Abyssinia Ethiopian Restaurant

After selling injera out of their apartment for eight years, Daniel and Frehiwot Reta have finally opened a restaurant, and it's a doozy. Abyssinia, on 135th Street in Harlem, just might be the best Ethiopian restaurant in New York. While the decor is modest and the menu fairly standard (every Ethiopian joint does sambusas and a veggie combo), the cooking is anything but: these were simply the freshest and most flavorful vegetables we've put between a torn strip of sour, soft injera. Ribbons of heat curl through the piles of ye misir wat, gomen, shiro, fossolia, and tikil gomen, complementing and never overpowering the other spices. Add to that friendly service and how-do-they-make-a-profit prices, and we're very nearly in love.