Tuesdays with Market

Pan Africa - Tuesdays with Market will actually be taking place on Wednesdays and Saturdays this quarter on account of Paul's teaching schedule, so don't assume this place is open Tuesday around 4. We have never before seen it open, so naturally we jumped at the opportunity. Pan Africa is a dark, sultry restaurant, complete with candles, wood, and draping fabric, that feels somewhat out of place so exposed on 1st Avenue under the Sanitary Market sign. Despite it's claim to be Pan African, most of the dishes are things people familiar with Ethiopian and Eritrean food will recognize, although there was a woman at the bar arguing that what she had been served was not, in fact, doro wat. Which may be true, given that the cook appeared to be latina. Paul had the chicken yassa, stewed with fruit and olives, and served over rice. In the spirit of trying as much as possible, I got the sampler platter (a bargain at $8), which involved red lentil curry, a carrot and green bean curry, stewed greens, something tasty involving chicken, and something yellow possibly made of chickpeas, all served on injera (that spongey sourdough flatbread that can also be used to scoop up tasty stewed goodies). Despite our inability to identify exactly what we were eating, we quite enjoyed ourselves. They were out of Kenyan beer, so nothing to report there, but the Alaskan Amber tasted fine.