Zitoune Inc
1127 W Boston Post Rd
Mamaroneck, NY 10543(Map it!)
Attendees: Reid, Pat, Andrew & Yuee, Shelley, Jeffrey, Sylvia
The Case: Zitoune v. The Westchester Breakfast Club
The Venue: A somewhat tired strip of retail in Mamaroneck.
The Facts: I think it’s fair to say that Zitoune follows through with its Moroccan theme. Rather than that new-fangled “American Seating,” the kind with chairs with legs, we opted for “Moroccan seating” upon somewhat mismatched pillows and leg-less couches. The music was definitely in a non-western language, though it sounded like mid-2000s pop.
The menu was an interesting combination of Middle-Eastern and French, which I suppose makes sense given Moroccan cultural influences. Having never before eaten Moroccan, I cannot say whether the fusion is authentic, but it was certainly an interesting breakfast. I opted for a lamb-sausage omelet, though I cannot remember it’s technical name, and the “Moroccan Beignets.”
The omelet was good, but not fantastic. It was perfectly well-made, although I think those who prefer slightly softer eggs than me might have thought it a tad overdone. The lamb was likewise tasty, the spiciness of it hitting hard a first, then becoming more understated as you got used to it. My only real gripe was that the lamb was not really baked into the egg, making it more like an egg with a side of lamb sausage, rather than a true lamb sausage omelet.
The beignet was disappointing, at best. It was like a dougnut shaped chunk of french fry that was overly reheated in a microwave, leaving it hard but not crunchy. It came with a slight glazing of honey which was insufficient to make it particularly sweet, but gave it an unpleasant sticky texture. All in all, not worth it.
I also ordered Moroccan tea, which as far as I can tell, is peppermint tea with a couple of packets of Splenda dissolved in.
The Verdict: All in all, not such a great experience. And while Moroccan seating seemed fun at the time, it left me with a creak in my lower back that lingered for the rest of the day.
What I Had: Merguez Omelet, bit of Spinach Briwat, Beignet, Moroccan Coffee
What It Cost: $20 all in all
Worth It: Nope
The Rating: 2/5
The Details:
The best part of the meal was the small bite of spinach briwat, which was delightfully crispy and came with a sweetly spiced cucumber that added a wonderful texture and flavor to the briwat. The second best part was the bread served before the meal. The third best part was the beignet, but that’s not saying much; I’ve had better beignets at street carnivals. The Moroccan coffee was OK, but ridiculously overpriced at $4.50 for what amounted to two sips. The Merguez Omelet was over- cooked and greasy, though the lamb sausage in the omelet had a delicious bite to it. I would have preferred just the sausage. The omelet came with potatoes which were at least well-seasoned but lacked the crispiness I like in good breakfast potatoes. It took far too long to get the food. The service was friendly, if not punctual.
The seasoning indicates to me that the restaurant at least knows what it’s doing when it comes to Moroccan food. That doesn’t mean it can cook breakfast.
The Bottom Line: I’d try it again for dinner. Skip the brunch.
The Moroccan ambiance at Zitoune was a novelty, reminded me of a lounge–for smaller people. I felt like I was eating off of a coffee table and sitting with your feet on the floor, with your knees up to your chest, was not the most comfortable.
Besides the novelty of sitting on a sawed off couch and eating off a coffee table, the food ranged from mediocre to awful. Apparently a Moroccan coffee is a regular coffee but served in a cup half full and charged twice the price.
Spinach Briwats and Moroccan doughnuts were ordered for the table and both were equally forgettable.
I ordered something with lamb meatballs and a sunny side egg on top. The eggs were so overcooked it was more like a hardboiled egg. The lamb meatballs were dry and tasteless, like Chef Boyardee but without the spaghetti sauce. Potatoes and onions were just that, didn’t add anything to the dish.
Overall the meal was way too expensive for what they served, definitely not worth it.
Yuee: got the the poached eggs – ditto
Another weekend, another breakfast. We returned to the east coast of Westchester, heading off to Mamaroneck and Zitoune, a Moroccan restaurant that serves up a Sunday brunch.
