Well, here's your chance. The New Eritrea Restaurant and Bar at 907 Irving St. between 10th and 11th Avenues serves food with a history spanning back to the ancient world. The restaurant serves food that has been influenced by Egyptians, Greeks, Phoenicians and Italians. It is a simply, but resplendently decorated and tidy restaurant. Sunlight streams through the dining room's glass roof, and honeysuckle and orchids drape from large pots hanging from ceiling beams.
All meals come with a crisp salad and injera, a thin, flat bread of corn meal and wheat flour.
The menu offers plates such as Sambusa, Zebhi Dorho, Allicha Begee, and Lasagna from Eritrea's Italian colonial era, made with berbere, a fiery African pepper. Sambusa is a deep-fried batter shell filled with spiced ground beef or vegetables and onions. Zebhi Dorho is grilled marinated chicken with tomatoes, onions, a red pepper sauce and tesmi, a clear, spiced butter. Allicha Begee is a curried lamb and vegetable stew served on a bed of injera. The food can be wrapped in injera torn from the plate, and dipped in either a spinach, split garbonzo bean, or yogurt sauce.