Clay Pot Cuisine in Albuquerque eyes shift from catering to restaurant format

Chef Seble Yemenu wants customers of Clay Pot Cuisine to feel more like they are coming home than visiting a restaurant.

“When I cook food, people always come by,” Yemenu said. “I grew up in Ethiopia and we had a farm and people always came over to eat.”

The people kept coming when Yemenu came to live in the United States in 2018. She’s since started a catering business that she is currently transitioning into a dine-in restaurant called Clay Pot Cuisine at 5645 Paradise NW.

The restaurant opened for pop-up dinners, which Yemenu posts to the restaurant’s social media pages, in September. Starting Monday, Clay Pot will open for lunch Monday through Wednesday and dinner Thursday through Saturday.

“Full-time breakfast, lunch and everything — I think that might take me a couple months,” Yemenu said.

Yemenu started cooking up food from her home country in heaps when she discovered few places serving authentic Ethiopian cuisine in Albuquerque. With a love for hosting and sharing her culture, Yemenu’s food quickly began satisfying more than just her appetite.

“I really didn't think, ‘I’m going to open a business,’” Yemenu said. “It’s just that once I started offering food, people came over and they liked the style of my party and the style of my food and they were wanting to buy it from me.”

Yemenu launched her business in 2021, offering catering and take-out from a location at 1601 Fourth NW. She added a food truck to the mix in January of this year, serving as a vendor for events across Albuquerque, Tijeras and Santa Fe.

The idea of opening her own place was solidified when she discovered the space on Paradise Boulevard.

“When I walked into the place, I immediately was like, ‘This is it.’ Because I have looked (at) several other places but this one, even though it was far, it just looks like my country house,” Yemenu said. “It matches the food I serve, it matches me and so I said, ‘I’m gonna do it.’”

Many of Clay Pot’s authentic Ethiopian dishes — costing anywhere from $15 to $22 a plate — are vegan and allergy friendly, and provide generous portions, Yemenu said.

She said shopping for the restaurant’s largely imported and expensive ingredients has been a challenge, but the community she’s built has made it worth it.

“My customers are my rewards,” Yemenu said. “Most of them are from different backgrounds, and I would have never been able to meet them if I weren't doing this.”