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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 2002)
October 16. 2002 www.portlandobserver.tom Committed to C ultural Diversity ■I (The ^ o rtla n h (©hserlier ommunity a I e n d a r C Wishes on Wheels The fourth annual Wishes on W heels event on Thursday, Oct. 17 will feature gravity pow ered pinewood derby model cars racing around the Emanuel Hospital atrium. Teams will compete for the title o f the fast est vehicle on the track. Event funds benefit the Emanuel Children’s Hospital. The hos pital is located at 501N Graham and the races begin at 6:30 p.m . For more information call 503- 415-5725. Community Celebration Com e rain or shine Saturday, Oct. 1 9 fo ra d a y o fliv e m u sic, food, gam es and inform ation hosted by Big City Produce and Small W orld Café, 722 N. Sumner. Music starts at 11:30 a.m. and goes to 5 p.m. The day o f fun also features food sam ples and snacks. Back to Scrap, Food Not Bom bs, the Food Alliance, the Humboldt N eig h b o rh o o d A ssociation and the POIC School w ill be available throughout the day. Call 503-460-3830 for informa tion. . Focus on Domestic Violence In recognition o f Hands are Not for Hurting Week and Domes tic Violence Awareness Month, come and leant about crimes against children, women and seniors. The Crime Prevention program oftheCity ofPortland's office o f neighborhood in volvement will host four one hour presentations on topics ranging from protecting chil dren from child molesters, do mestic violence and elder safety. Presentations begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22 in the US Bank room at the Multnomah County Central Library, 801 SW 10,h Ave. For Information call 503- 823-5532. Business Crime Prevention From local crim e prevention sta ff attendees o f this free public workshop can learn in formation about crime preven tion services available to busi nesses as well as inform ation about com m on challenges for retailers. Issues o f fraud, shoplifting and trespassing will be addressed. Training on W ednesday, Oct. 23 be gins at 7 a.m. in the Social Room at the Providence Port land Medical Center, 4805 N.E. Glisan. Oriental Medicine Open House Members o f the public can at tend a celebration for Oriental Medicine Day and receive in formation about acupuncture. Oriental therapeutic massage, Chinese herbal medicine and Oriental meditative exercise. Supervised by licensed practi tioners, OCOM interns will pro vide free sample treatments to the public from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 24. The school is located at 10525 SE Cherry Blossom Drive. Lifetime Business Support Club During a free workshop for en trepreneurs, new and current business owners can learn the steps to accelerate business through raising capital, obtain ing resources, mentorship, team and new skills building for free enterprise ventures. W ork shops start at 7 p.m. at the Fairfield Inn in Lake Oswego Dates are Oct. 24 and 3 1, Nov. 7, 14. and 21. Call 503-574-4445 to register. I SECTION Family Serves Up East African Queen of Sheba builds empire on MLK. Boulevard B y W ynde D yer T he P ortland O bserver Tw o thousand years ago, the Q ueen o f Sheba was the “strongest” queen in East Africa. Today in northeast Portland, na tive African brothers Alem and G etachew G ebrehiw ot do their best to keep her legacy alive at an Ethiopian restaurant nam ed in her likeness. A fter 10 years o f business, it seem s the brothers are doing pretty good. The O r egonian rated Q ueen o f Sheba as one o f the top 100 restaurants in O regon and it app ears each year in the W illam ette W eek's list o f Cheap Eats. " O u r n a m e is g e ttin g p o p u la r ,” G etachew said. “O ur business is getting better. W e are very pleased." The building o f an em pire had to start som ew here. Q ueen o f Sheba began as a sm all grocery store at 2413 N.E. M artin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in 1992. Alem provided the grow ing Egyptian com m u nity o f north Portland w ith authentic ingredients for hom e cooking. He gradu ated from O regon State U niversity in 1993 with a Bachelor o f Science in Food Engineering and began to m anufacture a line o f traditional Ethiopian spices. G etachew cam e to A m erica to study at W estern Business C ollege in dow ntow n Portland, and instead becam e the m an ager o f Queen o f Sheba. A fter tw o years in the grocery business, the brothers began serving food flavored with their spices. T heir m other T afesech jo ined them to help cook and produce spices. T he restaurant started w ith only tw o tables and a lunch menu. Tw o tables turned into six in 1995. Today, Q ueen o f Sheba boasts a full bar and a serving capacity o f 70. “O ur custom ers are the reason for our success,” A lem said. “They are very loyal. W e love our custom ers and never have any problem s.” In fact, they have had anything but problem s. Back when the restaurant staff was sm aller, Alem said custom ers would com e in to help out. N eighborhood regu lars w ould walk by and see a crow d and Natural Gas Rates Lowered Starting this month, residents in the local area will see a 10 