Chicago Magazine
Good Eating
Anne Spiselman (2000)
Eight delicious tagines, under $10 each, are the stars at the year-old Andalous Moroccan Restaurant (3307 N. Clark St.; 773- 281-6885), a trim storefront with Moroccan handicrafts and photos decorating watts the color of sun-baked sand. Four women prepare the tagines (traditional stews served in eponymous conicaL baking dishes) in proprietor Hadj Mohamad’s kitchen.
The choices include the Meknes tagine, chicken basking in green sauce spiked with onions and preserved Lemon; the Tangier (shown here; $9.25), showcasing a catfish fillet with potatoes, carrots, and peppers in garlic sauce; and the Rabat, a meLange of Lean beef, onions, mushrooms, and zucchini in a creamy butter sauce reminiscent of stroganoff. Other entrees are limited to couscous ($10) with a nice array of vegetables and Lamb or chicken (add some fiery harissa) and pastilla ($14), a cinnamon- flavored phyllo pie layered with chicken and almonds that is as sweet as a dessert.
An appetizer combo plate ($5.25) brings together zaaLouk (mashed eggplant), taktouka (tomato and green pepper salad), cumin-spiced carrots, and cubes of sauteed beef liver, here called kebda meshrmela. Finish with dainty pastries and minted green tea. BYOB, and in the last days of summer, you can still eat on the patio in back. —Anne Spiselman.
The space is nothing fancy, but still it was comfortable, and travel agency pictures of the native land all around made me a bit wistful to visit. But as long as Andalous is around, I won't have to say any strange words to invoke Moroccan magic, just stop in for a bite.
Eight delicious tagines, under $10 each, are the stars at the year-old Andalous Moroccan Restaurant (3307 N. Clark St.; 773- 281-6885), a trim storefront with Moroccan handicrafts and photos decorating watts the color of sun-baked sand. Four women prepare the tagines (traditional stews served in eponymous conicaL baking dishes) in proprietor Hadj Mohamad’s kitchen.
The choices include the Meknes tagine, chicken basking in green sauce spiked with onions and preserved Lemon; the Tangier (shown here; $9.25), showcasing a catfish fillet with potatoes, carrots, and peppers in garlic sauce; and the Rabat, a meLange of Lean beef, onions, mushrooms, and zucchini in a creamy butter sauce reminiscent of stroganoff. Other entrees are limited to couscous ($10) with a nice array of vegetables and Lamb or chicken (add some fiery harissa) and pastilla ($14), a cinnamon- flavored phyllo pie layered with chicken and almonds that is as sweet as a dessert.
An appetizer combo plate ($5.25) brings together zaaLouk (mashed eggplant), taktouka (tomato and green pepper salad), cumin-spiced carrots, and cubes of sauteed beef liver, here called kebda meshrmela. Finish with dainty pastries and minted green tea. BYOB, and in the last days of summer, you can still eat on the patio in back. —Anne Spiselman.
The space is nothing fancy, but still it was comfortable, and travel agency pictures of the native land all around made me a bit wistful to visit. But as long as Andalous is around, I won't have to say any strange words to invoke Moroccan magic, just stop in for a bite.