Ethiopian cafe comes to Hawthorne

Hawthorne is fortunate that it has a new black-woman owned cafe called Guzo Cafe. Wubet Negash recently opened Guzo Cafe, at 12th and Catherine Streets. Guzo Cafe is a coffee house, clothing store, art gallery, and Ethiopian restaurant all in one! Indoor and outdoor seating is available. Everything on the menu is available for takeout. I will focus only on the food and drink available, but do stop by to see the wonderful artwork and up-cycled clothing that’s also available.

Guzo Cafe’s menu includes several varieties of hot and iced coffee and tea. I am not a coffee fan, but the tea is very good, especially the homemade Ethiopian ice tea, which is refreshing and flavorful. The coffee and espresso are made from fair trade beans.

On weekends, an Ethiopian brunch is available. For $20, you can get a platter full of generous portions of gomen (collard greens), misir (stewed red lentils), and alicha (stewed carrots and potatoes) on top of thin pliable organic bread called injera which is also gluten-free and grain-free. The gomen, alicha, and misir are sold separately for $6 each and are served over injera. The injera is used to pick up the food to eat instead of eating with utensils. During my previous visit, I tried an ample Etheopian food platter along with a glass of Ethiopian iced tea to wash it down.

My platter included a huge portion of misir and alicha, both of which I enjoyed. I like the alicha better, but there’s no question that the misir with its red lentils and herbs packs a lot of healthy nutrients including protein. Both have a fairly mild flavor to start, although the misir has a somewhat distinct spicy kick to it. The Ethiopian ice tea was a perfect accompaniment!

Wubet is considering including her Ethiopian menu on weekdays, but for now, it’s only available on weekends.

Guzo Cafe also offers baked goods from Four Worlds Bakery. On three visits, I enjoyed a walnut croissant, an egg sandwich, and a homemade tuna salad sandwich. Everything I ate there was fantastic and provided with polite service! The artwork will rotate and is part of plans to create a community hub for local visual and music artists and feature Ethiopian culture.

In conclusion, I highly recommend Guzo Cafe. It is open from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm daily. If you want to keep up with the latest news about the Guzo Cafe, follow its Instagram page,@guzocafe.

Stan Horwitz is the Hawthorne Empowerment Coalition Community Organizer

Photo credit: Ali Mohsen/Billy Penn

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