a dining buddy of mine recently handed me a paper menu to Den Den and said, you should organize a dinner here, it's Eritrean.
I knew of Eritrea but not of it's cuisine:
Wikipedia describes Eritrean cuisine as follows:
Eritrean cuisine strongly resembles those of neighboring Ethiopia and Somalia, except for the fact that Eritrean and Somali cooking tend to feature more seafood than Ethiopian cuisine on account of their coastal locations. Eritrean dishes are also frequently "lighter" in texture than Ethiopian meals. They likewise tend to employ less seasoned butter and spices and more tomatoes, as in the tsebhi dorho delicacy. Additionally, owing to its colonial history, cuisine in Eritrea features more Ottoman and Italian influences than are present in Ethiopian cooking, including more pasta specials and greater use of curry powders and cumin. (Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisine_of_Eritrea )
The above sounded delicious to me and our group of diners, so we went last week.
I ordered cubed beef & spices, cubed lamb & spices, fish & spices, and the veggie sampler which had two types of lentils, cabbage.
The restaurant was very nice & split the servings equally on two big round platters for our group.
Both platters had a large round piece of injera covering the pan, two dishes of rolled injera were also served along with. (I noticed that this injera did not have a sour note like injera I've had at Ethiopian places).
The lentils & lamb were the highlights for me, especially those lentils, as a confirmed carnivore I would have been very pleased if I had only been served the injera & lentils (especially the red lentils). Red had much more kick than the yellow.
Beef was the very weak dish, cubes were very overcooked/dry and did not have much flavor at all. I'd steer clear of this the next time I go.
Den Den does have a full bar so no BYOB. No Eritrean beer but a few kinds of Ethiopian and of course they have honey wine.
Our group went on a Wed night at 7pm and were the only ones in the restaurant for the 2.5 hours we were there.
Den Den Restaurant
6635 N Clark
Chicago, IL
I did absolutely nothing and it was everything I thought it could be.