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Ethiopian Dining at Langano

REVIEW AND PHOTO BY PATRICIA B. GROSSMAN

You'd better have clean hands when dining at Silver Spring's Langano Ethiopian Restaurant–you'll be using them to eat. And you'd better trust the people you go with, because you'll all be eating from the same platter. The more people you go with, the more fun you'll have sharing the dishes. The night I went, my dining companions consisted of a family of three adventurous eaters, all Langano regulars.

Opened a little over three years ago by the Yibass family, Langano is named for a beautiful and popular lake in Ethiopia. The interior décor of this restaurant leaves much to be desired, however–a few prints adorn the walls, the furniture is dark and old, and the lighting is poor. But you don't go for the ambiance; you go for the food.

Langano makes some of the best Ethiopian dishes in the area and is known for its excellent injera–large, thin sponge-like pancakes made from wheat and tef, a millet-like grain.

The menu is somewhat limited: two salads as appetizers and among the main dishes, there is only one chicken dish, which we did not order because no one at the table liked the eggs that came with it.

Many of the dishes are very spicy, but there were a few dishes mild enough for our tastes. The waitress said that some of the dishes have hot peppers which you can simply set aside when eating.

The food did not come in courses–everything was served at once on a large circular platter, which had first been draped with a gigantic piece of injera. The idea is to tear off a small piece of the soft sponge-like bread, pick up enough food from one of the mounds on the platter, and pop it in your mouth. Tradition states you use your right hand for the process. Being a lefty, I was a little apprehensive, but once the meal was served, I seemed to get along fine eating with my right hand.

(It can be a little hard at first to tear off pieces of the bread from the platter, because the food covers most of it. Another option is using a piece from the basket of injera served alongside). Once most of the food has been eaten from the platter and the bread is exposed, then comes the most delicious part, eating the injera moistened by the juices from all the dishes.

We ordered three entrees for the four of us. First we tried Atakilt Beyayinetu, a combination of six vegetarian entrees, four of which had a little spicy kick. Several lentil dishes were included, one made from red lentils, one from green, and one from yellow. Steamed cabbage and another dish of collard greens were included as well. The mildest of all was a dish of string beans, carrots and potatoes. All had different colors and textures, making an interesting presentation on the platter.

I was eager to try the beef served tartare, but my dining companions shied away from it, so I didn't order it. We did order two meat dishes, though. Langano's has quite a selection of lamb and beef dishes, most quite spicy. One dish was Gomen Besiga, collard greens cooked with onions, spices, and beef cubes. The collard greens were mild and flavorful, but the beef was tasteless.

The other meat dish we ordered was called the Tibs Special, out-of-this-world-tender lamb cubes marinated in red wine and fried with spices, hot green peppers, tomatoes, and onions. We carefully avoided the hot peppers as we took a piece of injera and filled it with lamb, onion, and tomato. I will go back to Langano to order this dish again.

No one could think of dessert, and there were leftovers.

The bill for four came to a reasonable $32.00 for a feast that will be well worth repeating. Located three blocks from the AFI and the Roundhouse theaters, this restaurant would be a nice addition to an evening out.

Langano Ethiopian Restaurant is located at 8305 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring. 301-563-6700. Hours: Monday-Thursday, 9:00 a.m.-1:00 a.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9:00 a.m.-2:00 a.m.; and Sunday, 1:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m.