Red Sea Restaurant, Chicago

What do you get when you cross hundreds of miles of Red Sea coastline with a Italian colonial influences? Eritrean food. Specifically, Tsebhi—a base of beef, lamb, chicken, fish, or vegetables that ranges from spicy to very mild. And rather than stodgy forks and spoons, diners sop up the savory dish with injera, a spongy flatbread that soaks up flavor more effectively than a straw that trained at culinary school.