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SACRAMENTO MAGAZINE
SACRAMENTO NEWS&REVIEW
THE SACRAMENTO BEE
SUNSET MAGAZINE
AND OTHERS...
MOURHIT DRISSI HAS BEEN FEATURED IN
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GREAT CHEFS OF AMERICA (BOOK)
GOURMET MAGAZINE
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
AND OTHERS...
ALSO, INTERVIEWS WITH MANY SACRAMENTO AREA NEWS PROGRAMS
INCLUDING CHANNELS 3,13,19,31,40,AND 54.
MOURHIT WAS ALSO A GUEST ON "GOOD DAY SACRAMENTO"
OVER THE YEARS, MOURHIT HAS COOKED FOR MANY WELL KNOWN PEOPLE
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FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA
HUEY LEWIS
YOKO ONO
BILL COSBY
GREEN DAY (at Casablanca)
THE SACRAMENTO KINGS(at Casablanca)
THE MALOOF BROTHERS(at Casablanca)
GOVERNORS GEORGE DEUKMEJIAN, PETE WILSON, AND GRAY DAVIS(at Casablanca)
RYAN ANDERSON FROM NJ NETS(at Casablanca)
HE WAS ALSO GIVEN AN INVITATION TO COOK AT THE WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESIDENT REAGAN
MOURIHIT HAS ALMOST 35 YEARS EXPERIENCE IN THE RESTAURANT BUSINESS
CASABLANCA HAS BEEN OPEN FOR 16 YEARS...AND COUNTING
HERE ARE SOME REVIEWS TAKEN FROM VARIOUS SOURCES:
"Serving exceptional flavors of Morocco, Casablanca offers an inviting atmosphere within an authentic Moroccan-styled room. Couscous, tajines and kabobs are among some of the wonderfully delightful dishes served. The only thing better then the food was the service. Eat, relax and have fun. Casablanca is a must-do that is well worth your time and money."
"I love it!!! I go all the time. Everyone has to go and experience it. And plus, it doesn't hurt that some of the Sacramento Kings and the band Green Day have been to Casablanca!!!! They said they absolutely loved it and will definitely come back. I just thought that was so cool! I wonder who else has gone? Not that that matters because the food is AMAZING!"
"On my recent trip to Sacramento, my friends took me to a Moroccan restaurant called Casablanca. At the end of the meal, we were served the most delicious coffee. It was so unique that I had to comment to Mourhit Drissi, the owner. Mourhit immediately made a pound of it for me, prepared ready to travel back to our home in Florida."
"The brothers who run this place are very good and very entertaining. They treat customers like they are VIP. Everyone I have taken there has been extremely impressed. Overall a fun and enjoyable time."
"If you are looking for a fun evening, try Casablanca! I took my parents there recently for their anniversary and they had a blast (their first time, not ours). Don't be detered by the location (its in a mini strip mall and looks closed from the outside) because when you step inside, you will feel like you have been transported to Morocco! This restaurant is owned by two brothers who are basically the serving staff too! They are so friendly and want to ensure you have a good time. Tables are low to the ground so you sit on huge pillows and low baqets around an ornate gold tabletop. The walls and ceilings are covered with beautiful fabrics that give it the feel of a sultans tent. On Friday and Saturday nights, there is a belly dancer that performs for guests. This is such a treat and I definately recommend going on one of these nights. Also, the restaurant doesn't serve alcohol but allows outside wine to be brought in with no extra cost. They will provide you with a wine opener and you get to do the honors. The Sultans Feed is a fantastic experience by which you will be served a four course meal that includes, if you chose, a fantasic chicken, vegtables and coucous. After you are done eating, they come around with towels and pour warm water at your table to wash your hands! It is so fun! The food is excellent and vegatarians are accomodated. I would definately recommend this restaurant."
"For the last two years, I have been dreaming of the chicken I once had here once, and finally succeeded in going back. It was for yet another goodbye dinner (people, stop leaving me please; I'm developing abandonment issues). I've learned my lesson, don't come here without a large group, mainly because this means more dishes and variety!
We ordered the Sultan's Feast, as there are two choices for dinner, the Royal Dinner, or Sultan's Feast, with only a price difference of 3 dollars.
Lentil soup, then carrots, beets, and fresh hummus with pita, then b'stilla (eggs, almond paste, wrapped in phyllo, dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon, baked, so delicious), to die for tender meats, including my favorite lemon herbed chicken that is positively falling apart, beef with potatoes, couscous, lamb, something in a honey sauce, kebabs, all heavenly.
Wash everything down with perfect sweetened mint tea. The whole ambiance and experience is worth every penny. The server is a complete character, and there is never a dull moment there. It's a whole in the wall on Fair Oaks, but as soon as you walk in, you are transported to a sultan's tent, with walls of carpets, belly dancers, and floor cushions. My favorite place to eat in Sac, hands down."
"This was one of the best dining experiences I have ever had! My friend and I had dinner here and everything was delicious. The owner ias very personable- we even danced with him! Great food and great ambience. Try it!"
TAKEN FROM SACRAMENTO NEWS&REVIEW:
"I must confess Moroccan cuisine has eluded me. I do remember going to a restaurant called Marrakesh in Washington, D.C. The exterior was hidden with no visible sign, while the interior was covered in colorful tapestries. A belly dancer hypnotized us during the meal with tantalizing gyrations. But inexplicably, my mind draws a blank on the food. Was it distinctly African, or was it more Middle Eastern?
Memory, it turns out, has not failed me. Morocco itself is a hybrid. A coastal country in North Africa, Morocco is at once Arabian, Islamic, African and Mediterranean. And the cuisine reflects the eclecticism of various regional influences.
