Cheap Eats 2010

From the exterior, Dalo’s kitchen looks like a lackluster hole in the wall, with a tiny awning to boot. But once you enter, your senses immediately tingle with excitement. The spacious, two-room dining area, equipped with a full bar, is tastefully decorated with Ethiopian arts and crafts, but the real crowd pleaser is the food. For $10, a nightly buffet offers a selection of nearly everything on the menu, including lentils, spinach, cabbage and beef, and chicken dishes, all to be happily—and greedily—slopped up with traditional injera (tangy Ethiopian flatbread). There’s also the especially affordable—and no less filling—house-special vegetable platter, which includes 15 to 18 items ($6.99 small, $13.50 large). And on Tuesday you have the option of the Tuesday-only godin tibbs (Ethiopian-style short ribs, $14.99). Bottom line: Dalo’s Kitchen hands out nightly hands-on feasts not to be missed.