Years after the Richmond restaurant closed, Aziza returned last week. It was probably 10 or 11 years ago when I last ate at Aziza. I never really made it to Mourad in downtown. So its been a while that I had good Moroccan.
I was at the Golden Gate Park Saturday, and was looking for places nearby to grab dinner when I by chance noticed Aziza was open. That was I believe the first few days of reopening. The menu was somewhat limited.
I still remember quite fondly the basteeya I had years ago. So I am glad to see it on the menu. Iâd love to have that lamb shank, but since I didnât dine in, the restaurant said thereâs no container they could hold that shank in, and the shank wasnât available for takeout. Too bad.
We had:
The chicken roulade with stewed onion, green olives, preserved lemon and âcrispyâ potatoes. Very tender chicken wrapped in what looked like rendered chicken skin. It would probably have been much better texture wise dined-in because the chicken skin would most likely be crisp like bacon. But takeout is takeout. The potatoes were also soft because of the long distance travelled in the box. The sauce was seasoned with a little bit of what seemed like ras el-hanout, and the salty green olives and the sour preserved lemon added quite a punch. Quite good dish.
Cous cous with pickled cauliflower, Romanesco, maitake, vadouvan. Fluffy texture. Earthiness from the shredded maitake, and the pickled cauliflower and Romanesco added a bit of âbrightnessâ. Flavorful. Much better than the cous cous I cook at home.
Basteeya with chicken confit, almond, onions. The flakey pastry itself looked undercooked so I called up the restaurant and asked if mine was a take and bake instead of a fully baked one. I was told that they werenât selling take and bakes at the time. The pastry tasted fine actually. The basteeya was pretty good. Not quite how I remembered it. Its actually quite sweet, maybe a bit too sweet, since I was expecting it to be more savory.
I liked the High Atlas cocktail. Came with a piece of dried pineapple and arbol chile to be added into the mixture of Pueblo Viejo reposado, elderflower liqueur and ancho reyes chile. Not sure if any of these things are found in the High Atlas Mountains but the drink was enjoyable.
The basteeya 10 years ago was the highlight of the meal. This time, the chicken roulade and the cous cous both managed to overshadow the basteeya.
Would love to return to try more of their menu when they have time to develop their menu more.