Delicious though it is, the food itself may not be the star of Moroccan dining. It is often overshadowed by a splendid décor or a style of service fit for royalty. Twice, I have been most taken by the sheer experience itself—the feeling of being whisked away to some faraway place.
Such is the case at Casablanca. Tucked in a corner at Fair Oaks and Watt, you’d never know from the inside that you were at one of the busiest intersections in Sacramento. Rich-looking tapestries cover the windows. The sloped, fabric-laden ceiling creates a tent-like feel. On each wall are banquettes, low tables and cushions. The whole thing makes you want to recline and be fed grapes. The man creating such a romantic getaway is Mourhit Drissi, Casablanca’s chef and owner, who energetically bounds from table to table, calling young ladies “princess” and bantering good-naturedly with the clientele. You don’t feel so much like a diner as you do a guest in Mourhit’s establishment.
It starts with the washing of the hands. Mr. Drissi comes by with a giant metal-teapot-slash-wash-basin and pours water over your hands. He gives you your own personal hand towel, which will serve as your “napkin” for the rest of the meal. Ordering the meal seems incidental. No matter what you choose, there are three de rigueur courses that precede the meal. We were served harira, the national lentil soup that serves to break the fast during Ramadan. The small bowls held a tomato-lemon mixture, nicely spiced with parsley, cilantro and cumin. The soup was light (not a lot of lentils) and was drunk miso-style, sans spoon. Two modest appetizers followed, a hummus garnished with olive oil and paprika, and a delicious carrot salad, which was marinated in vinegar and flavored with cumin and coriander. Looking around, I figured out that the more numerous your party, the more appetizers you got. And I also surmised that when Mr. Drissi comes to your table with a basket of pita bread, take a lot. Oh, and I almost forgot! You must BYOFOB (bring your own form of booze).
After the cold appetizers came the b’stela (sometimes spelled bisteeya or pastilla). Think of a piece of baklava that has mated with a meat dumpling. The dish is made with a very thin dough, like phyllo, which covers a meat mixture (most often chicken) typically cooked with onions, eggs and lots of spices. The whole thing is dusted with powdered sugar, and somewhere mid-chew you can taste honey and almonds in the mix. Very messy, but delicious.
By this time, I was full. And we hadn’t yet gotten our Sultan’s Feast, the chef’s selection of entrées. I had spied some interesting fare on the menu: merguez, a Moroccan sausage; and kefta, spicy Moroccan meatballs. They even had rabbit, cooked with cumin, onions and garlic. For sure, I thought we’d get some sort of tajine, a spicy stew traditionally cooked in a clay-pot. But what appeared were three medium-sized entrées of beef in honey sauce, chicken kabobs, and a vegetable couscous dish.
Alas, none of our entrées was adventurous by design, and none took us to new Moroccan culinary heights. The beef was flavorful, but the pieces were inconsistently moist and dry. The honey did little, neither intensifying nor playing counterpoint to the flavor of the meat. The chicken kabob, served with rice, was nicely spiced and had a medium-charred flavor, but was not remarkable. I took refuge in the vegetable couscous, which was moist, fluffy, salty and buttery—a hard combination to beat.
As we waited for the check, my eyelids grew heavy and the furniture seemed to invite me to recline yet further. I was about to be whisked away into slumber, when a cheery Mr. Drissi emerged from a closet bearing an almond cookie plate with birthday candles. Suddenly, Neil Sedaka belted out Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen! while Mourhit, in celebrity sunglasses, danced with a girl of six. Distinctly un-Moroccan, but unmistakably Mourhit. With that final number, we walked out into the cold Sacramento night. Our dinner may not have been the culinary marvel I had hoped for, but I’d go back in a heartbeat if only to recapture the feeling of having been taken someplace special. "
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Casablanca Moroccan Restaurant's Details
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Zodiac Sign:
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COME ENJOY A TRULY MOROCCAN CULTURAL EXPERIENCE AND AMBIANCE, COMPLETE WITH EXQUISITE CUISINE, ARABIC MUSIC, AUTHENTIC ATMOSPHERE, AND ENTERTAINMENT WITH BELLY DANCING ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHTS! COME FOR A NIGHT WITH THE FAMILY, A ROMANTIC DATE, OR A BIG PARTY!
What are you doing for Halloween? Seriously!!! Well we have an invitation for you to come to one of Sacramento's biggest Halloween Parties this year! Hosted by us :) It's sponsored by CRUNK!!! energy drinks and it's on October 24th (that's a Saturday :P) at Club Retro! It's a costume party and the best costume wins tickets to Six Flags Freight Fest! There will be plenty of FREE energy drinks and other diddy's as well as an awesome atmosphere of Halloween goodness... not to mention we will have a very fun show for everyone with lights, confetti, smoke, and black lights, ect. Be prepared! The show is $10 advance/$12 door. Be sure to get your pre-sale tickets! Check out the flier and ALL details here or just click the flier below: Bidwell.storenvy.com cheers, Siah
hey you what is your story..everyone has a story :) my hands are hurting ah..but it doesn't matter your worth the pain I want to personally thank you for even giving us a chance..so many bands on myspace!
My favorite place to eat and entertain. The atmosphere is like no other in Sacramento and the customer service is fantastic. when dining you are trested as a family member and you feel like part of the show. My love to you
Just wanted to take a moment to say thank you for the add!!! Stay in touch & if we are ever anywhere near you when we are on tour please come out to a show.
Thanks for being my friend in this crazy mixed up MySpace world haha! If you get a chance pretty puhleaseee check out my cover video of LADY GAGA and let me know what ya think!
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