Mourad Lahlou’s Mourad is the best upscale modern Moroccan restaurant I’ve been to in the U.S., bar none. Mourad’s visionary Cal-Moroccan cuisine, a more upscale sibling to his long-beloved, more casual Aziza, has been a trailblazer in that category since he opened it in San Francisco’s Richmond District in 2001 (my full review here).
Just after I wrote this review, California Michelin stars were announced earlier this week, and I am puzzled as to why Mourad would lose its Michelin star of multiple years, especially given the tighter-than-ever service, drink pairings and dishes I experienced there last week. When not one but three dishes leave a deep impression, that already is well above the average. I’ll explain.
Dubbing Mourad one of the best restaurants of the year during my Zagat editor days when it opened in 2015, I’ve written about the restaurant numerous times over the years. The duo of Mourad and Aziza has remained my top Moroccan and among my all-time Middle Eastern/North African restaurants.
Certainly Mourad’s food recalls 1999 memories in my youthful days backpacking around Europe three months solo as a fresh-faced girl, including an unforgettable stretch in Morocco where I ate couscous by hand out of large tagines, sipped Moroccan mint tea, rode a camel and roamed the most enchanting food markets. But more so, his food looks ahead. This is Morocco for the current day, with NorCal’s pristine ingredients, expert drink pairings, served in a lofty, industrial yet sparkling space separated by bar area and dining room, with a glowing private dining space upstairs gazing over a courtyard.
The ancient Spice Route via North African spice blends are represented alongside elements like preserved lemon, buttery couscous, dates, pomegranate and a shining plethora of Moroccan flavors. But the forms are recreated, surprising, fresh.
As at Aziza, bastilla or basteeya (shredded meat, phyllo-encrusted, cinnamon-and-powdered sugar-dusted savory meat pie) get’s the Mourad treatment while remaining true to its classic meaty-sweet roots. A “fauxteeya” — mini-crispy roll of confit duck, persimmons and verjus for acid kick — was a playful basteeya twist. On a crisp, clear December night, Dan (“The Renaissance Man”) and I returned to Mourad for the first time since pandemic, though I had been over 7 times since it opened in 2015. We began with a round of three amuse bouche, including the fauxteeya, and a little berbere-spiced honey nut squash tartlette topped with golden oestra caviar, a fall-into-winter delight.
Our gracious server, Monte Har, made us feel at home, as did wine director/sommelier, José Delgado, alongside a team of assistant sommeliers (Montassar Harhouri and Salvador Ramos) and guest sommeliers. Delgado immediately brought out 2021 Hammerling Massa Vineyard “Always for Pleasure” sparkling Chenin Blanc (with 15% Chardonnay) from Carmel Valley to pair with our amuse bouche. Its vibrant stone fruit, pear and citrus notes were elegant and youthful. Delgado has visited the winery and has relationships with the winemakers, as he did with more than a few wines he poured.
Raw scallops over beetroot and pear in mecalef (an Egyptian spice blend) cream and ponzu sauce paired with 2021 Daitengu Usake Fall Yiyaoroshi Junmai Ginjo sake (from gifted female sake brewer, Saori Kobari). We were off to a silky, bright start.
But it was the next three dishes that were full-on “wow,” one, the latest version of a long-iconic Mourad dish (his incomparable smoked salmon) and two dishes that feel as if they should be iconic.
Apparently, I missed last year’s seasonal take on raw lamb tartare. I’m thrilled I tasted this version, one of the most exciting (out of literally a few thousand) I’ve had. It was one of those rare dishes I couldn’t stop waxing on about with every bite. Lacking any gaminess, the clean lamb will appeal to beef tartare fans, playing — as the best dishes do — with contrasts. Sweet dates unfold over notes of smoked oysters with bright bitter bits of radicchio and aleppo pepper. Delgado paired this tartare with a 2021 Arzuaga Rosae Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero, Spain. Another region and winery he recently visited, this rosé/rosado is tough to get in the States. It’s aromatic, floral, bright and lean, but still bursting with fresh red fruit.
