Cool Takeout Idea If You're Coming From The South: Pick-Your-Own Dishes At Soretti's

Takeout dinner from Soretti's in Burtonsville

Add an arrow to your takeout quiver by picking up dinner at Soretti's Ethiopian Cuisine in Burtonsville.

Soretti's makes all kinds of delicious Ethiopian stews -- along with crisp fried sambusas.  I recommend the casual spot for eating dinner out, but they now have a special "grab and go" menu where you can pick your favorites and some pieces of the spongy Ethiopian bread.

This is incredibly easy.  You just pick from 11 stews -- seven vegetarian for $4 each or three meat for $6 eat -- and add bread for $1 per disk (or $1.50 for the pure teff versions that are totally worth trying).  For each order, you get a plastic deli packet stuffed with the stew of your choice.

You can be in and out of Soretti's in minutes.  You can warm the stews in a microwave, and you can eat in the cool Ethiopian style -- one bread covering your plate, stews poured on top, then another bread torn into pieces to scoop up the stew.  You get rich flavorful dishes with huge options for healthy stuff and lean meats.

You can pick between spicy and mild.  You can serve a bunch of people for $20.  I picked up three stews -- a spicy chickpea, a mild lentils and a spicy beef -- and gorged for dinner and lunch the next day.  I splurged on four injeras, and two stayed spongy and fresh in a plastic bag.

Soretti's is just west of Rte 29 on Rte 198.  It's easy to reach from Howard County, but the takeout dinner is ideal if you commute home on Rte 29 from the south.  Check the list of "grab and go" dishes on their Web site.  Call in an order.  Grab dinner and head back on the road.

Tigi's Ethiopian Restaurant And Market

Veggie platter at Tigi's Ethiopian

When we left Tigi's Ethiopian, we felt like we had just eaten dinner in Tigi's home -- warm, cozy and comforting food served with a smile.

Tigi's is a new restaurant just off Rte 40 in Ellicott City.  It's a storefront with a small open kitchen serving the stews and other dishes from Ethiopia.  Disks of the spongy injera bread, topped with stews that range from mild to spicy, smooth to crunchy, and meaty to vegetarian.

This is a homestyle place.  Pretty tables, colorful art, and a friendly host who cooked and served our entire meal.  We aren't experts in Ethiopian cuisine, but we loved our dinner.  We ordered a vegetarian platter, then got feted with a tasty lentil sambusa and cups of coffee.

Go to Tigi's this weekend.  Ethiopian welcomes the experienced and the new.  Our experience says Tigi's matches the flavors of places in Silver Spring and Washington -- injera made from teff, earthy lentils and split peas, fresh tomato salad, and spicy chicken.

For new folks, I'd recommend a sampler platter.  The menu in the restaurant has several veg and non-veg platters, but we just asked for a double-serving of whatever vegetables Tigi suggested.  You'll get some lentils, some vegetables, some meats if you want.  We sampled a finely-chopped beef (michet abish) and spicy chicken (doro wat).  Tell them what looks good, whether you like spicy or not, whether you want chicken, beef or lamb.

This is still a new restaurant.  It was quiet last night.  Completely casual and a place you could definitely bring kids.  We really want people to find Tigi's and check it out.  Try the sambusa appetizer -- like a small samosa, crisp and stuffed with spicy lentils.  Try the coffee.  This is a friendly spot and unique for Howard County.  Go.

For more opinions on Tigi's check out comments on prior posts and Tom's post on HoCo Rising.

Tigi's Ethiopian Restaurant & Market
8459 Baltimore National Pike #14 (Rte 40)
Ellicott City, MD 21043
410-750-1500

NEAR:  Tigi's is on the south side of Rte 40 east of Rte 29.  It's just across from the Normandy Shopping Center.  Tigi's is in a row of shops with the C & B Italian Dely.  They face Rte 40, but they're behind the Dunkin' Donuts.

Comfort: Bread - In Many Forms - With Meat Or Vegetables (And Potato Salad On The Side)

The vegetarian special at Soretti's

Bon Fresco Sandwich Bakery has begun charging 50 cents for its potato salad side dish, and you shouldn't think twice about picking up one or even two.

Fresh bread makes wonderful comfort food.  To me, no one makes a better sandwich than Bon Fresco's London broil.  But don't go cheap and miss out on the amazing potato salad -- smooth without being heavy, getting all the flavor from the basic potato without tarting up with cream and fat.

