Lucky spin built 'Little Ethiopia'

TheStar.com GTA
Lucky spin built 'Little Ethiopia'
JIM RANKIN/TORONTO STAR

A stretch of Danforth Ave., between Greenwood and Coxwell Aves., is now home to many Ethiopian businesses.

Slot machine win helped to revamp restaurant and set Danforth stretch on path to distinction

Patrons were beginning to complain.

"This place is like an oven," they would say, and co-owner Daniel Bekele could only agree.

Six months after opening in early 2007, he couldn't afford $2,000 for an air conditioner at his Ethiopian restaurant, Wazema, on Danforth Ave.

The bar looked boxy, the decor lacked style and the washrooms needed upgrading, he says. But the food was good and he had a premonition that he was, as he says, "going to get something from somewhere."

His feeling grew and that Father's Day he rounded up three friends to drive to Casino Rama. Within minutes – on his second spin at a $50 slot machine – he won $190,000.

"A siren went off and my problems were solved," he says.

Bekele gave each friend $10,000 and put the balance toward Wazema, revamping it as one of the city's top Ethiopian restaurants – with oil paintings on the wall and an open, modern design.

The makeover not only drew new customers but also attracted other Ethiopian businesses, to the point where Wazema now stands as a centrepiece of a Danforth strip that people are beginning to call "Little Ethiopia."

"Greektown, Little Italy – a name like that distinguishes an area," Bekele says. "`Little Ethiopia' would be great."

For years, Danforth Ave. on either side of intersecting Greenwood Ave. lay all but neglected. Faded signs still mark such dusty storefronts as the St. Jacques Religious Book Store, Cosmic Janitorial Services and the former Greenwood Coin Laundromat.

Cottage nightclub with Ethiopian music opened a few years ago, then closed. Another early pioneer, Rendez-Vous restaurant, continues to thrive. Meskerem restaurant became the Blue Nile, which is expanding to include music on weekends.

Since Wazema's renovations, such eateries as Ibex, Fasiledes and Dukem have popped up, followed by a mix of other businesses – a hairdresser, a grocery, a coffee shop, a money transfer office. Evangadi nightclub is set to open soon.

"I like the area," says T.G., manager of Hair Expressions at the corner of Monarch Park Ave.

"I'm not into bars and alcohol," says Emmanuel Debass, who just before the inauguration of a black U.S. president opened Obama Café, specializing in Ethiopian coffee. "Coffee and chit-chat is healthier," he says.

One frequenter of the area is Samuel Getachew, 33, a native of Addis Ababa who arrived in Toronto last fall from Ottawa.

As the founder of a monthly networking group called Ethiopian Fridays, held the second Friday of the month, Getachew encourages Torontonians of Ethiopian background to take ownership of Toronto, figuratively and literally.

Formally designating a "Little Ethiopia" would further the cause, he says. "We've always admired Greektown, two kilometres from here," he says over lunch at Wanza, a couple of doors from Wazema.

"Ethiopians have never had an area and we want them to be mindful of it, to clean it, to make it more beautiful and, bringing their Ethiopian background, become part of the Canadian system."

At one time, the cluster of Ethiopian and Eritrean businesses at Ossington Ave. and Bloor St. W. seemed the more likely candidate as "Little Ethiopia."

But the momentum has shifted. As though to confirm the trend, the Bloor-Ossington landmark Lalibela Restaurant opened a sister establishment two weeks ago on the Danforth.


EATING ETHIOPIAN

Ethiopians typically eat communally with their hands, using a spongy bread to pick mouth-size portions from a common platter. The cuisine is as unique as the dining experience, with a few special terms:

Teff: A grain, high in iron, indigenous to Ethiopia.

Injera: A thick, spongy, sourdough crepe made from teff, riddled with holes on one side. A food platter (above) comes draped with an underlying layer of injera, to be torn off and used instead of a fork or spoon.

Specialties: Tibs – bits of beef stir-fried with butter and onion. Kitfo – chopped lean beef seasoned with butter, herbs and chili, served raw or quickly pan-browned.

Vegetables: Strips of mild cabbage, braised carrots and potatoes, green beans cooked with tomatoes. Ethiopia is a mainly Christian country and the Coptic Orthodox Church mandates many meatless days.

Drinks: Tella (beer), tej (mead).

Etiquette: Wash your hands before eating. Tear a portion of injera from the edge of the platter, or from extra injera supplied on a side plate. Roll or bunch the food into the injera, then pop it into your mouth without lips touching the fingers. Select from the space in front of you rather than reaching here and there around the platter.

– John Goddard