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After ‘Miracle From God’ Ascent, Syracuse’s Top Ethiopian Eatery Eyes Comeback After 'Miracle From God' Ascent, Top Syracuse Ethiopian Eatery Eyes Revival

By Ghael Fobes

Ghael Fobes: With the hum of a busy I-81 from behind, you’d be forgiven for driving past Syracuse’s best known Ethiopian restaurant. In fact, on this final day of March more faces hung on the walls than feet move through the door. A lot more. Owner Tesfahiwot Okube says days like this one remind him of when he first opened in 2019.

TESFAHIWOT OKUBE: You know the first time when I opened it to be honest. In my mind, it takes me six months to one year until people enjoy my food.

FOBES: Slow indeed in our time together only two phone calls. (Phone rings in the background)

OKUBE: Hello.

Postmates Telemarketer: Hi, this is Postmates.

FOBES: A telemarketer. Of ,course.

OKUBE: You saw the advertisement.

FOBES: The second call was an order for Dora Wot, a spicy chicken medley served with a hard boiled egg and a side of Sambusa. Order one. Done.

OKUBE: Have a good day.

FOBES: Today’s pace like much of the past year has been a bit of whiplash for Okube. Just a year after he opened his doors something big happened.

OKUBE: A miracle from God is coming, you know. I don’t know how the CNN coming. CNN names me one of the best new restaurant in the world.

FOBES: You heard that right. A miracle from God in the form of a CNN article. The headline “20 of the world’s best new restaurants for 2020” his small ten table restaurant made the list.

OKUBE: (Walking roasted coffee beans around the restaurant) We make the smell for our customers if they like it.

FOBES: A small tight knit community the article cited. You see here Okube couldn’t let us go without showing off his party trick for coffee drinkers. So it turned out even one of the best restaurants in the world can have a slow day. So we decided to take advantage and well order something off the menu.

OKUBE: Veggie combo?

FOBES: Yeah, can I do that? Right now. It’s a one man show mostly because of the pandemic. So Okube does most of the cooking, which he learned from his mom. On days like today. Well, I get to benefit. And like that, today’s lunch, a veggie combo on top of injera. And as Okube told me, eateries have been hit especially hard this year. Take the Mexican restaurant a stone’s throw away. Okube said though that there was one thing that kept him from closing his doors.

OKUBE: It was a hard time the past one year but we don’t close because we don’t want to lose our customers so we keep open.

FOBES: For Okube, it’s all about community and his community are his customers. For NCC News. I’m Ghael Fobes. Back to you, Natalie.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Tesfahiwot Okube had only 42 days to turn his “miracle from god” into a Syracuse household name.

The name in question is EthioEritrea, the restaurant Okube founded in 2019. The miracle was finding that his three-month-old, 10 table eatery landed on CNN’s list of “20 of the world’s best new restaurants for 2020.”

“Oh my god, the house was full, completely full,” Okube said, describing his restaurant’s sudden international acclaim. “Every time, every day. As soon as we opened at 10 a.m. there was a line outside.”

Unfortunately for Okube, the CNN article published on Feb. 3, 2020 just 42 days before the first confirmed case of COVID-19 hit Onondaga County. Six days later, EthioEritrea, along with all New York restaurants, had to close indoor dining.

Okube’s overnight success came from recreating the Eritrean and Ethiopian culture he grew up with. The pandemic meant he would have to pack all of that culture into take-out boxes.

But Okube is no stranger to change.

Originally from Eritrea, Okube says that the country’s oppressive political climate drove him to move to a refugee camp in neighboring Ethiopia where he lived for seven years.

It was in the refugee camp that Okube opened a small cafe and was able to master his cooking skills. Culinary expertise and recipes that he has since brought to Syracuse.

Walking around EthioEritrea, its walls adorned with hand crafted instruments and paintings of Ethiopian and Eritrean people, it is clear that the place is designed for gathering.

While indoor dining has made a return since the first lockdown orders, Okube said that business is nowhere near his pre-pandemic boom.

“The past year has been quite hard. But we don’t close. We don’t want to lose our customers,” Okube said. “We keep open but we don’t make anything for the past year.”

Despite the headwinds, Okube says that his commitment to his customers and this community is rooted in his Eritrean and Ethiopian culture.

“We don’t think only for ourselves or for one person. We think of everyone as family,” Okube said.

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