Gojo Restaurant, Richardson

The smell of exotic spices fills the room as steaming plates of authentic Ethiopian food are ferried through Gojo Ethiopian Restaurant and Bar. Dinner pairs spongy, slightly sour injera bread with beef and lamb sautéed to extreme tenderness in stews of hot peppers, onion, tomatoes, and garlic. A breakfast menu brings warm, comforting plates of spiced and buttered bread, cardamom-scented bowls of cracked wheat, and spicy scrambled eggs harvested from chickens fed on chili peppers. A rustic sign bearing the restaurant’s name hangs on the back wall behind the fully stocked bar, where bartenders pour Castel and other Ethiopian-brewed beers and the sweetly acidic honey wine known as tej. Weekends add a traditional coffee ceremony to the day, with elaborate traditional pots streaming a strong, hot brew.