{"id":6600,"date":"2015-05-04T06:00:35","date_gmt":"2015-05-04T10:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/?p=6600"},"modified":"2015-05-04T06:00:35","modified_gmt":"2015-05-04T10:00:35","slug":"food-that-pops-cafe-mogador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/2015\/05\/04\/food-that-pops-cafe-mogador\/","title":{"rendered":"Food That Pops: Caf\u00e9 Mogador"},"content":{"rendered":"

Williamsburg has become\u00a0a hipster haven and something of a cultural icon in New York. Thankfully, the neighborhood’s status comes with numerous fantastic restaurants and eateries, which\u00a0now reside on practically every street. Caf\u00e9 Mogador, a Moroccan restaurant that also has a home in the East Village, sits on Wythe Avenue, a couple of blocks away from the luxury condos near the East River.<\/p>\n

One of the most important factors that I use to judge a restaurant is its ability\u00a0to deliver a good meal every single time. No matter if the restaurant is\u00a0busy or slow and no matter what day of the week or time you visit, its\u00a0food should always taste the same. Caf\u00e9 Mogador, a staple in my restaurant rotation, is a place where\u00a0I never feel nervous about bringing friends. I have never had a single complaint about the food or service, and the caf\u00e9\u00a0is, above all, consistent. The space is also quite beautiful, decorated with various pots and Moroccan touches. Even the bathrooms have mirrors that are from Morroco!\u00a0There is a covered outdoor area that is a pleasure to dine in, and the restaurant is the perfect place to literally bring anyone. (Unless you don’t like them\u2014then don’t bother showing them such an amazing restaurant.)<\/p>\n

Now, I can rave all about how great Caf\u00e9 Mogador is, but even with consistency, there has to be some awesome food backing it up. Caf\u00e9 Mogador has an extensive menu filled with North African, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean delights.<\/p>\n

\"Mogador<\/a>
Mogador Chicken
Photo courtesy of the author, @foodthatpops<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The restaurant does\u00a0offer\u00a0some salads as appetizers, but the real stars are the various dips and sauces accompanied by\u00a0the homemade pita bread. The babaganoush is silky smooth and has a beautiful eggplant flavor, not bitter or muddled\u00a0by any other additives. The yogurt and cucumber dip is similar to greek tzatziki but much less complex flavorwise (and believe me, that’s a compliment). It\u2019s as simple as a dip can be but paired with hot pillowy pita bread, it makes for the perfect appetizer. Caf\u00e9 Mogador also offers falafel with a delicious dipping sauce. The falafel is freshly fried and must be experienced, especially by those who haven\u2019t had it before, like me.<\/p>\n

As a side note, get the lemonade. The lemonade is the absolute best lemonade I have ever had in my entire life, and it goes perfectly with every single dish on the menu.<\/p>\n

For the main course, there are plenty of traditional dishes to choose from, as well as some inventive ones that are making me salivate as I write this.\u00a0On the more traditional side, grilled meats\u00a0are served with a delicious couscous that packs a subtle unexpected spiciness. Although the grilled meats are absolutely delicious, the most famous Moroccan dish, the tagine, is an experience in and of itself. With a choice of chicken or lamb and another choice of four sauces, there should definitely be at least one person at your table who tries it. My favorite is the charmoullah, a spicy cilantro sauce that is extremely flavorful and tastes like nothing I\u2019ve ever had before. Although you may\u00a0want to write the sauce\u00a0off as another version of curry, it is not, and you\u2019ll thank me after you try it.<\/p>\n

Caf\u00e9 Mogador also offers various specials every night, usually involving a variety of shellfish as appetizers and a\u00a0protein other than chicken, lamb or merguez for an entr\u00e9e. Okay, I did just say that these menus offer something other than chicken, but the chicken from the special menu must be tried. The dish\u00a0was a revelation, if there ever was one, and made me believe in\u00a0the use of chicken as the star of an entr\u00e9e. I\u2019m always hesitant to order chicken that hasn\u2019t been grilled or isn\u2019t in a sauce (usually the focus\u00a0of that type of dish). On my tenth time around, I asked\u00a0the waitress for a nudge in the right direction, and she recommended the roasted chicken with fingerling potatoes, sweet baby onions, and a thyme jus.<\/p>\n

\"Mogador<\/a>
Mogador Sandwich
Photo courtesy of the author, @foodthatpops<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Oh my god. This was literally the best chicken I have ever had in my entire life. I wanted to live in the apartments above Caf\u00e9 Mogador so that I could experience it daily for the rest of my life. The thyme jus seeped into the crispy fingerlings and sweet onion, creating bursts of flavor that kept me on edge for the entire meal. It was glorious. Literally no other words can describe how good it was. Eat it. Now.<\/p>\n

Okay?<\/p>\n

Now onto desserts!<\/p>\n

The caf\u00e9’s sweets are\u00a0pretty damn delicious. The vanilla panna cotta, served with raspberry sauce and a coconut crisp, was flavorful and texturally amazing. I also tried\u00a0a great slice of orange cake,\u00a0soaked in orange and garnished with some cr\u00e8me fraiche. The cake was\u00a0simple and not ridiculously sweet; a perfect end to a great dinner. The coffee and espresso-based drinks are delicious too\u2014so yeah, go eat there.<\/p>\n

I really hope that I\u2019ll be paid one day to write these reviews, and believe it or not, I\u2019m not even going to get some free food for this one. But I digress.<\/p>\n

Caf\u00e9 Mogador also offers a great lunch deal with a chicken tagine and a soup or salad. Their\u00a0lunch menu includes\u00a0delicious sandwiches, like the grilled curry chicken, which comes with cucumber, watercress, and a tangy garlic yogurt sauce on crusty ciabatta bread.<\/p>\n

So, you really have no excuses for not getting some food from there. You\u2019re really only hurting yourself if you don\u2019t go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Williamsburg has become\u00a0a hipster haven and something of a cultural icon in New York. Thankfully, the neighborhood’s status comes with numerous fantastic restaurants and eateries, which\u00a0now reside on practically every street. Caf\u00e9 Mogador, a Moroccan restaurant that also has a home in the East Village, sits on Wythe Avenue, a couple of blocks away from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":703,"featured_media":6601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9,13],"tags":[329,342,348,363,433,647,829,1201,1286,1287,1387,1449,1596,1855,1921,2286,2417],"class_list":["post-6600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-columns","category-food-that-pops","tag-breakfast","tag-brooklyn-2","tag-brunch","tag-cafe-mogador","tag-chicken","tag-dinner","tag-food","tag-lamb","tag-lunch","tag-lunch-special","tag-merguez","tag-morrocan","tag-opinions","tag-restaurant","tag-sandwich","tag-trendy","tag-williamsburg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/703"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}