Dallas' Most Interesting Restaurants No. 19: Lalibela

Leading up to our annual Best of Dallas® issue, we're counting down the 50 most interesting restaurants in Dallas. These spots bring something unique or compelling to the city's dining scene, feeding both your appetite and soul. Hungry fans of Ethiopian food have lots of choices around the intersection of...

By Scott Reitz

August 28, 2015

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18855504",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17105533",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105532",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105535",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

Leading up to our annual Best of Dallas® issue, we're counting down the 50 most interesting restaurants in Dallas. These spots bring something unique or compelling to the city's dining scene, feeding both your appetite and soul.

Hungry fans of Ethiopian food have lots of choices around the intersection of Greenville Avenue and Forest Lane, but Lalibela is the spot to come if you want a casual home-cooked feel to your dinner. The dining room is small, and a huge flat-screen television fills the space with flickering images. Sports events have been known to draw enthusiastic spectators to the restaurant. Monday Night Football is an all-out event here.

But you're here for the food, and it's not just the super veggie platter, but the super, super veggie platter on the menu that will keep three to four diners busy for quite some time. Bring friends, order the vegetable montage and then haggle over one or two meat dishes to occupy the center of your plate lined with injera. The results are a communal feast with plenty of personality.

While most Ethiopian restaurants skip the sweet close, chef Genet Mulugeta offers Ethiopian pastis, off the menu. Picture a beignet with a bit more chew and a lot more character made from a mixture of white and wheat flours leavened overnight with yeast. Black onion seeds fleck the dough, offering subtle nutty and peppery flavors. The yeast adds a little tang, which is balanced with honey and a heavy dusting of powdered sugar.

You saved some room, right?

Your opinion matters! Be sure to weigh in on our Best Of Dallas Readers' Choice poll. Voting ends September 6.

KEEP THE OBSERVER FREE... Since we started the Dallas Observer, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.