Cheap Eats 2019: Makeda

Cost:

About Makeda

Cost:

cuisines
Ethiopian
Location(s)
516 S Van Dorn St
Alexandria, VA 22304
Eat Great Cheap 2019

About Eat Great Cheap 2019

This article is a part of Washingtonian’s Eat Great Cheap feature, our annual list of where to eat (and not break the bank) right now. Our food editors put together the best new restaurants around DC where you can find Detroit-style pizza, Japanese egg-salad sandwiches, chicken-nugget-filled tacos, and more—for $25 or less per person.

Chef Senait Tedla’s Ethiopian cooking stands out for both its technique (her rib-eye tibs are perfectly cooked) and its intensity. Stir-fried lamb singes the tongue with awaze, a brick-red spice paste. A colorful platter of vegetarian stews—turmeric-laced yellow split peas, zesty red lentils, fiery mushroom tibs—practically leaps with flavor. And if you test an Ethio kitchen with its doro wat, Tedla’s chicken stew gets an A.


Ann Limpert
Executive Food Editor/Critic

Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.

Food Editor

Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.

Jessica Sidman
Food Editor

Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.