The food at Taste of Ethopia is like nothing I’ve ever tasted. I can’t wait to go back!

The food at Taste of Ethiopia is a feast for the eye as well as the palate.

Taste of Ethiopia – the Food

Taste of Ethiopia - the food is flavorful and full of exotic spices.

We ordered three different dishes to get a range of tastes—one beef dish, one chicken dish, and the vegetarian sampler. Washed down with iced tea flavored with cardamom and cloves, the meal is perfect.

• Kitfo – finely chopped beef seasoned with mitmita (a spicy powdered seasoning made from ground African bird’s eye red peppers, cardamom, cloves and salt).
• Doro Wot (the national dish of Ethiopia) – chicken with diced red onions, simmered for hours with Berbere (a seasoning made from red chili peppers, garlic and other spices) Served with a hard-boiled egg.
• Gomen - steamed chopped collard greens, flavored with garlic, jalapeno peppers and traditional spices.
• Fesolia - mixed vegetable stew of string beans, carrots, tomatoes and onions, seasoned with garlic, ginger and turmeric.
• Yemisisr Wot – zesty lentils cooked in berbere sauce with red onions and a blend of traditional spices.
• Tikil Gomen – cabbage, carrots, onions and tomatoes.
• Ater Kik – split peas simmered in a mild and flavorful herb sauce and turmeric.
• Ibe - cottage cheese made from buttermilk.
• Injera -a yeast-risen flatbread with a slightly spongy texture.

About Taste of Ethiopia

Taste of Ethiopia in Pflugerville, Texas.

Taste of Ethopia is bright and colorful, and the staff is friendly and helpful.

Website: http://tasteofethiopiaaustin.com

I have been a fan of Dot’s Place for years. When the original restaurant off of Howard Lane in Austin burned down, I cried for a week. I thought I’d never have their chicken with dumplings, catfish or cornbread again. Not so. Dot’s Place is now serving up heaps of comfort in Pflugerville.

Photo: tomato salad (sliced tomatoes marinated in Italian dressing), catfish, cabbage, broccoli cheese rice, yam pie and a dinner roll. Comfort food deluxe!

Old timers will remember that this location used to be Mr. Gatti’s Pizza.

Menu

For one low price, you get one meat and two vegetables. There is also a wide choice of salads and desserts.

Texas Monthly and Dot’s Place

In 2005, Texas Monthly rated comfort around the state. Here’s what they wrote about several items on the menu at Dot’s Place:

• Pie: It’s hard to obey the rule to never eat anything larger than your head when faced with the monumental dessert portions at Dot’s Place, including an irresistible yam pie and a deliriously sweet peach cobbler with a fabulous crust.
• Okra + greens: Greens always have an undercurrent of bitterness—that’s what makes them interesting. The yummy fresh collards at Dot’s Place balance the bitterness with salt. The humble spot’s stewed okra with juicy tomatoes gives that much-maligned vegetable a good name; the seasoning is Southern sweet, and there’s no hint of okra’s dreaded slime.
• Meat loaf: A near-Platonic meat loaf emerges from the to-go window of Dot’s Place; the beefy slices crumble as you cut into them, melding with the tomatoey topping to form a sort of glorious, Southern-style Bolognese sauce.
• Cornbread: The moist cornbread muffins at Dot’s Place walk the line between sweet and unsweet, so as not to offend patriots on either side of the great cornbread divide.
• Chicken and dumplings: Whoa! You don’t get just some stringy bits when you order chicken and dumplings at Dot’s Place; you get whole pieces of baked chicken. The dumplings, somehow fluffy and substantial at once, may be the world’s best use of white flour.

I totally agree with Texas Monthly. I’d add Dot’s catfish and chicken fried steak to this list because they are among my favorite comfort foods at Dot’s Place.

Photo: cucumber salad, beef tips on rice, okra and tomatoes, greens with cabbage and cornbread.

Dot’s Place
15803 Windermere Drive
Pflugerville, TX 78660
(512) 252-9300

Hours:
Monday – Friday 10:30-2:30 Lunch
Thursday and Friday 5:30-8:30 Dinner

We were driving around Pflugerville tonight looking for a place to eat. When we saw the sign for Mediterranean House Buffet, we knew we had to stop and check it out. The buffet in this family owned restaurant has lots of delicious items to choose from.

The buffet consists of a cold and a hot section.  The cold section features various salads, the best dolmas I’ve eaten in a very long time, humous, tabouleh, baba ghanoush, cucumbers in a yogurt sauce, olives, and more. The hot section has green beans, eggplant, spinach, okra, chicken, lamb, fish, rice, kufta with potatoes, and more.

Everything in my plate was extremely delicious. The lamb was wonderfully flavorful and tender, the okra was especially interesting. Flavored with garlic, the eggplant was truly the best I’ve eaten anywhere.

The owner’s son was our waiter and he was attentive and helpful. He brought some warm pita bread to our table as soon as we sat down. He also surprised us with this beautiful plate of rice and gyros. It was as delicious as it was beautiful.

When we were stuffed and thought we couldn’t eat another bite, our waiter brought a plate filled with baklava to the table. I’m a big fan of baklava and couldn’t pass this up. I am soooooo glad I decided to taste the baklava. It was perfectly sweet and flaky.

I truly love discovering family-owned restaurants where a lot of care and pride goes into the food and dining experience. This is one of those wonderful restaurants.

Mediterranean House Buffet

15803 Windermere Dr
Pflugerville, TX 78660
(512) 989-9676

Hours:
Monday – Saturday: 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM
Closed Sunday