Fifty cents is a bargain.   It's better than any bag of chips -- and cheap at that price.

Bon Fresco's London broil and potato salad

But comforting bread can come in many forms.  The Bon Fresco sandwich makes for an easy grab.  Even after a drive home, the thin-sliced steak contrasts perfectly with the crisp greens and the slightly chewy loaf.


In contrast, Soretti Ethiopian Cuisine's vegetable special provides a homey, simple challenge.  You just eat everything. Eat the vegetables.  Eat the lentils.  Even eat the plate -- the injera bread spread out beneath the stews.

It's not literally the plate.  There is a plate under the injera.  I realize that Ethiopian vegetable platters may not be the most-standard comfort food.  But I last ended up in the Burtonsville restaurant on night where I had to feed myself and a cold.  I brought a paperback novel, and I sat quietly with dinner and a cup of sweet Ethiopian tea.  One of the lentils runs spicy, but mostly, the salads and stews just taste like vegetables.  Bright colors, earthy flavors, and healthy fuel for a healing body.

Soretti is a friendly, relaxed place.  The women there treated me nicely, and I hung out to read and finish my tea.  They offered some extra lentils, which sounded smart until I realized that I was incredibly full.  They're delicious, but I realized eventually that I was scooping food to be polite -- not because I needed any more to eat.

Best Ethiopian Food In Howard County

Ethiopian takeout at Roots Market

It's just Ethiopian food.  No one has opened an Ethiopian restaurant in Howard County.  But Roots Market has imported the food from Silver Spring.

The Clarksville grocer stocked a half dozen dishes cooked by the Gete Restaurant when we came through the prepared foods section on Thursday.  One with green beans and carrots.  One with greens.  One with beets and potatoes.  Two varieties of lentils.

They're all delicious.  The deep, but mild flavors that make Ethiopian so interesting.  They're all vegetable stews, although the pureed lentils were a contrast -- intensely spicy.  We bought the whole lentils.  For $8, we each got large scoops at two meals.  For $25, you could create a three-dish dinner that would easily serve four people.

Roots curates a pretty good wall of prepared foods.  Mrs. HowChow can't roll through without a container of the guacamole.  They deploy those "tasting" stations that always reel us in.  I only bought Gete's food because I tried the greens and thought they were outstanding -- the perfect texture of tender, but still something to bite.

We also ended up with Effie's Oatcakes, a last-minute trap laid at the checkout and baited with these cookie-crackers that taste of oats, butter, and a dash of salt.  Not Ethiopian, but worth picking up as well.

If you want an Ethiopian restaurant, you just need to go one exit outside the county -- Soretti's on Rte 198 in Burtonsville.  Soretti's has become a nice, casual restaurant.  It opened years ago as a cofee shop, but now it is strictly lunch and dinner.

Samosa Week: You Say Samosa. I Say Sambusa Because I'm Eating Ethiopian At Soretti's

The last stop on Samosa Week takes us the farthest away -- Burtonsville and Soretti Ethiopian Cuisine.

The Ethiopian samosa is a sambusa.  It's the classic fried savory pastry with dough wrapped around a filling.  Soretti does three versions: beef, chicken and lentil.  They're the ideal fried item, so not-greasy that I thought it might have been pan-fried until I realized it was browned all over.

The sambusas are triangles.  Thinner than the Indian samosa.  The dough is thinner too, but still chewy.  It's somewhere between the thicker Indian and the crisp Afghan version.  The chicken version has minced meat with a little corn and other vegetables.  The lentils are tender and firm.

Like the Indian samosa, Soretti's sambusa itself doesn't have much spice to it.  It's great for the crunch, but the flavor comes from the accompanying sauce.  It's brown and slightly sour.  I was thinking tamarind again, maybe even lemon.  But that couldn't have been more wrong.

The sauce is based on balsamic vinegar with basil, olive oil, honey and black pepper.  Vinegar, oil and basil?  Can anyone say Italy?  Of course, that's the history of Ethiopian, and it just shows that fried pastries can rule the world.

If you give sambusas a try, they're a fine appetizer before Ethiopian stews that soak into the injera.  Consider the vegetarian and meat samplers as I wrote in a prior post.

