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In the old los molcajetes spot a new columbian restaurant, a little further south a new ethiopian - asmara. Anyone tried either of these?

Also noted that location of cafe salamera is once again called cafe salamera but didn't have a chance to go in - what exactly is the story there - is the mexican fruit salad place, back to peruvian, some combination of the two?

The awning on Cafe Salamera has not been changed since Salamera closed. The fresh fruit/juices shop didn't last long. I believe the current incarnation is a taqueria. (I'm trying to picture the hand-written signs I've seen in the window!) I haven't yet tried the new place. The few times I've been by, I have noticed a number of tables filled. That bodes well in my mind.

Don't know about the other two you mentioned.

-The GP

We tried Asmara Saturday night. They were very friendly -- especially when I asked if they were Eritrean, an easy call since Asmara is the capital of Eritrea. This is a little spot, probably with a clientele of cabbies, with a television in the corner that broadcasts Eritrean television (altenrnatively maddening or interesting, depending on what they were showing). The food is, not surprisingly, very similar to Ethiopian, though for the time being the dinner choices are limited. We had tibsi begie (yebeg tibs at an Ethiopian restaurant), lamb cubes in a berbere sauce, as well as tibsi derho, chicken cubes also in berbere sauce. We asked for the lamb spicy and the chicken medium. The difference was in the number of chilies, which looked far more menacing than they were. The lamb was hardly too hot to handle, but both were nicely seasoned, coming with salad and (too little for our tastes) very delicious spinach. The home made injera is very light and spongy; when we needed extra pieces, they took the time to make them to order, and they were still warm. We would have liked an order of tibsi -- lamb or chicken over an open flame -- rather than two dishes similarly cooked, but alas it was not available. The menu also lists pasta with home made sauce and salsata, pasta with egg and parmesan and home made sauce. The pasta dishes are not surprising, because Eritrea was an Italian colony for the first half of the twentieth century.
They also have a wide array of breakfast dishes, for those who crave exotic breakfasts: foule mudammes (Egyptian style fava beans); kitch fitfit (pieces of home made bread with berbere sauce topped with sour cream or yogurt); fitata; fata (bread and olive oil with bebere sauce and sour cream; and hatsar silsi, berbere sauce with a choice of sardine, chicken, or tuna.
They may be a cafe ... but they didn't yet have coffee (Eritrean, Italian, or gringo!)
The food is nicely prepared and inexpensive, and the service is very friendly; a shame that the lunch and dinner menu is not larger and more varied.
Robert

Asmara Cafe
6511 N. Clark

Thanks for the write-up. Its interesting about the italianate stuff on the menu - for a time I lived in St. Louis and one of nicer italian cafes there is actually run by a couple of eritrean brothers.

I've heard that the newish place on ridge (blue nile) also offers breakfast - anyone know if this is the case?

Not certain were the old los molcajetes was, but if it was 7018 N. Clark, then the Columbian Place is El Llano and it has amazing rotisserie chicken! I stumbled on the place accidentally two weekends ago when I was on my way to A&T for a late breakfast. We parked right in front and saw through the window a man shoveling wood charcoal into this giant rotisserie filled with golden, juice-dripping chickens (and rabbit) and changed our destination from breakfast to lunch.

The chicken is so good, I've had it twice since. It comes with a corn pancake, which I don't really understand, or recommend...but the rice and beans were tasty too!

el llano is good (you'll find quite a bit of discussion of it's sister place - brasa roja) its been around a little while now. The place I'm speaking of is further south and on the east side of the street - los chismos maybe?

The corn pancake is an arepa, the standard Colombian starch. It might seem odd to a Colombian if one didn't come with.

just to correct some misinformation I supplied earlier - the name is in fact los niches