Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
El Mansour
We had dinner this evening in San Francisco, at a Moroccan place called El Mansour. If you’ve never done it, Moroccan dining is a special experience. Most Moroccan restaurants strive to give their diners the feeling that they’re thousands of miles away, and El Mansour succeeds wonderfully in that regard.
You step in from a bright and unusually warm San Francisco afternoon and the place is a cave, cool and dark. Once your eyes adjust, you see low tables (though not as low as at some Moroccan places — you won’t be reclining on pillows here), billowy sheets draped across the ceiling, warm, rich colors everywhere. The waiter brings over hand towels and a sort of kettle, and he drizzles water over your palms because, yup, you’re gonna be using your fingers to fress here (unless you’re like the wimps next to us, who asked for forks).
Moroccan restaurants are always a bit on the pricey side because it’s a price fixe meal, five courses in this case. It’s worth it, though. I can’t think of anything else quite so unique. I guess dining at a sushi bar might feel special the first time around, but we’ve been there and done that. Moroccan? I can count the number of times I’ve gone out for Moroccan on one hand. They’re hard to find, for one thing. A couple of ’em in San Francisco, one in Palo Alto (I’m not even sure that one is still there), at least one in L.A.
Here were the five courses:
* Lentil soup and bread
* A dish with four separate salads, each themed on a different vegetable: cucumber, carrot, eggplant, and tomato. And more bread.
* B’stila. B’stila is everything that’s good about food, and if you’re not familiar with it, go read Dean’s post on my b’stila.
* An entree. Jake had chicken and couscous with mixed vegetables, I had a fish tagine, and Karen had the best dish of the three, chicken in a honey sauce with prunes. To die for.
* Dessert: fried bananas and a little pastry thingie made from the same filo-like sheets that they used to make the b’stila.
Let’s see . . . there’s the tea-pouring ritual, too, and then the belly dancing. Our belly dancer had a real Barbara Eden thing going. She was great at pulling her audience into the show, although she made no headway whatsoever with my rather dour son. (At that age, I would have found a way to collide with her softer body parts, but it seems my son is not as sex-obsessed as I was.) Smokin’ hot body, by the way.
Over at Yelp, some moran complained about small portions. Admittedly we’re little people, but for us, there was more than enough to eat. We brought home leftovers. And now I’m dying to see if I can copy their chicken in honey and prunes recipe. Oooh, this recipe looks close. I’ll have to perfect it for the next time Chris and Dean have us up to their private island 🙂
What a fun evening.
D.
That definitely sounds like something cool to experience.
One question, though — if everything is eaten with one’s fingers, how does one manage the soup? (Unless, I’m guessing, that you dip the bread you’re served alongside into it…?)
I’m still drooling, though.
You can dip the bread, or drink from the bowl (same idea as drinking miso soup in a Japanese restaurant).
There is a great scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much” in a restaurant in Marrakesh where Jimmy Stewart classically fumbles to sit at a low table with cushions and eat chicken with his hands.
Since the in-laws pretty much live on the island full-time now, I haven’t been up there overnight in more than a year.
Yah, that b’stila was good. I should attempt my own one of these days.
The whole experience sounded like fun. What was the spice level like? What could you compare it to?
Sounds familiar, Lucie. Why should people have trouble eating with their fingers? It’s the most natural thing in the world.
Dean: let me know if you make one. The trickiest part is the egg/almond mixture: not too dry, not too wet.
Sis: very mild. The food itself isn’t challenging once you get past the lack of cutlery 🙂
your book comments are closed (why is that?) So I can’t recommend all the books my kids are reading and trying to make me read.
The Glass Book of Dream Eaters by Dalquist
and one I’m about halfway through The Sonambulist by Barnes Pseudo-Victorian magical fun stuff.
I’m listening to Samuel Butler’s The Way of All Flesh and it’s pretty funny. Drags now and then when he goes all Philosophical or Satirical but worth the time.
Huh. Interesting there’s not a single romance in my pile.
Hi Kate. I’ve got things set so that comments are closed after two days. Maybe I ought to modify it, but so far the blog has been unhacked, and I’m kind of happy with that new and surprising feature.
Thanks for the recs.
Was reading a friends blog and noticed this post with a still from the movie I mentioned. Here is the link – http://wwwcinemastyle.blogspot.com/2009/05/hitchcock-style.html