This is part of Samosa Week -- a celebration of savory pastries from India and beyond.  We're highlighting the best of Howard County's fried appetizers in all kinds of flavors.

All-Teff Injera At Soretti's Ethiopian

Soretti's Ethiopian Cuisine has transformed itself into a nice, casual restaurant, and the Burtonsville spot has now begun to toss out the exotic items.

Years ago, this was a coffee shop.  But now Soretti's has spruced up the art, added more tables, and hung curtains to soften the front windows.  They're serving beer, including an Ethiopian variety, and even offering bread made from the authentic teff.

Link: Soretti's Ethiopian on Rida Allen's Blog

Soretti's Ethiopian Cuisine gets written up on Rida Allen's author-blog -- a positive review even from a diner who doesn't relish hot food or the taste of the Ethiopian bread injera.

I'm always impressed by people who find something that they like even when a restaurant's basics aren't in the their comfort zone.  Rida doesn't eat much spicy food, and she didn't love her first experience with the spongy injera.  But she enjoyed the lentil sambusas and sampled an enormous shared platter to discover that she loved the injera soaked with the mild chicken tibs.

That's the fun of new places, and I absolutely recommend Soretti's, which is a casual storefront on Rte 198 in Burtonsville.  Many people find injera to be either strange or unwelcoming.  But the stews -- especially for vegetarians who can eat well from lentils and vegs -- are a unique, delicious flavor.  Soretti's is a fine place to give yourself a chance to enjoy some part.

Soretti's Ethiopian Cuisine in Burtonsville

Our outlet for Ethiopian food continues to expand and improve as Soretti's Ethiopian Cuisine converts to a casual restaurant.

Soretti's Ethiopian is the name of the family-run restaurant on Rte 198 in Burtonsville. It opened as Coffee Oromia and sold a few Ethiopian items under a coffee shop menu. Now, the rechristened spot serves a broader menu of beef, chicken, lamb and vegetable stews.


I don't claim Soretti's competes with the Ethiopian hotspots in DC.  But it's a great casual option for injera and the vegetable, beef and chicken stews that make Ethiopian unique, tasty and really healthy as well.  The injera bread isn't Mrs. HowChow's favorite, so I have stopped at Soretti's most often for lunch.  The vegetable combination has become my go-to dish because you get a half-dozen flavors that make for a memorable meal.  Lentils, beans, carrots, greens, cabbage -- they're all recognizable and accessible, but cooked with flavors make them new.


I'm also a sucker for Ethiopian meat stews.  The meat often seems lean and can be tough, but the right stews are spicy and delicious.  Beef or chicken tibbs are easy entries into the cuisine.  If you go with two people, I'd recommend ordering two combinations -- one vegetarian and one meat.  You'll get to try most of the menu, and you'll be bound to find something that you like.  And you need to eat the entire injera that comes under your stews.  The sauces soak into the bread, and those soaked pieces can be the best part of the meal.


Soretti's is a comfort food like of place.  You sit at a casual table, and the owner comes around from the counter to take your order.  If you're new to Ethiopian, just know that you eat with your hands.  You'll get injera under the stews, plus more pieces on the side.  You rip bite-sized pieces of bread, then use them to scoop up the stews.  If you can eat guacamole with a Frito, then you can eat Ethiopian.  It's easy and fun.


(Update: Soretti's has just gotten nicer in 2011.  They spruced up the art and the curtains at the front.  In early spring, they were running an $8.50 special at lunch.  Still a huge plate of food, but a special price.  The vegetarian combination had five items, including greens, lentils, and a spicy tomato salad.  Check out the injera made from authentic teff -- an Ethiopian grain that makes a drier, less sour bread.)


Burtonsville is super-convenient off Rte 29, and it is just one exit south of Howard County.  If you're go down there, check out the the homemade ice cream at Seibel's or consider dinner at Cuba de Ayer or Maiwand Kabob.


Soretti's Ethiopian Cuisine

15510 Old Columbia Pike (Rte 198)

Burtonsville, MD 20866

240-390-0044

NEAR: This is on Rte 198 just west of Rte 29. From Howard County, you take the first exit on Rte 29 south of the river. That exit puts you on an old piece of Rte 29 that passes an Indian temple and a garden center. Turn right on Rte 198 at the traffic light. Soretti's is a block up on the right next to a Maiwand Kabob outlet.

