This story opens The Stranger’s 2017 Guide to Food and Drink (International Edition), which includes recommendations of more than 100 restaurants serving tastes from around the globe. In it, Charles Mudede waxes on the array of restaurants that have sprung up around Othello Light Rail Station, and reflect Seattle’s deep international roots
I’m waiting in Amin International Grocery and Deli for my order of a gyro salad with spaghetti. Somali men are watching CNN on a flat-screen TV that hangs high on the wall next to a poster of Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett. The big story of the day is that US attorney general Jeff Sessions lied under oath about never having met with Russians during the presidential race. The attention of all the men in the deli is commanded by the screen. Everything said by the commentators, reporters, and anchorpersons is of great moment to them. And with good reason. Donald Trump, the American president who picked the attorney general, recently issued an executive order that blocked Somalis from entering the United States. He placed their native land on a list of seven “terrorist-prone” countries. Though a judge in Seattle halted this executive order, it still means that documents issued by US immigration cannot be trusted if one is from a Muslim-majority country. A visa is no longer as good as gold*. The caprices of a mean-spirited president have become a cloud at the border. Will you get in or not? During the entire time my order was prepared (10 minutes), the men in Amin do not speak a word.
