Casablanca

Casablanca
1707 Madison
(901) 421-6949

Every year, Chip does me the kindness of taking a family photo. Last year, I didn't have any great location ideas, so he just took photos at lunch, which happened to be at the Beauty Shop. This year, I chose Casablanca.

Since opening in Midtown over the summer (?) I'd been a couple of times for lunch, and then actually ended up there on Christmas with my "Runnin Buddy." I'd been sickly, so their famous hot tea made with Wolf River honey really hit the spot. I could hardly wait to get back.



I informed the monkeys (Satchel, 14, and Jiro, 12) of where we were going separately. Jiro's response: "Mexican? I hate Mexican." (WHO HATES MEXICAN FOOD?!) I told him it was Middle Eastern and he said, "Ok."

When I told Satchel, he also said (disappointedly), "Mexican?"

Seeing as he is super Jew, I played to my audience. "It's the food of your people," I replied. Then he actually looked excited.

"But wait, what do my people eat?" he asked.

"You can read the menu," I replied.



Casablanca is right across from the Lamplighter, and has a lovely patio. Actually two patios. But it was too cold to sit on either. We went inside and had our choice of seats. I somehow almost always end up in the booth in the very back room, which is a great spot to take in the whole place. The waiter gave us menus and took our drink orders. Before I knew it, I had a lovely hot cup of tea.



I'm not much of a tea drinker. The only time I regularly drank it was when I lived in Cameroon as a Peace Corps volunteer. Anyways, the tea at Casablanca reminds me of the tea we had in my village, so I just love it. It's sweet, but not too sweet, and you can drink a whole lot of it without feeling jacked up. Both monkeys wanted a taste, but not their own cups.

The monkeys had a little trouble making up their minds, and I tried to help them, but in the end, they were on their own. Satchel got a chicken schwarma sandwich and Jiro got the super sandwich which has chicken, lamb & beef. Chip also got the super sandwich. I went with the Greek salad and a falafel and hummus platter.



Let's start with the falafel and hummus. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD. I explained to Satchel that in Israel there is (or was in 1992 when I briefly lived there) a falafel stand on every corner. In my experience, the best falafel is green inside -- like the ones at Casablanca. I also told him that everyone makes hummus and that it is basically the one food that is beloved throughout the Middle East.

"I hate hummus," he said. But he was intrigued by the falafel. "That's falafel?" he asked. "I always thought it was meat." He tried half a ball, but didn't seem impressed. Jiro would try neither. Losers.

The Greek salad is also lovely, though the person in the kitchen that day went a tiny bit crazy with the dressing. I love the addition of banana peppers and the olives are yummy kalamatas (with pits).



Satchel inspected his sandwich and immediately started in on the fact that it was full up with lettuce and tomatoes. "Take them off," I said.



Then I basically had the same exact conversation with Jiro when he got his sandwich.



Here's Chip's un-defiled super sandwich.



The only sad thing about my lunch was that I didn't have anything to put their amazing hot sauce on...until Jiro gave me the rest of his sandwich. Score!

While we ate, Satchel said, "Why isn't Casablanca a Mexican name? It's 'white house' in Spanish." So I tried to explain where Casablanca was on the map and he was semi-satisfied. I also tried to get him to try some of Jiro's sandwich, but he said, "I refuse to try lamb." What's up with this kid? Obviously I have given in to his neverending desire to eat chicken wings too often. He used to be more adventurous.

Jiro asked if we could get dessert and I said sure. He ordered a "fluffy mousse." While we waited, he and Satchel had a short-lived staring contest.





Thankfully the mousse came right out.



It was yummy-ish. Jiro thought it tasted like icing. And then the sugar went right to his brain and he started doing this. (Next time, no dessert!)



I asked for the check, and Satchel updated Snapchat. Our total was $50 plus tip.



Then as we were leaving, the table next to us got their food and Jiro gave me a LOOK. "They have French fries here??" he said incredulously. Next time, French fries for everyone. Unless I go without the monkeys. Then everyone can get whatever they want. Ha!

All photos by Chip Chockley (even though they are on my Flickr page). Thanks, Chip!