Cafe Oromia Changing Its Name To "Soretti's Ethiopian Cuisine"

The closest Ethiopian option to Howard County has completed its transformation from coffee shop to restaurant.

I had reported that Burtonsville's Coffee Oromia already changed its name to Cafe Oromia. This is a casual restaurant on Rte 198 at Rte 29 that offers Ethiopian stews and even some Ethiopian breakfast options. I love injera, and several regular commentators -- including Bets, Dzoey, and Momomom have talked up this food.

Now, HowICook reports that the name -- although not yet the outside sign -- has changed to "Soretti's Ethiopian Cuisine." It sounds like they're fully converting to a restaurant, and there may even be a "secret" option of off-menu items to explore.

All the indoor signage and advertisements (little postcards) use the new name. The place is still run by the same people. I was told that the place wanted to be a Ethiopian restaurant not a coffee house. So even though they have the same coffee setup, there's no mention of coffee anywhere else. Soretti is the nickname of the lady who does the wonderful cooking.

They've been advertising a $6.95 lunch menu that they honor on Saturdays too. We had lamb wot and vegetable combo today served Ethiopian style on one plate with an extra injera and no eating utensils.

I wish they would unify all the menus (coffee, breakfast, lunch & dinner) and the off menu items and lower the dinner prices a bit. The menu items should reflect the community dining aspect of Ethiopian food and not the single dish mentality of the menus. I'm thinking all small plates served together on injera. They've already lowered the wine and beer prices. This is one of my favorite ethnic dining experiences.

Soretti's Ethiopian Cuisine is next-door to a branch of Maiwand Kabob and a building east from Cuba de Ayer -- a casual Cuban restaurant that is absolutely worth a drive from Columbia.

Soretti's Ethiopian Cuisine

15510 Old Columbia Pike (Rte 198)

Burtonsville, MD 20866

240-390-0044

NEAR: This is on Rte 198 just west of Rte 29. From Howard County, you take the first exit on Rte 29 south of the river. That exit puts you on an old piece of Rte 29 that passes an Indian temple and a garden center. Turn right on Rte 198 at the traffic light. Soretti's is a block up on the right next to a Maiwand Kabob outlet. The sign may still say "Cafe Oromia."

Ethiopian Breakfast in Burtonsville

You don't have to settle for diner bacons and eggs if you're looking for something more exotic for breakfast.

Eggspectation makes a great breakfast in Ellicott City, but Cafe Oromia in Burtonsville offers Ethiopian options if you run down Rte 29. Cafe Oromia has gradually expanded its Ethiopian menu into a nice, small cafe. They started as a coffee shop, and they still offer a basic breakfast menu with baked goods and a standard "fried eggs and bacon" option (as eaten by Momomom's "won't eat most interesting food" husband).

(Update: Cafe Oromia changed its name to Soretti's Ethiopian.  By 2012, they had stopped doing breakfast, but they do great lunch and dinner.  Check here for the Soretti's posts.)

But there are several Ethiopian alternatives in the morning as well. Start with scrambled eggs with spices and vegetables that are just a Oromia variation on an American breakfast. Go one step farther for Ethiopian wheat grits. Or try a truly traditional breakfast of ful -- the beans and condiments eaten when the sun comes up from the Middle East through Egypt into Africa. I thought the ful was delicious. Warm, creamy and full of flavor from the beans and from the onions, tomatoes and spicy peppers that I stirred around. The beans have the heartiness of oatmeal, but the savory flavors that I prefer even at breakfast.

Cafe Oromia is a really casual place with good coffee. Great if you're stopping quick on the way to do errands or if you're pausing to read the newspaper in peace. (And you can also still order beignets. They're not on the printed menu, but they're whip them up, according to Momomom.)

The stretch of Rte 198 west of Rte 29 offers a few interesting options beyond Cafe Oromia, including Cuban at Cuba de Ayer, Afghan at a branch of Maiwand Kabob, and homemade ice cream at Seibel's.

Cafe Oromia (now Soretti's Ethiopian Cuisine)

15510 Old Columbia Pike
Burtonsville, MD 20866
240-390-0044

NEAR: This is on Rte 198 just west of Rte 29. From Howard County, you take the first exit on Rte 29 south of the river. That exit puts you on an old piece of Rte 29 that passes an Indian temple and a garden center. Turn right on Rte 198 at the traffic light. Coffee Oromia is a block up on the right next to a Maiwand Kabob outlet. There is a sign.

