Food review: Lamb, chicken, and split pea platter

Restaurant: Waziema (San Francisco)
Food description: Ethiopian dish with split pea sauce and lamb and chicken cubes sauteed with ginger, garlic, and onion; served with sides of collard greens, potato and carrot stew, salad, and injera bread
Food rating: 6.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

Since I'm not going to rate each individual components of the platter, I'll address each one and rate everything as a whole. Basically, if you're not picky and in the mood for something hearty and satisfying (and cheap), look no further. In comparison to other Ethiopian food, I liked the Blue Nile in Berkeley, which apparently is no more. Anyway, of all the traditional things we could've ordered, we chose 2 of their non-stew dishes, which was an interesting experiment, but maybe not the smartest idea. The chicken was prepared like the lamb, grilled with onions, and were both very flavorful, but waaay too dry! It helped to mix in some of the split pea sauce, but even that was kinda thick. The lamb, although dry, tasted good enough to order again, and the chicken I never need to have again. The split pea is something a friend recommended, something I wouldn't normally order, and turned out to be delicious. I have no clue what kind of peas they use (they're yellow), but they taste starchier and nuttier than green peas, sort of like garbanzo beans. I'll be ordering that again for sure. The potato stew was rather plain and didn't have much flavor, and the collard greens tasted like collard greens. The green salad in the center served it's purpose--to refresh the palate in between bites--and nothing more. The injera bread was tasty, but seemed slightly more sour and thicker than usual, but didn't really bother me. The real enjoyment of these types of dishes is getting to dig into it with a bunch of people and mushing everything together and not really caring so much. I will freak out though, if I catch you using your left hand to eat!!

Food review: Lamb ossobuco

Restaurant: Stelline (San Francisco)
Food description: Braised lamb shank with ossobuco sauce over soft polenta, served with string beans and cauliflower
Food rating: 7.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 7

Though I'd rather not admit it, I've tried almost every single entree on the menu at Stelline, so I can say that the lamb ossobuco is one of their better dishes (along with the lasagna special). And for $11.50, you'll be hard pressed to find a better value, especially given the quality. Like the caprese, it's not authentic ossobuco, but it's a really good lamb shank. Traditional ossobuco (literally "hole of bone") is made with veal and the flavor comes from the bone marrow, which is eaten out of the bone and the primary flavor constituent of the dish. As you can tell from the photo, using lamb for ossobuco precludes the whole hole-in-bone concept, so there's not really much marrow to be had. If you can live with this and just think of the dish as a braised lamb shank, you'll love it. Though this time it was slightly overcooked, it's normally very tender, falling right off the bone with just a pluck of the fork. The lamb is nice and lean, no trimming necessary, and has tons of flavor on it's own. The sauce is more of a tomato sauce than ossobuco sauce (given no marrow), but when mixed with the polenta and lamb, it makes a tasty combo. Though the ossobuco is consistently good, the vegetables are consistently overcooked and too garlicky. They round out the meal, but could and should be improved. Other than that, the dish is delicious and a great value, but lacks the authenticity and flavor of traditional ossobuco.