers and onions). The manager guy was right about the Fassolia -- it was the clear winner among the vegetable sides, though all were excellent. The Assa Tibs is a pan-fried tilapia filet (it's also available grilled), maybe cooked more than I'd cook it but not overcooked, which comes with chopped tomatoes (the single item in the entire meal that was not good, because the tomatoes were poor specimens) and cracked wheat.

In the Ethiopian style, all the food for the table is served on one big platter and eaten with torn-off pieces of Injera (soft fermented flatbread), using your hands. The presentation is much more elegant than most, though. The platters are square white ceramic, with the round piece of Injera extending almost to the edges. The dishes come out in nice white square ceramic bowls and on square plates and the staff makes a careful composition of everything for you on the Injera. They also brought us a ton of extra Injera -- more than I could comfortably eat -- without us needing to ask for it, and it's a milder, more subtle Injera than most places offer.

I had a beer as well (there's a cocktail and wine list that gets an A for effort but didn't offer anything that really appealed to us), and some very good spiced mint tea afterwards. Bill came to $37 and change, before tip.

Zoma

2084 Frederick Douglass Blvd. (corner of 113th)

212-662-0620

http://zomanyc.com/index.html

The website has the full menu.

[Fat Guy]

Peter Meehan wrote a nice review of Zoma in today's New York Times "$25 and Under" column.

I agree with his characterization of the difference between Zoma and most of the other local Ethiopians:

It’s not Ethiopian lite, per se, it’s just that the kitchen manages to avoid the warm, welcoming arms of buttery overkill. Even the injera seems a little healthier: it’s a shade or two darker than some and a touch less spongy than most. Butter and relative sponginess aside, the kitchen’s sure hand with spice and seasoning ensures that flavor is never in short supply.

[ewindels]

What a nifty addition to the lower Harlem area. The subtly decorated and lit space is a great example of less is more, and provides just as great people watching as any of the downtown zoos. Last night the crowd was evenly split: groups of crunchy frizzled-hairs from the Colombia area, their wardrobes bespeaking long tenures in academe, enthusing about their latest sabbatical in Abu Dhabi and wouldn’t Charlayne Hunter-Gault just love this place. The other were more local denizens, taking a break from Melba’s and Charles’, albeit it seemed with some skepticism. Particularly entertaining was the young lady at the table next to us, poured into the clothes she wears and expecting A Night Out. When informed that utensils would not be forthcoming for her meal, the look on the face of this demoiselle, whose tablecloth trailing Veronica Lake coif and elaborate manicure suggested expectations of a less exotic dining experience, was priceless. After risking both hair and nails by dutifully and gingerly essaying a few tenuous morsels from her combination plate, out she marched, glumly trailed by her date whose expression left little doubt that he’d abandoned any hope of gettin’ him some.

Boy did she miss out: the food is terrific. It’s been a while since I’ve had Ethiopian, so I won’t compare to previous experiences, which comprise dim memories from the places in my neighborhood, catering largely to students of extremely limited means: small dark sticky boites serving rustically spiced and heavily greasy food, guaranteed to leave some part of your interior rumbling the next day. Nothing like that at Zoma: the food is carefully and elegantly presented and cooked. In fact, the elegance and subtlety of the flavorings caused much amazed and happy comment from the more experienced Ethiopaphiles at my table. Steven has given a thorough and accurate of the general atmosphere and presentation above.

We started with the Azifa, a spiced lentil salad served on endive leaves. I don’t know how authentic endive is to Ethiopia (no doubt a long and spirited discussion on this subject will help clarify this issue), but it’s a great pairing, the slight bitterness of the endive acting as a great foil to the elaborate spice combination of the salad. Also phyllo triangles, feather light and flaky, filled with a mildly spicy ground beef mixture. Both winners. We then shared the two hefty combination platters, and everything on them was superb, not a single disappointment. The injira was spongy and immediately replenished when requested. Despite being four very hungry people, the above-mentioned left us thoroughly stuffed us and unable to contemplate dessert. With two bottles of honey wine and tip, damage came to $30 a head.

A few nitpicks (because as a New Yorker one has to):

• Service, while charming and solicitous, was a little slow (the place was fairly packed at 7PM), and it frequently required some jumping up and down to get anyone’s attention. They could use a full time busboy to augment the two slightly harried young ladies who had ca. 15 packed tables and a full bar to handle.

• Not being a big fan of honey wine, beer, or painfully sweet cocktails, I would ideally like to see the generic and uninspired wine list revamped, particularly as I can’t imagine most of what was offered working with the food.

• This is hand-eaten food, and therefore requires napkins. Lots of them. Only one a person was doled out, and that only after repeated requests. Stacks on the tables may not look as elegant, but would be infinitely more practical and welcome.

This is absolutely a place worth making a trip for. Can’t wait to go back.

Edited January 15, 2007 by ewindels (log)

[Fat Guy]

Returned to Zoma tonight. We ordered two of the sampler platters. The first contained Tibbs Wett (the aforementioned beef chunks, which are the best thing I've tried at Zoma), Doro Alitcha (slow-cooked dark-meat chicken on the bone, with a hard-boiled egg, in an herb sauce), and Gomen Be Siga (collard greens with chopped bits of beef, onions, peppers and a few mild spices -- amazingly good). The other was the vegetarian sampler. It says on the menu that you get four vegetables in the sampler, but they sent out six of the seven listed on the menu. The most interesting was Shiro Wett, which is a mixture of chickpeas, lentils and peas that has been powdered and cooked with berbere. It's served cold. All the other vegetables were also superb. We went early and there was only one other table seated, so service was quite attentive. Somebody walked in and seemed to be getting takeout at one point -- I imagine this food travels well as it's mostly stew-like.

[etnea]

went to Zoma, loved the space and the honey wine.

Can someone please tell me if the Tibbs they ordered were sandy?

I ordered them twice and the texture was sandy. Not my idea of pleasant.

I have had the same dish in DC and it was sublime.

Just curious.. thanks

[Fat Guy]

Can't say I noticed that!

[etnea]

Can't say I noticed that!

←

Well... if you do return and have the dish once more, please let me know if you notice it.

I know that sometimes the process of drying and reconstituting meat can create a grany texture, but on both occasions it was sandy...

Thanks