Walk into Ras Kassa’s on South Public Road on any given evening, and you’ll likely see the same scene: a table crowded with friends or family, no forks in sight, everyone reaching toward the same large platter, tearing off pieces of injera to scoop up stews they’re passing back and forth. It looks effortless. It’s 38 years in the making.

From a Five-Table Restaurant on Highway 93 to Old Town Lafayette

Ras Kassa’s story starts in 1988, in a restaurant so small it only had five tables. From there, owner Tsehay moved the business to Boulder, where it stayed for roughly 15 years and became a fixture for the community. Old Town Lafayette welcomed the business with open arms when it came time to move once again. It’s been a staple of Old Town for about a decade. Tsehay describes the move less as a relocation and more like watching a child grow up and go out on their own.

“I grew up in Boulder. It’s new, Lafayette, but the people had been coming from here to Boulder too, so it’s not much of a difference. They’ve welcomed me. They are just wonderful.”

Tsehay says Lafayette has embraced the restaurant the way Boulder once did — from its regulars to the city council. “They’re there for me, like Boulder was.”

One Platter, No Forks

Ask Tsehay what makes the restaurant special, and she doesn’t start with a dish — she starts with the platter itself. Ethiopian food at Ras Kassa’s is served family-style, on one shared plate, meant to be eaten by hand with injera, a soft, tangy flatbread that doubles as the only utensil you’ll need.

“It has always been served on one platter, and people gather together- friends, family, gather together, and eat from the same plate. That way brings friendship. It brings love. It brings culture.”

For diners who haven’t eaten Ethiopian food before, that’s the part worth knowing going in: there are no forks at Ras Kassa’s, and that’s entirely the point. Eating with your hands, sharing one plate, and tasting a little of everything is built into the experience — vegetarian and meat dishes, mild and more highly seasoned, gluten-free and dairy-free, all landing on the same platter so a table of five people can order five different things and try them all.

“It is very adventurous. For people to eat together in one platter is not the custom of this country. You are stepping into another land, another space…it brings your life, your passion, your friendship to the food.”

Made From Scratch, Every Single Day

Behind the platter is a kitchen that still cooks the old-fashioned way. Every stew — whether built on vegetables or meat, onions, herbs, and spices — is started fresh each day, alongside a small selection of sautéed dishes like fish and mushrooms. The injera is also made fresh daily. Nothing arrives out of a can or a bottle.

“We still use the old-fashioned way. We still cook the stews with the onion and then the herbs and the spices…Everything that you see in the stews is all prepared here and all in the traditional way.”

If you ask Tsehay to pick favorites off her own menu, she doesn’t narrow it down much: chicken, red lentils, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, and fish all make her list — which is really just an argument for ordering the full platter and letting the table share.

Ethiopian New Year Is Coming — And So Is a Festival

This September, Ras Kassa’s is gearing up for Enkutatsh, the Ethiopian New Year, which falls on September 11. On the Ethiopian calendar — which has followed its own count since the fourth century — this new year will be 2019, seven years behind the Gregorian calendar most of us use.

“The calendar is seven years behind. So if you go to Ethiopia, you’ll be seven years younger!”

Ras Kassa’s will mark the occasion at home with family, and will also bring a food booth to the Taste of Ethiopia festival at Denver’s City Park on September 11 and 12 — a free, two-day celebration with food and music. It’s a chance to sample the platter experience even before making the trip out to Old Town Lafayette.

Why It’s Worth the Trip

Thirty-eight years in, Tsehay still talks about the restaurant like it started yesterday.

“It just feels like it’s been two years since the business was started. It’s so much fun. I love every minute of it. I love the public. I love the cooking of it. I love the sharing.”

For Old Town Lafayette, Ras Kassa’s offers something the district doesn’t have anywhere else: a home-cooked, communal dining tradition, run by the same family for nearly four decades. Whether you’re a longtime regular from the Boulder days or trying Ethiopian food for the first time, the invitation is the same — pull up a chair, tie your hair back, skip the fork, and share a plate.

Plan Your Visit

Address: 802 S. Public Road, Lafayette, CO
Hours: Open daily, 3:00-9:00 PM, dine-in and takeout
Phone: (303) 447-2919 / (303) 604-6885
Online: raskassas.com
Facebook: @RasKassas / Instagram: @raskassas