A couple of years ago in SF we went to Aziza and last night we went to Cafe Mogador in Williamsburg Brooklyn.
They were similar in some ways – very imaginative cocktails, and big succulent lamb shanks.
I thought Mogador’s appetizers were very authentic especially the spicy carrot salad and the dips. The lamb tagine was not a classic presentation but delicious and with the flavors of a good tagine. You got a rich melted prune-apricot sauce with a large braised lamb shank on top. Taking off the succulent meat and dredging in the sauce gave a delicious combination. I ordered lamb couscous. The flavors were good and the lamb shank (pretty much identical to the one in the lamb tagine) was succulent and delicious. But what I remember from good couscous is a sort of soup to mix with the grains, and this was a rather dry presentation in contrast to that. Still pretty good.
The guy who wrote the wine list was “too clever by half” and listed a Spanish Crianza that apparently wasn’t one. When I changed my order to a St Emilion, guess what, it was a Montagne St Emilion, not exactly the same thing, but I had already made my fuss and the wine was adequate.
There is another Mogador in the Village and I don’t know what the interior is like there. The Brooklyn one has a back room that feels like a greenhouse and it was just very pleasant to eat there – plus the service was attentive and careful. The ambience reminded me of a restaurant in New Hope PA. Which is kind of impressive for a neighborhood full of warehouses and abandoned factories.
Moroccan food is just very savory, most people enjoy it, and we cook it at home from time to time. But having it at a decent restaurant tends to be pretty enjoyable.
Some of the spicing in fact resembles European cooking in the Renaissance – Italian food from that era tended to include spices like cinnamon (very common in Moroccan savory dishes) and almonds. One of our dining companions at Mogador ordered a B’stiya which came as a large round bun-shaped object with cinnamon on top – but filled with chopped meat, almonds, and other tasty bits. Another ordered a mixed grill which had sausages which weren’t exactly merguez (to my palate) but tasted good.
For dessert my wife and I split one of the better baklava’s I’ve had, rich with honey and nuts. Others had an orange flavored cake and crème brulée.
The mint tea was also really good, although they did not pour it from a great height…