About Restaurant Openings Around DC
A guide to the newest places to eat and drink.
Michelin-starred chef Elias Taddesse is no stranger to thinking outside of the box—it’s what got him from working in high-end global French kitchens to launching bold Ethiopian fusion restaurants across the DC area. As of May 12, two of his most popular concepts are back—this time, in a shared location in Shaw.
Mélange Burger and Doro Soul Food were both fast-casual restaurants helmed by Taddesse over the past five years. The former was a chef-y burger spot that eventually succumbed to the pressures of the pandemic; the latter, Doro, shuttered when Taddesse decided to take a break when his first child was born.
Now, the two restaurants will be a part of his newest venture, Mélange Foods, Inc. Guests can browse both Mélange and Doro’s menus via QR codes at every table and order à la carte food and beverages from both concepts.
“It’s not going to feel like you’re coming into Union Market, where you have three different POS [Point of Sale] systems,” Taddesse says. “We’re able to bring it all together.”
The Mélange Burger menu will feature many of the same fan favorites from the original spots, including “an authentic American burger” with just a few tweaks—like brown butter aioli and pickled red onions—as well as hand-spun milkshakes. Doro Soul Food will showcase more Ethiopian flavors, like a sandwich of Atlantic cod battered and fried in shiro, a chickpea-flour stew, for a percussive crunch. “That’s going to be, I think, another huge hit,” says Taddesse.
By summertime, Taddesse hopes to add a third menu to Mélange Foods, Inc.: Moya, an Ethiopian-Mexican fusion concept featuring golden tibs tacos and berbere margaritas.
“Our vehicle to eat [Ethiopian] stews is injera, and with tacos, the vehicle is obviously the tortilla,” he says. “It made a lot of sense for me to combine them.”
Mélange’s cocktail menu will also be available to guests, regardless of what restaurant items they choose. Taddesse’s personal favorite is a kibbeh-washed old fashioned, which he says is inspired by his former neighboring restaurant Mandu’s “Hogwash” cocktail featuring bacon-washed rye. (Kibbeh is Ethiopian clarified butter).
“I like the mouth feel of it and how it reduces the harsh taste of the rye,” he says. “When we started thinking about cocktails, that was the first thing I wanted to do.”
Taddesse is looking forward to resurrecting these concepts—and creating new ones that allow him to draw from his travels to Ethiopia, his cultural heritage, and his culinary training.
“My niche, now, is taking, traditional, popular dishes, and infusing them with traditional, Ethiopian flavors,” he says.
Mélange Foods, Inc. 2108 8th St., NW.
