Thursday, September 03, 2009
Adventure, spice, high prices await at Excellent Table
TOM ANGLEBERGER Special to The Roanoke Times
This take-out meal from the Excellent Table includes two Ethiopian dishes, injera bread and a cup of fruity sorrel drink.
Tom Angleberger knows what he likes. So we've asked him to eat at NRV restaurants and write about them. If you have a restaurant to recommend,
e-mail him. Tom Angleberger
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If the restaurant gods were just -- and we have ample evidence that they are not -- then Excellent Table would have an excellent location.
Instead, Blacksburg's incredible Ethiopian eatery is tucked into a teeny-tiny space on the backside of a downtown building. Worst of all, it's currently in a construction zone.
Excellent Table has so much working against it.
In addition to the location, there's the complicated menu, the lack of indoor dining, the prices and the simple fact that Ethiopian food is not something Americans have gotten used to.
But the restaurant has two amazing things in its favor. First, there's the owner and chef, Haregewin Bekele. I don't know how she does it, but she quickly makes customers feel like friends.
Second, there's the food. I ate mine from a Styrofoam container at a tiny outdoor table just a few feet from the construction. But the food lifted me above all that. I was in heaven.
For one thing, my meal was probably the hottest I've had in the New River Valley -- spicy chicken paired with a spicy tofu and zucchini dish. There were less spicy dishes -- such as collard greens and a beef dish -- but my meal was so delicious that I'm sure I will always want to get at least one spicy entree.
Thankfully, Excellent Table also sells one of the best cold drinks to be found anywhere -- a concoction called sorrel. It's sweet and fruity without the artificial flavor most sweet, fruity drinks have.
Also helping to cool things down is injera -- a thin, floppy bread. If you're really up for an adventure, you use pieces of this bread instead of silverware. My meal also came with a white, custardlike salad that, though cooling, I'm afraid I didn't enjoy at all.
I'm afraid I must say something here about the prices. This is an expensive take-out meal. (It works out a little cheaper if two people split the largest combination dinner.) But if you think great food is worth paying a little extra for, then you won't let that stop you.
Bottom line: The Excellent Table is one of the best food adventures in the New River Valley.
