Genet Mulugeta’s friends were the problem. She had moved to Dallas from Lalibela — a city in northern Ethiopia so old that pilgrims have been walking to it for eight hundred years to see the eleven churches carved from a single mountain of stone — and she had opened a grocery store, and somehow people kept ending up at her house for dinner. They kept eating everything. They kept telling her she needed to open a restaurant.
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Visiting Desta Ethiopian Restaurant for the first time is as much about learning how to eat as it is about tasting the food. Start by embracing the communal style: dishes arrive on a large platter layered with injera, the slightly sour, spongy flatbread that acts as both plate and utensil. There are no forks needed — use your right hand to tear pieces of injera and scoop up different stews, vegetables, and meats. Approach the platter with curiosity: mix bites, explore different flavor combinations, and remember that sharing is part of the experience.
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