Tagine!

When I traveled around Morocco, I would eat tagine whenever I got a chance. Tagine is both the type of pot it's cooked in and the meal itself. There's a picture here of what a tagine looks like. What is the food? It's usually a mixture of lamb, prunes or dates, almonds or some other nuts, chick peas, and couscous: a real spicy/sweet mix.

You don't have to travel all the way to Morocco to enjoy a good tagine, though. In fact, there's a great French-Moroccan restaurant called Baraka in Potrero Hill. Perched on the corner of 18th and Connecticut, it has a cozy, intimate feel to it.

Their menu is an interesting mix of typical French bistro offerings (foie gras, steamed mussels), Moroccan specialties (stuffed dates, tagine), and offerings from all over (prawns ceviche, dungeness crab cakes).

When we went, we had the prawns ceviche (presented on a plate - we were expecting to receive more than we got, but they were excellent) and the stuffed dates (stuffed with chorizo, cabrales, and jamon serrano). We had originally chosen a glass of wine each (she chose a rose, I chose a pinot noir), but the manager/sommelier came over and suggested that the rose we were going to get would not be as good as another rose. He preferred us to try the other rose and, if we did not like it, he would happily spend the rest of the night drinking the bottle himself.

He was right, the wine was excellent - from Provence, by a winemaker called Dott. Look for it when you are dining at Baraka. The great thing about rose is that it does not overpower the food you are eating and it accompanies things like Asian food and turkey exceptionally well. Pairing it up with a tagine works out well as well.

The tagine: the lamb was succulent, the prunes were bursting with sweet flavor, the almonds gave an interesting textural balance. Just an excellent all-around dish. With the ambience, nearly the whole bottle gone, and the wonderful food, this restaurant is an excellent date place. After, when you are walking back to your car, make sure that if it's a clear night like it was when we were there, to look back across to San Francisco's skyline with its lights twinkling.