Rose Garden Resident
News
Ethiopian 'Queen' to bring back American-style breakfast fare
By Mary Gottschalk
The ham and egg omelets, BLTs and Rueben sandwiches are returning to the menu at Queen of Sheba restaurant on the corner of The Alameda and University Avenue.
Owner Sahlu Okebato says he's bringing back diner-style food starting April 2.
"A lot of neighborhood people asked me if we could put the breakfast back," he says.
When Okebato leased the restaurant in August of 2003, it was called the San Jose Coffee Shop and the menu was strictly American coffee shop fare.
A month after taking over, Okebato started adding dishes from his native Ethiopia to the offerings.
"I didn't want to frighten off longtime customers, so I didn't change the front section of the restaurant," Okebato said in April 2004.
Instead, he turned the back portion of the restaurant into Ethiopian, offering patrons a choice of either cuisine.
However, Okebato's plan all along was to transform San Jose Coffee Shop into an Ethiopian restaurant.
He started with the name change in mid-2004 and in June 2005, he phased out the coffee shop menu.
To most Westerners, the Ethiopian dishes are unfamiliar but exotic-sounding--yemisir wot is a vegetarian dish of lentils simmered in red pepper sauce; yebeg tibs is chopped lamb sautéed in butter and herbs; and key wot is lean beef simmered in ground red peppers, butter, onions and garlic.
Queen of Sheba soon garnered favorable reviews and is listed on several websites devoted to Ethiopian cuisine.
Following the change of name and cuisine, morning business dropped 40 percent. Okebato dropped breakfast, changing the hours from a 6 a.m. opening to 11:30 a.m.
Now he's decided to return to the 6 a.m. opening time and to serve American cuisine until 2 p.m. daily. He's also rehired one of the cooks.
Ethiopian cuisine will be available from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
"During lunchtime, people will have two choices," Okebato says.
Okebato's father owned a restaurant in Ethiopia, so he was familiar with the business. However, when he immigrated to the United States in 1991, he had no desire to follow in his father's footsteps,
"I always knew that restaurants are very hard work," he says.
After earning his degree in electrical engineering at San Jose State University in 2000, Okebato went to work for Compaq. Two-and-a-half years later, the HP takeover left him exploring his options.
Knowing that Okebato wanted to own his own business, friends and family encouraged him to open an Ethiopian restaurant.
Okebato's sister Lomi Segni continues to be his primary chef for the Ethiopian cuisine.
Okebato says he will keep the Queen of Sheba name on the restaurant, but he's planning to add a second name along the lines of Café Rose Garden.
Eventually, he says, he will relocate the Ethiopian restaurant and return The Alameda locale to a coffee shop.
Queen of Sheba Restaurant, 1860 The Alameda, serves American cuisine from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily starting April 2 and Ethiopian cuisine from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. For additional information, visit www.queenof
shebarestaurant.com or call 408.294.4313.
