A home cook follows her dream to open Eshkol Ethiopian Cuisine on the Main Line

Since arriving in the United States in 1990 from her native Ethiopia, Chaltu Merga has been a nanny, a day-care worker, and the founder of a housecleaning business, as well as a mother of three boys living in Wayne.

Merga also has also been the designated caterer for her church and friends — weddings, graduations, retreats, and other large gatherings. Her husband, Tesh Gebremedhin, whom she met at the church nearly three decades ago, handled the logistics.

With youngest son Rahobi now a senior in high school, she has followed her longtime dream of opening a restaurant.

Eshkol Ethiopian Cuisine opened last week at 36 E. Lancaster Ave. in Ardmore, a revamp of the longtime Thai restaurant Siamese Princess. It’s believed to be the first Ethiopian restaurant on the Main Line. It’s a welcome addition to Philadelphia region’s Ethiopian community, which estimated to number about 6,000 and mainly concentrated in West and Southwest Philadelphia, where it is served by several local restaurants, including Abyssinia and Amsale Cafe.

Eshkol’s quaint, 32-seat storefront, across from Ardmore Music Hall and next door to Jack McShea’s Pub, has dining tables as well as one four-seat mesob — the traditional woven wicker basket that stores the spongy bread called injera and serves a communal dining table.

Merga and Gebremedhin said they realized that many customers might not be familiar with Ethiopian cuisine, so they had every dish photographed and described on the menu. Although the food traditionally is eaten with the hands using injera, they’re offering cutlery. “We don’t judge,” Gebremedhin said.

With Merga in the kitchen, Gebremedhin and oldest son Manasseh, 23, guide customers through the dishes and spice levels. Middle son Yoni, 22, who attends West Chester University, also helps out.

The food is “just what she would serve at home,” said Gebremedhin, who left his job in finance in January to run the front of the house.

Dishes can be ordered à la carte. To get a taste of the menu, you can ask them to create a meat or vegan combo. Last week, the meat version ($35 for a small, $50 for a large) included ayib (a mild cottage-like cheese), doro wot (the familiar chicken stew with egg), fossolia (green beans), beg alicha (lamb), gomen (collard greens), key sir (beets), and siga wot (beef sautéed in spice butter). The vegan ($25 or $35) had the gomen and key sir, along with tikil gomen (cabbage), misir wot (lentils), ater kik alicha (yellow split peas), and shiro (chickpeas). The food is set atop injera, which gathers the juices. Extra rolls of injera are provided, as well; unfurl one and scoop.

For dessert, there’s banana bread and zucchini bread. Breakfast, including the berbere-braised flatbread called hechebsa, is served Saturday but may be extended.

Alcohol is not allowed. Merga’s signature beverage is a combination of honey, ginger, and seltzer. There also is Ethiopian coffee service (buna) by reservation.

The name is based on the biblical story from Numbers set during the Israelites’ search for the promised land, Merga said. Moses sent 12 spies to Canaan, and two returned with large clusters of grapes (“eshkol,” also spelled “eshcol”), as evidence of the land’s fertility. The other spies told of the strong Canaanites there, leading the Israelites to doubt God’s promise. God then decreed that the current generation would wander in the wilderness for 40 years.

Merga said she interprets the story as an example of the blessings that faith can deliver, especially when faced with challenges and hardships of opening a restaurant.

Eshkol, 36 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore. Hours: noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, noon to 9:30 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, and 4 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Reservations: 484-412-8044.