Jigger's Profile
Marrakech Lounge, Sietsema got it half right
I regretfully have to second your opinion. This was a thoroughly disappointing experience.
I have been to Morocco. Ever since I've learned I can't get anything close back home. Still hope springs eternal, and when this restaurant opened in our neighborhood, I reluctantly agreed to give it a shot.
We started with the same miserable salad. Everything mentioned above is true, only you forgot to add it was iceberg lettuce to go with the mayonnaisy dressing, unripe avocado and tomatoes, and odd Swiss-type cheese (definitely not feta).
We moved on to pastilla. Pastilla is supposed to have chunks of meat (chicken in this case), with spices and flaky pastry. This was ground up chicken in a crust so tough I couldn't get my knife through it.
Finished with a tagine with prunes. A tagine is two things: it is a delicious stew with tasty things like meat, olives, potatoes, and preserved lemon. It is also a cooking vessel of the same name, whose shape and properties are ideal for moisturizing and slow-cooking the tagine inside. The tagine (the vessel) comes out scorching hot, and the tagine (the dish) is revealed inside. That's how to make and serve a tagine.
I could tell instantly this was not a true tagine (the dish), because although the food came out in a tagine (the vessel), the dish was cold. Which told me the dish was prepared in a vat and dished out like cafeteria food. That may be why it was soooo gloppy and sickly sweet.
After our meal, I checked out the bar and realized that's probably the highlight. The bartender (not Moroccan) makes his own syrups, liqueurs, and the like. Maybe I'll go back and give that a try.
I admire people that strike out and start up a restaurant, so I also don't like to give out a bad review. But this doesn't feel like a labor of love or growing pains on the way to greatness. This is insulting our intelligence, I'm sorry to say.
Fine Daytime Dining
These are terrific options. I've been to Vidalia but not to Tosca or Equinox. Both might be great to try. Any other ideas on restaurants that would cater to such a request?
-----
Vidalia
1990 M St NW # 2, Washington, DC
Fine Daytime Dining
With my wife, special occasions are big and always center on food We gravitate toward multicourse tasting menus and wine pairings (think Inn at Little Washington, Minibar, Restaurant Eve).
For a twist, I thought a daytime meal would be a nice surprise. I don't want a brunch menu, or a watered-down version of the dinner menu, or a quickie working lunch. What I want is an extraordinary food experience, with excellent wine, over the course of an unhurried afternoon. I thought this would be a particularly decadent way to spend our anniversary. Probably on the weekend, but swinging that on a workday would make it all the more extravagant.
All food adventures are welcome, often contemporary but really covering all cuisines. Money is no object.
New York has some of what I'm talking about, but nothing I know of in DC really fits. Your ideas? The anniversary's a month away....
