El Kasbah Cafe Rocking the Desert Dining Doldrums

The cuisine of Morocco has always been in my top ten but I have been hard pressed to find the food in the desert until now. Recently, my friend Bonnie treated me to dinner at the new Kasbah Café in the Smoketree Plaza (next to Native Foods), a place that touts itself as serving French Moroccan fare. I was so excited to discover this simple, bistro style place where you can indoors or outdoors and laze away a few hours over the freshest fare. 

 Family run, the hostess greeted us with a generous portion of hummus and pita in a basket and a small bowl of pickled slaw. After reviewing the menu, we decided to enjoy some shared appetizers tapas style. Another plate of fresh hummus and pita arrived along with our choices. My favorite was the Zaalouk, a delicious cooked salad made with eggplant, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and spices that arrived on a plate like a dip, ready to be spread upon pita or eaten straight from the spoon. Another dish made with al dente julienned carrots and zucchini, was served room temperature and alive with a pungent spike of turmeric sauce.  We spent an hour lolling away our time with little bites, savoring the many mixed flavors.

Traditional entrees are offered like spicy lamb dishes, chicken adorned with hot yellow rubs, and others that are equally good, and I will definitely be spending many long hours here enjoying the family style sharing of authentic dishes.

I highly recommend that everyone try the Medieval Orange dessert. Not something I would ordinarily choose because my passions tend to run towards the dark chocolate for my sweets, I was thoroughly mystified by the concoction and my dinner mate (who’s taken advantage of the restaurant’s relative newness many times already) insisted that I try it. Glad I did. The “orange” was a round pile of what looked like a deepened rust-colored gelato. Upon asking, the proprietress told me that a whole blood orange is boiled in a pot with bay leaf and other Moroccan spices and then completely ground up, rind and all, into this lovely textural pulp that is formed into a ball and served cold. With a tangy caramel sauce on top and served next to a dollop of fresh vanilla bean ice cream, this was a sensory delight that I will order time and again throughout the long hot summer.