Bread as plate and fork: Fana's Cuisine brings Ethiopian fare to Mount Baker

Bread bowls never really bounced back from the Atkins crusade, and the edible taco-shell bowl, which Americans invented in the 1960s along with the taco salad, faded -- thankfully -- after a brief heyday. But still, we remain seduced by the concept of a comestible serving vessel that's part of the whole package.

Maybe that's partly why we get excited by Ethiopian food. The function of the injera, the saucer of thin sourdough flatbread that various other dishes are served upon, is twofold: First, it's your plate, and then it becomes your utensil, as you tear off moist, spongy pieces that you use to pinch up bites of lentils, greens and spicy stewed meat.

Seattle is lucky to have a number of great Ethiopian restaurants, mostly scattered throughout the South End. We can now add to that list Fana's Cuisine, a bright, modern family-run restaurant that opened last November in the developing Mount Baker business district.

Fana is Fana Estifanos, who formerly ran a catering kitchen specializing in Mediterranean food with her husband, Asress Araia. The family is all here helping out with her new restaurant, with her husband and son in the kitchen and another son and daughter serving customers in the long, spacious dining room. The decor is sparse, save for a series of captivating black-and-white street portraits taken by daughter/waitress Sabrina Asress during her travels in Guyana.

Fana's cuisine is simply fantastic. The menu's meat choices lean heavily toward chicken, which is spectacular served in traditional style, with two tender thighs sitting atop the injera slathered in its stewing sauces, thick and rich with the perfect blend of chili spices that pack a powerful kick. A boiled egg soaked in the same sauce takes on the flavor brilliantly.

For the included sides, choose from soft and buttery cabbage and carrots, stewed collard greens, cracked wheat, green salad, lentils or split peas. And just because you can, order one of Fana's chicken wings, which are baked in a tangy tomato sauce and sell for 80 cents a pop.

Meals can be easily assembled from just vegetable dishes. Ethiopians are subject to a significant number of fasting days during which meat is prohibited, making their cuisine a godsend to vegetarians. The lentils here are glorious, so whether as a side or an entrée, they are not to be missed.

Dishes are most often served family-style, with everyone tearing off pieces from the same large injera plate. While scooping up things like stew and cabbage with your fingers might seem a bit crude, there's something distinctly civilized about sharing food in this way. It's a shared experience, and a nice break from the "this is me and my dinner" American frame of mind (and the farther away we can get from the culture that spawned the taco bowl, the better).

On Tuesday nights, Fana's highlights another of Ethiopia's natural treasures with traditional coffee ceremonies. Saturday night jazz buffets ($15) from 6 to 10 p.m., with live music, are a great way to try everything. This is cuisine that comes from the cradle of civilization, after all, and the heavenly injera is the best way to scoop up every last bit of it.

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