Zed’s owner-chef eager to let her Georgetown restaurant feed and educate D.C.
Whether she’s greeting guests at meal times, finishing up a dish in the kitchen with her cook, Bekelech Tessama or advocating for fellow Ethiopians in the local community through the church and with hunger relief, Zed Wondemu (pronounced Wan-day-moo) has made a distinctive mark on the Washington restaurant scene. Zed’s, as her Georgetown restaurant is known, was one of the first Ethiopian restaurants to open in the city, and definitely the first in Georgetown.
But running a restaurant with a lifetime of cooking had not been among her original life plans. A native Ethiopian, Wondemu moved to the United States when she was only 15 years old and attended Bowie State University, where she earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. Faced with selecting a viable career after graduation, she opened a small coffee shop in the District.
“I knew that my choices were limited at the time as a woman and as a foreigner,” she says. But her venture was so successful she opened a second, third and then a fourth coffee shop.
But the timing was right for bigger and better outlets for her energies. The Ethiopian colleague who had been cooking for her suggested they partner in a business to make and sell the famed Ethiopian injera bread. Instead, they ended up opening the first Zed’s (also in Georgetown, but at a different M Street location). At first, business was slow, perhaps, Wondemu speculates, because Ethiopian food seemed so exotic then. After a year, the partner quit, leaving Wondemu with all the cooking. No problem, she says.
“I love to cook and clean,” she said. “And I love food, good food.”
Fortunately, Wondemu grew up in a family where good food and home cooking were household staples.
“I always watched my mom and the maids in the kitchen,” she says. “Some kids played outside. I was inside in the kitchen. When I was a kid, I almost cut off the index finger on my left hand. That would have been a sacrifice for cooking.”
Those early lessons were not lost on her, and after training a second cook, Salem Mulugeta, Wondemu watched Zed’s blossom into a flourishing business that continues on to the present. “Ethiopian food is now very popular, because all is fresh and nothing is frozen, and it is all made from scratch,” she says — making it the perfect “green” restaurant.
The dining public, too, has developed more sophisticated palates and a greater willingness to sample the exotic, no longer finding the spicing and flavor combinations too alien. Indeed, Wondemu has opened a second Ethiopian restaurant in a community far from the metro area: Gainesville, Va., and she has found the locals eager to keep the traditionally communal way of Ethiopian eating intact. The most popular dishes? The beef short ribs, a chicken dish called infillay, and a beef dish called zilzil tibbs.
Besides letting her indulge in her passion for food, Wondemu sees her restaurants as a tool to educate people about Ethiopia.
“I promote the food and culture,” she says. “When people enjoy your food and culture, I am glad I am the one teaching it.”
Q&A with Zed Wondemu
Do you cook at home?
I do, for my kids. The easiest are sauted beef, chicken and vegetables. It’s all Ethiopian food. That’s what my kids eat, though my son prefers Japanese food.
What is your comfort food?
Ethiopian steak tartar. I don’t eat it now regularly because I am weight conscious. But it is composed of good quality meat with no fat. You grind it and season it with purified butter, salt, cardamom, and Ethiopian chile powder. You mix this and eat it raw or medium cooked. It usually comes with Ethiopian cheese, a dried cottage cheese.
What has been your luckiest moment?
When I was invited to do the Clinton inauguration. I was one of 40 restaurants. I was very happy. That education and experience I was providing meant a lot to me.
Which is your favorite cuisine?
Ethiopian, but some days, it would be Indian; it is close to Ethiopian food. And Mexican food. I like Thai food because it is spicy.
What’s in your fridge?
Fresh lettuce, tomatoes, onions, garlic, rosemary, lemons and all must be fresh to cook. And ginger root.
From the Chef’s Kitchen
Zed’s Azifa
(Ethiopian Green Lentil Salad)
Serves 3-4
1 cup dried green lentils
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup diced jalapeno pepper
Juice from 2 medium-sized lemons
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dry mustard
Salt to taste
Rinse the lentils under cold water, drain. In a large deep saucepan, boil lentils with enough water just to cover until tender, anywhere from 15 to 40 minutes, depending on the lentils. Thoroughly rinse the lentils under cold water again. Let the lentils cool to room temperature.
Mix remaining ingredients with the lentils and chill in the refrigerator. Serve cold or at room temperature as a salad or entre alongside injera (Ethiopian bread.)
