Veronica F. wrote: >Now I am in the East Bay, and the best place I have found is Cafe >Eritrea Afrique (sp?). The food is really good, but the service was bit >odd. The woman, a native of Eritrea (I asked) spoke very little >english, had trouble responding to my questions, and the weirdest part, >was, although she was very gracious, she would not make eye contact with >my white female dinner companion! We have eaten their twice, both times >with the same server, and anytime my companion asked a question, or made >a request, the server smiled, and directed her response to me! Is there >some cultural thing I am missing here?. BTW, I am an American Black >woman, and although I am a bit more familiar with african cuisine, I >clearly had no advantage crossing the language barrier, and the srver >frequentlu smiled and shrugged, when she could not understand my >question. Any ideas? You don't mention where in the East Bay you are, and I have heard of Cafe Eritrea Afrique, but don't know where it is. An East African restaurant that I go to and like (Somali) is in Oakland on Telegraph, about 3 stores down from Pleasant Valley (the Martin Luther King/Grove exit from 24). Service has always been excellent and the food is very good (IMHO). Last time I was there, they made food less spicy for my fiancee. The time before, they made it extra spicy for some friends.
San Francisco Bay Area, CA