Over the past two years, when a restaurant has announced a “temporary” closure, it’s often ended up being more permanent.
Here then, some good news. Abyssinian Kitchen, the Ethiopian-Eritrean restaurant that was a mainstay on guides to Portland’s best restaurants, will reopen this month in the Northeast Alberta Street corner previously home to Stella Taco, The Oregonian/OregonLive has learned.
Abyssinian Kitchen first opened in 2015 in a converted house near Southeast Clinton Street, offering comforting stews, spiced meats and large rounds of tangy injera alongside glasses of honeyed wine.
But in August 2020, the restaurant announced that it was leaving its Southeast Portland home. At the time, owners Elsa Wolday and Kuflom Abbay said “it would be nearly impossible for us to operate safely and successfully in the current space,” but that they planned “to reopen in a different setting at a different location on the other side of this pandemic.”
The new restaurant, which could open as soon as Friday, Aug. 12, presents a new opportunity, with a larger kitchen, a full cocktail bar and a dining room with new lighting and African patterned red and brown wallpaper in the back, Abbay said. The brick building, also home to longtime pizzeria Bella and cozy Irish pub T.C. O’Leary’s, sits across from wine and flower shop Dogwood and the Alberta Rose Theater.
Sean Herron of the Big Idea Group, who assisted with Abyssinian Kitchen’s initial restaurant, designed and managed the build-out at the new location, most recently home to motorcycle-themed barbecue spot Parts & Service.
“The old space had a nice homey feel, but the kitchen was very challenging,” Abbay said. “This one has a spacious kitchen, a large dining room and bar area that you will see.”
Wolday’s menu, which excelled at both vegan platters of stewed lentils and greens and meat dishes such as the rosemary-scented strips of grilled steak known as zilzil tibs, will remain largely the same, Abbay said.
Both Wolday and Abbay were born in what is now Eritrea, an East African country that gained its independence from Ethiopia in 1991. As a young child, Wolday moved to Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. The couple, who moved to the Portland area from Canada for work, waited until their three children were grown before pursuing Wolday’s dream of opening a restaurant.
Look for Abyssinian Kitchen to open from 5 to 10 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday, starting on Friday, Aug. 12 in its new home, 2940 N.E. Alberta St. (Note: Wolday and Abbay’s son’s wedding will briefly close the restaurant in mid September.)
— Michael Russell
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