At our last meetup (at the always great JJ Chinese), it was agreed among those who participated that unique, ethnic and interesting cuisines should be included under the "adventurous eating" umbrella along with all the other factors (i.e.: guts) that we've come to expect as members of DAEC.
With that in mind, we present Arada Ethiopian Restaurant (http://www.aradaresta...) as the location of our next meetup.
This place has a great history here in Denver, and has been reviewed many times to great acclaim. It also holds the current title of Westword's "Best African Restaurant".
But you know what's really cool about this place? They are very accommodating! Here's the deal (big thanks to Haime at Arada):
All you need to bring to Arada is a crisp $20.00 bill (unless you're planning on drinking). This will include a great variety of Arada's cuisine (and they might even throw in a few surprises that aren't on the menu just for us), and will also include the gratuity. They will happily give us verbal descriptions of the different unique dishes they have to offer. How cool is that?
Plus, they have space for plenty of people, so I doubt we'll need to cap the attendance.
There is one catch: I'll need your RSVPs for this one by Monday night, October 1st (instead of our usual 24 hours notice) in order to give Arada enough time to prepare for our dinner.
As always, please click "About Us" for reminders about our easy-to-follow ground rules regarding RSVPs and attendance.
Here are a few things to know about Ethiopian cuisine (be sure to visit Arada's website for more info):
You might wanna wash your hands (I know everyone else will want you to)-- Ethiopian food is eaten using the flatbread called "injera" as the utensil. Also, food is served communally on large, shared platters with several different items on the same platter.
Expect some (but by no means all) vegetarian food-- Veering a bit from our usual theme, vegetarian food is popular on Ethiopian menus. Take it from this dedicated carnivore-- this is tasty stuff.
Ethiopian dinners are very social-- this will be a great event for getting to know your fellow DAECs!
Hope to see you at Arada on the 4th!