Tour Eats: Habesha Market in Washington, D.C.

In Washington, D.C., Wet & Reckless was lucky enough to play at a bar called the Velvet Lounge near Little Ethiopia. With a little under an hour before the show, which was with two other rad girl bands, the Bam Bams and Bake Sale, we ran off to a recommended spot called Habesha Market & Carry-Out.

The small restaurant and market is brightly lighted and has a few tables scattered in a room stocked with spices, grain and green coffee beans (Ethiopia is apparently the birthplace of coffee). We ordered a vegetarian platter to share and a plate of fresh, fluffy injera bread to wrap the food in.

The spicy lentil was our favorite. Dark brown and flavored with a red sauce that tasted of paprika, it mixed well with the mashed yellow peas, perfectly bitter collard greens, soft cabbage and house salad sprinkled with jalapenos.

We drank water with our meal since the club’s owner had given us an inordinate amount of drink tickets. We didn’t use them all, though. Or did we?

Habesha Market & Carry Out, 1919 9^th St., Washington D.C. (202) 232-6290; www.habeshamarket.com.

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Photo: Emily Wilder, left, Deanna DeVries, center, and Whitney Blank dig into a plate of Ethiopian food. Credit: Jessica Gelt