Beth surprised me by taking me to dinner at Aziza in SF last Saturday. We have been wanting to try it out since seeing it on Check Please, Bay Area a couple years ago. It is a Moroccan restaurant that has one Michelin Star, and is known for it’s fantastic cocktails as much as its delicious food. They try to use as much fresh, locally sourced seasonal ingrediants as possible, and it shows.
We arrived just after six, used the $10 valet, then entered Aziza. It was dimly lit, but a lively atmosphere, driven no doubt by the yummy cocktails flowing at the bar. We were quickly seated and I ordered a Pomelo, which the menu says contains absinthe, bitters and rye. It was filled with pomelo juice and pulp, and a slice of the rind. I’m not that big an absinthe fan, but this drink hit all the right notes. A well balanced mingling of disparate flavors! Beth, being eight months pregnant, stuck with water. And, since she detests the flavor of licorice, she wouldn’t even try a sip of my cocktail. Oh well, we will just have to return when she can drink again.
A disclaimer: although I brought my camera, I forgot to snap pictures of every single course before diving in to eat. So, all the pics are of half eaten dishes. My sincere apologies.
Soup IS good food!
We decided on the tasting menu, which was five courses for $62 per person. We had a choice of two soups, so we got one of each and they were spot on! One was a lentil soup with celery and medjool dates. The other was a daily special, a creamed celery root with fennel seeds. They were both very good.
Flatbread with spreads.
The second course was Chef’s choice of two appetizers. We got the spreads, grilled flatbread triangles served with three spreads, an eggplant balsamic, a yogurt-dill, and a piquillo-almond. Yum! The other was the meatballs, little meatballs on a stick with grape, jicama, and herb-vinaigrette. Yum!
Third course was a basteeya, chicken and an almond puree cooked in flaky pastry, sprinkled with powdered sugar for a delicious sweet/savory combination.
What'd ya call me??!! Basteeya.
The fourth course was our entree selection, and we went with our friendly waiter’s recommendations. Beth had the couscous, with chicken, prawns, lamb sausage and vegetables. It was very tasty although I didn’t see any prawns. Maybe Beth ate them all? I got the lamb shank with barley, prunes, cranberries and scallions. It was falling-off-the-bone good, although we were so stuffed by that point, we had to take most of our entrees to go.
Lamb shank
The fifth course was dessert, Beth opting for the hazelnut, (dacquoise, pear, burnt honey ice cream) and I the citrus, (meyer lemon cream, blood orange, kumquat, huckleberry cake). They were both delicious!
Hazelnut dessert
Citrus dessert
Overall, we were very satisfied with Aziza and felt it did deserve its one Michelin Star. We will be going there again next time we want to meet friends in the city for some great cocktails!