percent decrease in the price for natural gas. The Oregon Public Utility Commission on ordered North west Natural and other Oregon natural gas utilities to charge less because the companies have enjoyed cheaper wholesale costs over the past year. “These lower rates will leave Oregonians who use natural gas with a little more money in their pockets than they had I ast year,” Commissioner Lee Beyer said. "A fter the increases we experi enced the last couple o f years, customers will be glad to see this reversal.” The monthly bill for a typical residential customer o f North west Natural will drop by 10.5 percent. A typical custom er's bill will be reduced to $57.80 from $64.59. Commercial customers will see a 14.9 percent rate de crease. Preparing Ethiopian crepe-like bread called injera to go with the meals is a long process involving three days of fermentation. Queen of Sheba foods are flavored with spices that are packaged and prepared by the restaurant's owners. P hotos by W ynde R. D yer /T he P ortland O bserver help wash dishes. The variety o f beers on the beverage list w ere chosen by custom ers, and m ost new business com es by recom m endation rather than advertising. W hen Q ueen o f Sheba opened the bar three m onths ago, they hired a regular custom er to tend it for them. The only problem Alem can see in the future is parking. “ W e lose business because there is now here to park for blocks around,” he said. Alem hopes the C ity o f Portland will put in on-street parking like they did for N ike just up the street. He fears for his custom ers’ safety because o f the high speed traffic on M artin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Crossw alks are a few blocks down. The parking concern m ost im pacts business during lunch hours be cause custom ers need to eat fast and get back to w ork. Lunch breaks d o n ’t pro vide time to park and walk. Fortunately, a steady stream ofevening diners m akes up for slow lunches. Som etim es 20 to 30 custom ers at the same time. A lem said the dinner rush can be som ew hat taxing on his small staff. “ B ut w e are p a tie n t and a lw a y s friendly," he said. Queen o f Sheba is happy to be both a pioneer and a continuing part o f eco nom ic grow th in north and northeast Portland. Alem said when they estab lished the grocery store, they w ere the only business on the block. The neigh borhood w as a dead zone. He is optim is tic about the change in the business clim ate and the new diversity it wi 11 bring. “Things are much, m uch better,” he said. “ Everyone has put in a lot o f effort." To taste the effort put into the authen tic Ethiopian cuisine, stop by Queen o f Sheba M onday through Friday for lunch from noon to 3 p.m. or for dinner, T ues day through Saturday, from 5 to 10 p.m. The restaurant closes early at 9 p.m. on Sundays and M ondays. All entrees are healthy. M eat, vegetar ian and salad dishes are served on injera, a form o f Ethiopian crepe-like bread. Injera is made with teff, a form o f Egyp tian flow er, m ixed with rice and barley flower. It is high in iron and gluten-free. The injera m ixture ferm ents for tw o to three days before it is blended and steamed into large pancakes. Expect to eat it with your fingers. Cash Back for Energy-Saving Measures SHOW program gives oil heat customers rebates for upgrades October is Energy Aware ness Month and oil prices are up, so for home owners who have never had an energy au dit, now is a good time to get one. A free audit from the Or egon Office o f Energy’s State Home Oil Weatherization Pro gram, called SHOW, will tell homeowners which energy saving measures will save the most money. Those who regis ter for an audit will be entered into a drawing to win $ 100 to be used towards the purchase o f home installation, energy effi cient windows or towards in stallation o f heating system im provements. While special funds last, the SHOW Program will be giving away as much as $ 1,200 cash back to program participants for taking energy-saving mea sures. $200 cash back will be offered for energy-efficient replacement windows or a high- 1 effeciency replacement oil fur nace or burner. Up to $600 cash back can be received for a high-efficiency replacement oil furnace if an underground oil tank is replaced with an above ground one, up to $400 for blower door-assisted air seal ing and duet by a certified con tractor and up to $400 for insu lation and programmable ther mostats. H om eow ners m ay also qualify for a 6.5-precent inter est SHOW loan through par ticipation lenders for any mea sure recom m ended in the SHOW audit. Som e 3 8 ,000 O regon homeowners and renters have had a SHOW audit since the program began in 1982. SHOW analysts check insulation in the attic, walls and floors, inspect the windows and perform a free furnace efficiency test. For more information, call 1-800- 452-8660. I David Hall, an energy auditor for the Oregon Office of Energy 's State Home Oil Weatherization Program (SHOW), measures windows on a house on Northeast I T Avenue to find the right size o f energy-efficient windows needed to weather-proof the home. photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
