South Bay Gets a Taste of Morocco

The diverse Lawndale dining scene, with restaurants featuring the foods of Persia, Cuba, Peru, Thailand and Vietnam as well as the more familiar Italian, Chinese, Japanese and Mexican establishments, has an exotic new addition--the month-old Dar Salam, which offers the cuisine of Morocco.

Dar Salam, Arabic for “house of peace,” is owned by Hassan Elfarissi, who immigrated to America in 1983 from Casablanca, Morocco. When his sister, Soud, arrived recently, they decided to open a restaurant. Like so many other restaurant owners, they have no formal training, but were blessed with having been raised by a mother who was a good cook.

At lunch, a popular choice is couscous with beef sirloin and a variety of vegetables ($6.75). For this dish, couscous, a grain-shaped steamed pasta that is a staple throughout North Africa, is mixed with raisins and onions. Another option is a brochette of beef ($6), served on a mound of rice. Another dish consists of a large plate of rice ($4.50) served with tuna, scrambled eggs and olives.

Most dinners begin with harira , a tomato-based vegetable soup garnished with oil-cured olives. The soup is usually followed with bestila , a sort of pie where phyllo dough encases layers of ground almonds, shredded chicken and eggs mixed with onions, all flavored with cinnamon, parsley and cilantro. This tasty dish is traditionally eaten with one’s fingers.

Three multi-course dinners ($15) are offered, each named for a city in Morocco. The Fez features the harira soup, a spicy carrot salad or lentil salad, bestila , couscous with raisins and a leg of lamb with dried plums and sesame seeds. The Marrakesh is similar but the main course is leg of lamb with cinnamon, almonds and eggs. And what would a Moroccan menu be without a mention of Casablanca, which highlights a baked chicken with olives and lemons?

I bet that’s what Humphrey Bogart would order. Here’s cookin’ at you, kid.

Dar Salam is at 14940 S. Prairie Ave., Lawndale. (310 ) 675-5850. Open seven days 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.