Skyline Cafe. Remember how I said the best ethnic food is usually in a sketchy strip mall? Here's another exhibit, dear jury. Skyline Cafe is an Ethiopian restaurant, dangerously close to my work, in the BuildAmerica strip mall that looks like it was built in the '70s, is a NIGHTMARE to park in, and where every storefront has the same hideous orange and brown signage. Which of course means the food is bound to be awesome.And it is. I think I've been to this place at least a half a dozen times, and I rarely eat lunch anywhere but my desk. I don't know what anything in Ethiopian cuisine is called, so I usually just order the vegetarian sampler or the meat one. This time, we ordered the veggie sampler for two. YUM. The enjara (fluffy bread used to scoop up your food--that's right, no utensils) here is just perfect. Not soggy, not too sour, and it flows freely from the kitchen...I think my personal record is 3 whole rounds. My favorites from the platter were the lentils, both yellow (sweet and mild) and brown (spicy and kicky!). Although I'm not a huge fan of collards, they go down easily here. Be forewarned...the platter for two can feed at least double that. I took home leftovers (which, incidentally weighed approximately ten pounds), had enough for two more meals, and had to throw out the rest because the binging was getting ridiculous.
I'm no expert on Ethiopian food, but I think this is one of the best places around. Consistently delish food, and none of the pretension that comes with some of the more well know places, like Zed's in Gtown. A plus -- we were in a huge hurry at lunch (less than 45 minutes to get there, eat, and get back), and told our server so: our food arrived, no joke, within 3 minutes of us ordering it, and we were fed and paid and on our way in 20! Not that I recommend speed eating, but sometimes you have no choice. (portions x-posted to yelp.com)
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