Mango

Mango Restaurant
2733 Getwell
369-4334

When Jennifer Biggs, of the CA, reviewed Mango back in April, I immediately put it on my list of places to take the monkeys (Satchel, 10, and Jiro, 8). Mexican, Middle Eastern, AND ice cream? Yes, please.

Last Saturday, we once again made the trek to Sky Zone and I made it a point to drive home via Getwell, so we could check out Mango. It's in a strip mall, and pretty easy to miss. I had to circle back after passing it.



The inside is very cute and your meal could easily be sidetracked due to the prominence of the ice cream counter.



Thankfully, the monkeys were actually interested in eating. I wasn't sure if we should sit down or order at the counter (since there's a huge menu on the wall), but a nice man, who I am assuming to be the owner, told us to have a seat.

The menu on the wall was very large, like I said, and contained pictures. Satchel immediately honed in on the hot wings. (Seriously, he has a problem. The problem being I ate hot wings throughout my pregnancy with him?)

The waiter/owner handed us all what he called "new menus."



I couldn't really discern the differences, so we proceeded with Satchel's order of hot wings. "You want hot?" the waiter/owner asked Satchel. I followed up with "Hot or mild?" He looked at us both like we were stupid, and said, "Hot."

"Oh, he's a big boy!" the waiter/owner commented.

Jiro wanted a cheeseburger, per usual. The waiter/owner who had previously tried to get us to order drinks rather than waters, noted that if Jiro was getting a cheeseburger and fries, he could have a free drink. I really didn't think Jiro needed a soft drink, but he put me on the spot. He listed the drinks for Jiro, who then selected fruit punch.

I really hoped to convince Satchel to get a mango burger, which actually comes with mango, but he would not be swayed. These dudes have gotten in a serious cheeseburger/hot wing rut. Much like the chicken nugget, hot wings and cheeseburgers are on a lot of menus.

Anyway, I wanted to try both the mango burger and the hummus with ground beef that Biggs highlighted, but there were lots of other things that sounded good too. I needed Warren so we could split a few things, but I was on my own. I asked the waiter/owner to make a suggestion and he suggested I try the shishawook platter. Sold!

While we waited for our food, the waiter/owner brought out a plate of chicharrones. Usually chicharrones are fried pork skins. I guess that's what these might have been, albeit a very processed version. They didn't have much flavor until I squeezed the lime and added a little hot sauce. Then they were a nice appetizer.



Our food came out soon after. I thought Jiro's burger looked very tasty. Bigg's noted that the burgers weren't hand formed, but based on the looks and size of the patty I had to wonder if maybe they took her suggestion and upgraded the meat.



Jiro was somewhat distraught that his burger had lettuce, tomato, and a shit ton of mayo on it.



I immediately performed surgery on it and somehow convinced him it was not ruined. Pshew! He was still a little cranky about it because it was slippery. I wrapped a napkin around it and that helped. He only made it through half of it, but it was a pretty big burger.



Satchel was pleased with his wings. He polished off the fries first and then dug in.



He managed to get through three before declaring it felt like he had needles in his tongue! I tried one and it was hot, but not crazy hot. I think I'll tell him to save his fries to help with the fire next time.

My plate was absolutely lovely.



The chicken was grilled to perfection. I let Jiro try it and he said, "Mmmm, it's like Daddy's chicken." The pita was nice and warm and I loved the garlic sauce. Also, the salad was fresh and flavorful. The rice was nothing special, which was fine, because I was too full to eat it. I let Satch have it in the hopes it would help with his mouth burn.

While we were eating, another family came in, and I noted that one of the cooks, who had brought out our food, was called over to take their order, in Spanish. (Our waiter/owner was the source of the Middle Eastern dishes on the menu.)

I thought for sure the monkeys would want ice cream, but I guess they were full. When I told Jiro I was going to see what they had, he said he would look too.

There were about twenty flavors of Blue Bell ice cream for scooping, milkshaking, or making sundaes.



And an assortment of pre-packaged treats.



There were also paletas from Paletas Lichitas in Nashville.



I only just realized they were from Nashville, otherwise I might have tried one. I ended up getting a chocolate/vanilla ice cream bar instead.



Jiro went for a Crunch bar.



We paid at the counter. Our total was a very reasonable $25.90 and there was no tip line, or tip jar.