Cafe Oromia in Burtonsville

Howard County's closest spot for Ethiopian has converted from a coffee shop to a small restaurant with an expanded -- although still basic -- menu of injera and stews.

Cafe Oromia is the new name of the family-run restaurant on Rte 198 in Burtonsville. It opened as Coffee Oromia and sold a few Ethiopian items under a coffee shop menu. Now, the rechristened spot serves a broader menu of beef, chicken, lamb and vegetable stews.

To my uneducated palate, the stews come pretty mild. I was offered a bowl of a hot pepper sauce that I dabbed myself to spice up beef tibbs, lentils and chopped greens. This isn't the Adams Morgan stews that have left me gulping water at times, but everything tasted good to me. The sambusa appetizer -- cousin to the samosa or empanada -- makes a great start and would be a perfect treat if you happened down Rte 198 doing errands. Next time, I'll try a chicken dish or one of the vegetable plates because I'm always struck that Ethiopian beef is lean. Lean, almost tough.

But, as I have said before, the injera alone is worth stopping if you have a taste for the flat, spongy bread that is the hallmark of Ethiopian eating. Each plate comes with a main dish and two sides, all stewed into the consistency of chunky pasta sauce. You rip pieces of of the platter-sized injera and use them to scoops up the meat and the sides of lentil stew, chopped greens, etc. The bottom injera that soaks up the sauces is often the most-delicious part.

The stretch of Rte 198 west of Rte 29 offers a few interesting options beyond Cafe Oromia, including Cuban at Cuba de Ayer, Afghan at a branch of Maiwand Kabob, and homemade ice cream at Seibel's.

Cafe Oromia

15510 Old Columbia Pike

Burtonsville, MD 20866

240-390-0044

NEAR: This is on Rte 198 just west of Rte 29. From Howard County, you take the first exit on Rte 29 south of the river. That exit puts you on an old piece of Rte 29 that passes an Indian temple and a garden center. Turn right on Rte 198 at the traffic light. Coffee Oromia is a block up on the right next to a Maiwand Kabob outlet. There is a sign.

Coffee Oromia: Ethiopian in Burtonsville

Ethiopian food is one of Washington's great treasures, and injera, tibs and other African delicacies have reached as far north as the southern edge of Howard County.

Coffee Oromia in Burtonsville offers an authentic -- if short -- menu of Ethiopian dishes in the casual dining area that also serves coffee and a breakfast that includes bagels, beignets and Ethiopian grits ("kinche").

(Update: Coffee Oromia changed its name to Cafe Oromia at some point in 2009. They increased the Ethiopian menu.)

The injera alone is worth stopping if you have a taste for the flat, spongy bread that is the hallmark of Ethiopian eating. Coffee Oromia serves dishes like beef or lamb tibs -- cubed meat cooked with onion, peppers and spices into what might look like chunky pasta sauce -- on a platter-sized piece of injera with another piece on the side. You rip pieces of injera and use them to scoops up the meat and the sides of lentil stew, chopped greens, etc. The bottom injera that soaks up the sauces is often the most-delicious part.

Also try the sambusa -- pastries filled with meat or lentils. They're cousins of the samosas at the Maiwand Kabob next door to Coffee Oromia.

This isn't Adams Morgan, and it isn't a full-service restaurant. The injera and lentils were delicious. The beef tibbs were good, but more tough than tender. Think of Coffee Oromia as a great place to work into errands that you already have to run in Burtonsville or Rockville. It is right on Rte 198 just west of Rte 29, easy to reach and worth a stop. I enjoyed a late lunch, reading a newspaper and listening to the owners talk to customers as they filtered through.

Coffee Oromia is next-door to a branch of Maiwand Kabob and a building east from Cuba de Ayer -- a casual Cuban restaurant that is absolutely worth a drive from Columbia.

Coffee Oromia

15510 Old Columbia Pike (Rte 198)

Burtonsville, MD 20866

240-390-0044

NEAR: This is on Rte 198 just west of Rte 29. From Howard County, you take the first exit on Rte 29 south of the river. That exit puts you on an old piece of Rte 29 that passes an Indian temple and a garden center. Turn right on Rte 198 at the traffic light. Coffee Oromia is a block up on the right next to a Maiwand Kabob outlet. There is a sign.