Restaurants in Monroe

Habesha's chef throws succulent cuts of lamb, chicken, and beef into simmering skillets bathed in the traditional, spicy wot sauces, all served family style to be dipped into with handheld bites of spongy injera flatbread. The communal dining style encourages patrons to forge bonds with fellow diners without having to weave napkins into friendship bracelets. Each ripped portion of injera soaks in sauces while securing bites of seafood, split red lentils, and traditional lamb. Ethiopia's distinct culinary flavor centers on wot, a pepper-based stew infused with Ethiopia's signature spices, berbere and mitmita, that enlivens vegetable or meat entrees with a potent kick of rich, complex flavor. Beams of light muted by patterned hanging lamps add an aura of quiet camaraderie to feasts, with happy conversations bouncing off of the exposed-brick walls.

Bent Burger’s namesake burger is not for the faint of heart or stomach: chefs top a freshly ground beef patty with hot links, fried eggs, candied bacon, and cheese. Then, they wedge that already hulking load between two grilled cheese sandwiches. This creativity garnered acclaim from a reporter from Examiner.com, who called the eatery a “local treasure,” and the same creativity extends to the rest of the menu. The Human Torch burger sets tongues aflame with pepper jack cheese and grilled habanero peppers, and The Thing burger showcases the bold flavors of caramelized onions and blue cheese. These inventive mouthfuls buddy up with more than a dozen flavors of shakes and malts, including green tea, chai, and pumpkin.

Bent Burger’s decor matches the playfulness of the cuisine: the tables are shellacked with comic book covers, and life-sized comic book heroes pop against a backdrop of burnt orange walls.

Harissa Mediterranean Cuisine takes its name from a mountainside village in Lebanon that attracts visitors every year with a 15-ton bronze statue of Our Lady of Lebanon. Chef Walid Alabtan seeks to make his restaurant a destination as well, attracting diners with a hearty spread of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine and steadily gaining their loyalty. In her 2010 feature of the restaurant in the Seattle Times, Nancy Leson claimed, "If I lived in Ravenna, I'd add Harissa … to my list of neighborhood go-to joints."

The chefs grill skewers of lamb, chicken, and salmon over open flames, and they ladle helpings of seasonal vegetables and seafood into the kitchen's percolating stew pots. To counteract the menu's overwhelmingly hearty and savory cuisine, they also make baklava by hand and whisk herbs into yogurt and housemade cream cheese to serve them as refreshing appetizers. The dining room creates a slightly refined ambiance with crisp white tablecloths, gentle track lighting, and framed artwork along the soft-yellow and orange walls. Live belly dancing and jazz bands perform on select nights, entertaining diners even more than a jigsaw puzzle that reveals their inheritance.

Ensconced in a building dating back to the 1920s, Alexa’s Café & Catering’s dining room is flanked by brick walls and wainscoting, and is filled with pine furniture where guests cozy up to platters of guilt-free comfort fare for breakfast and lunch. The café’s hearty portions come compliments of owner Leigh Henderson’s deep-rooted love of feeding people, which is also the catalyst for the café’s ever-evolving menu. One visit might delight diners with lemon-poppy-seed buttermilk cakes; the next, a selection of 10 breakfast scramblers; and the visit after that, a chicken-curry croissant packed with grapes, almonds, and curry mayo. In the evenings, Alexa's pairs heartier fare such as burgers with wines and tap beers from local breweries such as Mac & Jack's. Alexa’s also totes its fresh fare to special events, from business luncheons to Batman-themed bat mitzvahs.

Mona's Bistro & Lounge pays homage to the changing of the seasons with a carefully crafted menu of flavors from continental Europe using fresh, locally sourced ingredients. Inside the kitchen, chefs kick off meals with a selection of small plates bearing grilled brie with apricots, pistachios, and balsamic or truffle frites with dijon aioli. Braised short ribs with yukon gold mashed potatoes and lobster ravioli with lemon-saffron sauce shine beneath overhanging pendant lights that also cast a glow on wooden racks housing wines from France, Italy, Spain, Narnia, and California. Scoops of seasonal sorbet and ice cream finish off meals alongside craft cocktails and the dulcet tones of live music Wednesday through Saturday.

While living on Molokai, Bobby and Diane Nakihei couldn’t throw a stone without hitting a plate-lunch special. The classic Hawaiian dish—two scoops of rice, one scoop of macaroni salad, and an entree—is served at practically every fast-food restaurant and food wagon across the island. When the couple moved from Hawaii to the Pacific Northwest, they began to long for the once-ubiquitous island cuisine. So Bobby traded the stuffy shirt and tie of a bookkeeping career for the patterned, button-down shirts of his homeland and opened Bobby's Hawaiian Style Restaurant, drawing transplanted islanders and locals alike to his plate-lunch specials, which often come wrapped in taro leaves and seaweed.

His cuisine earned the restaurant a spot on the Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and praise from Scott Gorman of the Herald, who extols it as “prepared and presented with a good deal of authenticity and style.” Revered dishes include Kahlua pig, which Chef Bobby cures with hawaiian sea salt, covers in banana leaves, and roasts for eight hours. The meticulous preparation extends to the rest of the menu, which spotlights the leaf-steamed pork of laulau and the sushi-esque spam musubi. In addition to the cuisine, owners Bobby and Diane showcase Hawaiian culture by offering hula lessons, presenting live Hawaiian music and recycling diners' lawn clippings into grass skirts.