Taste of Morocco, Arlington, Va.

Today while headed elsewhere, I happened upon Taste of Morocco, and I found it a fortuitous discovery. It's been years since I've had Moroccan food, and the last time was back when I was in France in a tiny cafe upstairs over shops across the street from the old Paris Opera House. A very personable man who I presume must be the owner or at least the manager of the place seated me and told me about the menu. We chatted a little bit about the food and my previous experience with Moroccan cuisine. I ordered the prix fixe lunch, which included soup, salad, and either a tagine (stewed meat on rice) or the kefta (meatballs with eggs). While I waited for my food, he brought a basket of a flat loaf of leavened bread and a dish of delicious spicy black olives in oil. My first course was harrira, a soup of rice, lentils, and chickpeas in a tomato broth. The second course was half cucumber and half carrot salad placed distinctly apart on the salad plate. In both cases, the vegetables were in medium dice and tossed in a lightly spicy vinaigrette; the carrots had been cooked; the cucumber salad included a little bit of diced tomato. My main course was the chicken with lemon and green olives tagine. It was quite nice. The chicken breast was stewed and topped with cooked wedges of lemon and scattered with a lot of flavorful green olives, all atop rice. The dish was presented in a traditional Moroccan ceramic dish with a large heavy ceramic lid that looks much like a volcano (I forget the name of this dish). Along with my meal, I sipped hot Moroccan tea with mint and honey. Another excellent meal.