Zitoune has a simple, unassuming, neutrally colored exterior with a few outdoor tables and umbrellas. We walked up the rose petal-strewn ramp to the restaurant. We had made a reservation, which turned out to be unnecessary since we were the only diners in the restaurant. I’ve never been to a Moroccan restaurant before, but Zitoune fits the bill for what I’d imagine such a restaurant to look like. The interior was darker, with tile floors. Pops of jewel-tone reds, blues, greens, purples, and yellows were provided by the brigtly upholstered benches and pillows, as well as some colorful stained-glass windows. The jovial proprietor (who, along with another server, were the only floor staff in the establishment this morning) offered us a choice of seating: true Moroccan (on the floor); part Moroccan and part American (an upholstered, standard height bench and a table with chairs); or American (a table and chairs). Being the kind of bunch we are, we opted for true Moroccan and arranged ourselves around two low tables along the inside front wall of the restaurant. My seat was a bright blue velvet-covered bench right along the wall, which seemed a good choice since some of my companions who chose (or got stuck with) backless cushions on the other side of the table seemed to have some difficulties situating themselves. When we left, us gals (who all wound up wearing skirts this morning) had to take a moment to figure out how to get up from our low seats without flashing everyone else. Strong leg muscles come in handy.
The brunch menu was two-sided, with one side presenting a $15.00 prix fixe brunch and the other a la carte brunch items. Two members of the group opted for the prix fixe, and the rest of us chose standalone dishes. We were first brought a bread basket. The bread was delicious, but I personally was not a fan of the special butter that it came with. It wasn’t so much the flavor of the butter that I didn’t like as the consistency. It was…crumbly, I think is the word. It reminds me of something that I can’t put my finger on. It was sort of like hummus, but less held together. Honestly, crumbly is the best word I can think of after mulling this over for 24 hours.
Bothered by a persistent sore throat, I decided to try some Moroccan tea. The presentation of the tea was beautiful. I was brought my own small silver tea pot (which the waitress warned me was hot), and instead of a teacup I was brought a small, colorful glass about the size of a shot glass. The Moroccan tea was interesting. I’m glad I tried it, but it really wasn’t my cup of tea flavor-wise. It had a strong peppermint flavor with some fruity undertones. It did leave my mouth feeling refreshed, but I kind of felt like I was drinking my toothpaste.
As an appetizer, my eye went straight to the Spinach Briwats, which were described as spinach in filo, served with a spiced cucumber salad. Yum. This dish proved delicious. The filo was delicate and flaky, just the way you’d want it. The spinach inside was well seasoned. And the spiced cucumber salad provided a wonderful flavor complement. Here’s my only complaint: there weren’t enough Briwats. The appetizer portion consists of four very small filo triangles. Now, when we ordered the Briwats we said that it was to share. I maintain that when our server heard we planned to share the dish and saw that there were seven of us, we should have been told that the dish contained only four small portions and it should have been suggested that we order two. I wound up ordering a second serving of Briwats after we finished the first because it was so good and I didn’t get to have as much as I wanted.
For my main meal I chose French Toast. I got three pieces of French Toast, which were covered with a generous helping of carmelized cinnamon green apples, with a cinnamon stick added in for good measure. There was also some unidentified dark red berry compote on the side of the dish. I avoided the compote but a fellow diner who sampled it said it was good. The French Toast was OK, not great. The apples were a nice touch, but they were cold and I had expected them to be warm. The toast itself was not thick and fluffy as I had hoped it would be. Instead the pieces were flat and somewhat soggy. The French Toast was very sweet, so sweet that when I was done I had to steal some potatoes from Patrick to balance out the sweetness with something savory. Turns out the potatoes were very salty, though, so when I finished that I had to drink another full glass of water to help everything settle down on my tongue.
We ended our meal with some Moroccan beignets. I didn’t particularly care for them. I had a small piece and, once again, it was mainly a consistency issue for me. The beignets weren’t soft like donuts, but had a texture akin to puffed rice cereal.
The service was superb; we were well tended to as the only diners in the place. The atmosphere was pleasant and the prices overall were reasonable. The tea was $4.00 (not worth it for me because I didn’t finish it all, but probably worth it to someone else), the French Toast was a reasonable $7.00, and the order of Briwats was $6.00 each. I appreciated this meal as something different for the WBC. For the Briwats alone it was worth it (but larger portions, please!!!). From what I understand, Zitoune has only recently begun serving brunch, which seems consistent with my assessment that the actual brunch food was OK, not great. If they’ve just started serving brunch, then perhaps the staff at Zitoune just needs to refine their morning meal preparations. That said, Zitoune has a long list of accolades and those Briwats have piqued my interest in returning for lunch or dinner.
Is a Moroccan brunch up for the challenge of being scrutinized by the WBC? Well, let us find out.
