Restaurant Week? Yes Please!

As newly anointed DC-area residents, we decided we would try and take full advantage of fun local events. We arrived just in time for restaurant week! In search of more exotic cuisine, we chose Marrakesh Place, a swank Moroccan restaurant. This was my first time eating Moroccan, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But with a three course prix-fixe menu for only $20, I figured it had to be good!

Marrakesh Palace is up in Dupont Circle, which is a fabulous neighborhood. It's a designated historic district, and you get a really happening vibe. We saw two Starbucks on our walk from the Metro, so I'm guessing there's lots of young, highly-caffeinated, hipster-types. On a side note, I'm disappointed that I haven't found more independently owned coffee shops. I'm a huge supporter of local businesses, and while DC is thriving, I'd like to find more cool and unique coffee shops.

Back to lunch. For an appetizer, I got the Chicken Bastilla, which is "filo dough stuffed with chicken, almonds and eggs, drizzled with powdered sugar and cinnamon." It was fantastic! The chicken, almonds and eggs on the inside was perfectly accentuated by the flaky filo dough and set off by the sweetness of the powdered sugar and cinnamon. Thing One got Beef Cigars, which are "wrapped filo dough over marinated ground beef in Moroccan herbs." While the beef was well-seasoned and quite tasty, we both agreed that the Chicken Bastilla was superior.

For our main dish, we had four different choices. I had the Sword Fish, which was baked in "famous Sharmola sauce with veggies." Quite honestly, I was a bit disappointed. The fish was cooked perfectly, but the "famous" Sharmola sauce seemed like a glorified and spicy version of marinara, not at all my favorite. The portion was generous, and I couldn't (and didn't necessarily) want to finish. It was served with carrots, yellow peppers and herbs. Here's the presentation:

Thing One had the Lamb Tangine, which is "braised lamb with with prunes, sesame seeds and almonds." The lamb literally melted in your mouth, and Thing One described the sauce as "savory." The combination of tender meet and savory sauce led us to agree that it was by far the superior meat. Here's the Lamb Tangine:

Looks good, eh? Our friend had the Chicken Couscous, which also came in the options of vegetarian or lamb. She wasn't crazy about the chicken, which came on the bone, but she enjoyed the rest of the meal. It was packed with veggies, including chickpeas, peppers, zucchini and carrots.

Yum! We had chocolate cake for dessert, which was more like chocolate mousse cake, and Thing One had Baklava which was drizzled in chocolate and let's be serious, how can you go wrong when you add chocolate? We also had Moroccan coffee, which was espresso with a little bit of milk added to it. Our waiter kept our water glasses filled, and was attentive. For $20, we were able to get a fantastic meal in a swank restaurant. Apparently, there's belly dancing in the evening but we unfortunately missed that in the afternoon. There were only a few other tables filled when we were there.

I guess most restaurants book up early for Restaurant Week, we made our reservations last Sunday so I don't know if anything is still open. You can check Open Table, which is an overall useful service for making online reservations. For more information on Marrakesh Palace, check out their website.

Happy Eating!

Thing Two