Mourad’s eggshuka is another stroke of genius and a new dish. A riff inspired by a classic shakshuka dish, this unique dish is whipped jidori hen egg yolk, frothy with smoked potato foam, a vibrant shakshuka-esque melange and oil of tomatoes, olive oil, red peppers, onion and garlic with a fried alliums and skins crumble along the edge of the bowl. The moment’s Alba white truffles shaved on top (my favorite truffles in the world from Italy with their brief season only a couple weeks a year) turned this into glorious comfort, evoking but totally different from shakshuka. The rosy apple and pear freshness of Le Pére Jules Poire de Normandie Brut cider from Pays d’Auge, France, was one happy pairing.
House milk bread rolls have long been winners at Mourad, while its accompanying trio of soft house butters — preserved lemon, honey and urfa, pomegranate molasses — makes me wish I could keep them on stock at home, especially tart pomegranate molasses butter. The butters dissolve and melt into the milk bread in seamless, fluffy warmth.
Aforementioned Norwegian salmon is served the Mourad way: smoked and lacquered yet flaky and fresh, vs. the dryness typical with smoked salmon. The dish morphs with the seasons and this version was a winner: over sunchoke puree, accented with ribbons of fennel, mustard seeds, pickled pomegranate and a touch of anchovy broth. All the umami, sweet, pickled, savory, vegetal and earthy contrasts I could long for were there.
It’s easy to rave about these three courses and breeze over entrees, which likewise are inspiring mashups of flavor, starting with halibut marked by celery slivers, broccoli di ciccio and a whisper of spicy zhug (green Yemenite hot sauce), swimming in a lush oro blanco and mussel emulsion sauce, paired with 2017 Il Carpino Vis Uvae Ramato Pinot Grigio from Venezia Guilia, Italy.
Talented chef de cuisine Rasika Venkatesa shows her skill — and nods to childhood in Chennai, India — with the fall-apart tender-yet-robust beef cheek entree. Accents of coconut, chile de arbol, tamarind, yucca and pickled okra keep the meaty dish bright, even playful, while accompanying brown butter couscous seamlessly connects it back to Morocco.
Even a palate cleanser of frozen coconut, lavender, lemon verbena “snow” dusted in mint and lime zest is a blissful interlude when paired with a trou normand (meaning a pause between dishes — and a tribute to their closed neighboring restaurant, Trou Normand, which I still miss) of 15 year old El Dorado Demerara rum from Guyana, providing a yin-yang of earthy, chocolate, almond and vanilla notes.
While Mourad is in between bar managers, gracious director of operations, George Perezvelez, has turned out color-themed cocktails like the vibrant Goddess, a bright, vegetal mix of Hanger One makrut lime vodka, basil, Alma Tepec pasilla pepper liqueur, citrus, St. Germain, its “secret weapons” being herbaceous Dolin Genepy and nutty velvet falernum, served over crushed ice.
A berbere-spiced, chocolate brown butter mousse-like-dessert layered with textures of pineapple goes tart and earthy, but I prefer the dissolve-in-your-mouth perfection of “puffs”: donuts dipped in honey and chocolate caraway. They recall fritter-like Moroccan sfenj made from sticky, unsweetened leavened dough but with kinship to Portuguese and Brazilian bolinho. Desserts are brightly paired with an Il Coda cocktail: Yellow Chartreuse, Meletti Limoncello, velvet falernum, Eureka lemon juice.
Over the years, Mourad has assembled and grown a tight team. Service is familial, fun and the kitchen is turning out Cal-Moroccan dishes that feel both visionary and delicious. When I find myself still thinking about a few dishes and elements like butter days later — not to mention all-important drink pairings, here smartly weaving from wine to cider, sake cocktails and rum — I see a restaurant that has evolved into one even better than when it began. And they don’t need a Michelin star to tell them so.
// 140 New Montgomery St., www.mouradsf.com
