12 Crystal City: Hasar Masob

As Sam mentioned, we switched our roles for this evening out (something I believe is healthy to do, but also driven by necessity as I was in the production he saw).

So our originally scheduled program for the post-show entertainment was going to be Thai. However, the first Thai restaurant was not allowing late seating, and the second had already closed its curtains for the day.

On impulse, I suggested we attend a late-night dish at Hara Mesob, an Ethiopian establishment I had only been to once. Now, the mesob is a straw table unique to this culture, and encourages a means for all audience members to be engaged in an evening long improvisation.


Granted, they also have traditional, American restaurant tables (with corners and such), but the dish we ordered still encouraged the same interaction. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The prologue and exposition for the evening was provided by a wonderful woman by the name of Sunny. She was engaging above and beyond your typical server's performance. She made the evening personal by finding out about us, and informing her about herself. Not only that, she made it clear that late seating was allowed, particularly if there were still other patrons enjoying a savory performance.

That being said, the dish we ordered amounted to a one-act, in that we got a mixed platter. I can't even remember the particulars, but it was a delicious performance in the round. Instead of everyone having a individually ordered performance which others might sample, everyone at the table enjoyed a singular dish, simply from different points of view.

Now, the scenic design for this shared dish involved multiple meats and vegetables, resting atop one singular piece of injera, which was also used in place of utensils. The improvisation part comes when your hands start to dance, by tearing of pieces of injera, then navigating them to whichever dish you might want to try. The hands of you and your fellow dinner guests begin to weave in and out of each other, and when they land at their destination, a quick pinching motion captures the food and brings it back to your mouth.

It was never spoken, but this was mostly a silent dance, much like the production "Plate" saw and reviewed. There's no explicit portions, so you can't help but keep in mind making sure the other person still has an option to enjoy whatever you might. This proved not to be so much of an issue, as we were too full to finish everything on the platter.

Now for an encore, we enjoyed a bit of Tiramisu, which Sunny once more provided just a bit of personal insight about.
If you would like a unique, communal, engaging and personal dining experience, I would strongly recommend you consider checking out Hasar Masob.

Harar Mesob on Yelp