The waiter/owner was very nice and wanted to know how we liked everything, how we heard about the place, and if we'd be back. Oh yes, we'll be back. I have many more menu items to try.

Castle Restaurant (Closed)

This restaurant has closed.

I'm oh-so-excited to announce a new contributor to DWM, the fabulous Ginger, from Walt's World.

Castle Restaurant
3992 Park
320-1020

If you keep up with the Commercial Appeal’s “dining spotlights” (apparently they’re no longer “reviews”), this review will probably sound pretty familiar because it was just a couple of weeks ago that the CA “spotlighted” (spotlit?) Castle Restaurant. Ever since I read it, I’ve had gyros on the brain, so knowing that the Spickler family was looking at a rare Saturday with no events on the calendar, I made plans early in the week to give it a try.

It’s an inconspicuous little place on the north side of Park, very close to the Getwell intersection. As an aside, I must admit that I’m always a bit nervous visiting new ethnic places in Memphis. More than once, I’ve had the experience of being the only patron, and feeling like the employees were watching my every reaction to their food. “Did she like the falafel? Will she come back?!” I certainly don’t begrudge the owners their nervousness – the restaurant biz is a tough one even for places hawking good ‘ol American food – but it does affect my enjoyment of the restaurant experience. However, I needn’t have feared. Castle Restaurant was positively bustling. I would guess that upwards of forty customers came through the doors of the tiny restaurant in the 45 minutes or so that we were there, no doubt bolstered by the CA’s glowing review.

Seating is kind of limited – maybe six tables and some counter seating inside and two tables outside. During our visit, every seat was taken (including the ones outside on a pretty brisk, though sunny afternoon) and a couple of parties even shared table space, laughing and chatting like old friends by the time they parted. Overall, it was quite the convivial atmosphere.

Taking in the aromas that wafted through the little dining room upon first walking in, I knew I was not going to be disappointed. (Though our almost-four-year-old monkey, Walt, was a bit perturbed that grilled cheese – his standard Saturday lunch fare – was not on the menu.) We ordered a Castle combination (veggie deal), a gyro plate, and an extra plate for Walt, with plans to share everything.

Walt occupied himself by handing out “tickets” from the sugar/fake sugar container on the table during the 15 minutes or so that we had to wait for our food. It came out piled high on two Styrofoam plates. The veggie combination ($8.99) included falafel, spanakopita, hummus, baba ghanoush, pita bread, dolmas, and a generous bowl of well-seasoned tomato-cucumber salad. They gyro plate ($7.99) came with the same salad, a pool of thick tzatziki, and, of course, a huge portion of delicious, spicy, crispy-on-the-edges gyro meat topped with grilled onions and tomatoes and a different kind of pita bread than was on the other plate.

We fixed Walt a plate with a little of everything, and honestly, the only things he really liked were the spanakopita and the gyro meat (until he decided it was too spicy after eating a good bit of it). But he loved the spanakopita, declaring it “cheesy and delicious.” Next time, I’ll get him a piece of that to eat on his own.

Josh and I loved everything except for the dolmas (an acquired taste, perhaps?). If we weren’t being so gluttonous, we probably could have shared the gyro plate and it would have been a perfectly acceptable amount of food for lunch. If you can’t decide between the hummus and the baba ghanoush, you could order a side of either item for about $3 to round out the meal. And we also added a piece of the walnut baklava for good measure, which was good, but would have been better if it hadn’t been so cold, I thought.

Castle also had a number of other of other meat plates (kefta, grilled chicken) and sandwiches, and a cheeseburger if your monkey is absolutely opposed to eating anything he can’t pronounce (though “falafel” is a really fun word for a four-year old to say). We will definitely be back to try some of the other menu offerings.

Our bill came to around $24 including two sodas (after correcting the cashier’s error of charging us twice for one of the meals) and was worth every penny. Again, I think you could easily get away with spending less than we did for two adults and a child if you were a little more, uh, restrained in your consumption. But it sure was good.

There is one restroom that, despite being without a changing table, was perfectly clean. I’ve changed diapers on considerably dirtier floors than that one! And on my way back from the restroom, I noticed a motley assortment of high chairs and booster seats, should you require them.