We found the place pretty easily. It was on the other side of the road when we passed by, the first time. Sylvia, with all our lives in her hands, decided to make a U-turn to get back and get parking. Then, she proceeded to PASS the parking lot forcing us to make another U-turn. Then she finally made a dangerous left turn to get into the parking lot. After that ordeal, this breakfast had better be worth it.
We entered a beautiful, albeit empty, dinning room. Being empty is fine, since we entered at 11:35 and the place only opens at 11:30. The headwaiter allowed us to choose from the seating arrangements. There are 3 possible options: American style seating (traditional table and chairs); 0.5 American style and .0.5 Moroccan style seating (table with chairs on one side and a bench with a bunch of fluffy pillows on the other); and Moroccan style seating (just a whole bunch of pillows thrown around short tables). Oh well, when in Rome.
After awkwardly sitting down, we all ordered our food. I got the Moroccan coffee and the Brunch Prix Fixe, which consisted of a goat cheese salad, the lamb kefta tagine, and a mimosa.
The goat cheese salad was delicious. I don’t know if it was because I like goat cheese or the fact that I was starving since 7am, but I’d probably eat it again. Then came the lamb kefta, which in the description was “two sunny side up eggs on a bed of ground lamb meat balls with tomato and herbs.” What I got were two eggs that were probably at one point sunny side up and under the heating lamps for so long that the eggs cooked through and toughened that just so happened to be placed next to a few balls of ground lamb that were also probably at one point tender and juicy and had become dry under the heat lamp. Were there herbs? Probably, but I couldn’t get past the texture of the rest of the meal to explore the herbs.
My impressions of the meal weren’t the best. I say, good try for trying to make a Moroccan breakfast more appetizing to the general public, but maybe you should just stick to making one type of cuisine. I mean, you’ve stuck with the Moroccan seating, so stick to the food!
I was excited this week about Zitoune. As a Moroccan restaurant, it offered a change of pace for the breakfast club from the usual poached eggs and omelettes that we had been eating for so many weeks.
After a few passes on West Boston Post Road to figure out parking*, we entered a little after 11:30 and found we were the only ones there. We had an option to sit anywhere we wanted, and we opted to sit Moroccan style, on the floor on some brightly colored cushions around a rather interesting wooden table with what looked like an iron decoration.
There was a choice between regular coffee and Moroccan coffee. In the spirit of our adventure, those who drank coffee opted for the Moroccan coffee, and those who drank tea had Moroccan tea. I had Moroccan coffee, which was served in a very pretty cup and saucer. The coffee was strong, and spiced with a familiar, but unidentifiable spice. I say it was a mix of cardamom and cinnamon, but others beg to differ. Unfortunately, since beverages were not listed on the menu, I was quite surprised to find out that these came out for $4.50 and no refills. So drink slowly!
We ordered some Spinach Briwats to share. They were triangles of phyllo dough that were filled with spinach and served with a spiced (not spicy, but spiced with various spices) cucumber salad. They were a lot smaller than I thought they would be. They were delicious nonetheless.
We were given a big basket of bread with some herbed butter. The bread was delicious, or maybe it was because I was starving. The bread was soft and warm, with a slightly sweetened crust. The butter was okay. Whatever herb was in it did not come through when it was spread on the bread.
I ordered a more lunch-type item since the rest of the group had all the breakfast items covered. I had the Lamb Brochettes, which was ground spiced lamb grilled on a skewer served over potatoes and supposedly served with a salad. The lamb meatballs on a stick were very good; the potatoes, however, were unevenly salted. Some bites were seasoned well, and then there were many bites that were overly salted. There was no salad.
To end off our adventure, we had a couple of orders of the Sweet Moroccan Beignets. These were right up my alley. They were doughy , but still light and the outside was super crisp and glazed with honey and served with a date. The combination of the beignet, honey and date was sweet, but not tooth achingly so.
The service was lively and attentive. The food took a little longer to come out, which was strange since we were the only ones there for a while. I don’t think we minded too much since it seemed we were taking a break from running on New York time, which is always running two times faster than the rest of the world.
The Czar says: Would I come back here? For brunch, no, but I will come back at some point to try the dinner. Given that the briwats were very good and the lamb brochettes themselves were also tasty, I think they might do the dinner thing better than the breakfast thing. And there is only one way to find out!
*Note: You can park in the Equinox parking lot next to the restaurant. The sign on the door to the restaurant says so.