At this Kansas City restaurant, the aroma lures you in. And then, oh wow, the food
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The moment you step through the doors of the Blue Nile Cafe, you know you’re in for a treat and an experience.
Alluring and mysterious spice scents fill this Ethiopian restaurant in Kansas City’s River Market and beckon customers. It’s as if a hand, made of translucent smoke, dangles before your nose, waving you in and right to your table. Mmm! And that’s nothing compared to the savory food itself.
The mid-sized dining area is decorated in colorful wall hangings — woven baskets, dark leather designs, spices in jars, and African masks.
Husband and wife team Daniel and Selam Fikru opened Blue Nile in midtown in 1995, and in 2005 moved it to its current home, 20 E. Fifth St., with different locations along the way, including one in Overland Park at one point.
The Fikrus, who met in Ethiopia while in high school, have three grown children and opened their restaurant to bring a bit of the culture they love to the Midwest. And you know, food is a great way to embrace different cultures.
Daniel Fikru, a soft-spoken man, chuckles recalling the Blue Nile’s beginnings. He said some of his regular customers followed them from spot to spot and raised their children sharing meals at the restaurant. Now their children have children whom they bring to The Blue Nile.
I’ve been bringing my family there since my now-grown sons were very young. When they are in town it’s still one of their favorite places to eat in Kansas City.
It’s easy to become a dedicated customer. There is a wonderful variety of delicious meat and vegetable options that have been stewed in well-seasoned sauces. Nothing like it. So good. The best bet is a sampler platter. Not just because customers get to taste several dishes, but also because the presentation is beautiful, with food in rich, warm green, yellow, orange, red and brown.
Besides the spicy berbere seasoning — not hot unless you ask for it that way — what defines the food is how it’s served: on a round spread of light, spongy flat bread called injera. The bread’s flour is made with teff, the world’s tiniest grain, grown for the most part only in Ethiopia.
The slightly nutty taste of injera, Fikru says, comes from the “two-day fermentation” that makes this gluten-free bread ideal for sopping up the juices from each dish.
And here’s the fun part. Palm-filled mounds of each dish — with names like dor watt, a spicy chicken; saga wat, beef; ye beg alicha wot, lamb; and gomen, collard greens — are placed atop the injera. You eat with your hands, tearing off small pieces of injera and using it as the utensil, pinching morsels and savoring every perfect bite.
Fikru says he can’t say which dish is most popular. “There are people who like diverse foods and they like the flavor of our food,” he said. Others come because, “they like to eat healthy. There has increasingly been a move toward healthy eating. We make our food as healthy as possible.” Many of the customers, Fikru said, are vegetarian or vegan. His wife does most of the cooking, but he loves to cook, too.
Clearly the couple is doing this right.
Platters range in price from $12.95 for a single dinner veggie combo to just under $36 for a large meat and vegetable platter for two.
