Ras Dashen Ethiopian Restaurant
Classic Ethiopian coffee served in a clay pot
This family-owned and operated Ethiopian Restaurant provides comfort food from the mountains of Ethiopia. Ras Dashen (pronounced Rahs DAH-shen) is the tallest mountain in Ethiopia, and is located in the Simien Mountains National Park. Zenash, the chef at Ras Dashen Ethiopian Restaurant, grew up near these mountains.
Zenash Beyene, chef and owner of Ras Dashen, was born in Belese, Ethiopia, in the mountains near Ras Dashen, the tallest mountain in Ethiopia. She learned to cook at a very early age to help her mother who used to make Jebena (clay pots for coffee) in the porch of their home. Zenash also helped with this task often. Among the skills that Zenash learned as a girl was that of grinding coffee and teff grain, preparing and making injera, cutting chicken and making wat sauce. Her mom taught her the different spices as well. By the age of ten she was responsible for cooking for the whole family. As time went by she acquired more skills and recipes that also include unfiltered beer and tej, the honey wine she serves at the restaurant.
Like many people in her situation, Zenash does not know her exact date of birth. When she was a teen she left Ethiopia and lived in Sudan for seven years. She worked for awhile in Saudi Arabia to open her own restaurant in Khartoum. When the opportunity arrived, she emigrated to the United States, at the age of 23, with dreams of opening a restaurant in America.
