Country: Morocco
Dish: Couscous
Location: East Atlanta Village
Stop: #5
It's a rainy day in East Atlanta Village, but the weather doesn't deter customers from a stop at Marrakech Express.
At the stove, you'll find chef Amal Alaoui, who learned traditional Moroccan cooking from her mother and family and with perseverance, shares such dishes with metro Atlanta.
"When I first started, nobody want to come," Alaoui told At the Table ATL. "But I start to give samples to people. I do lots of farmers markets, including Grant Park."
The menu rotates daily at the restaurant's EAV outpost, but today, it's a national dish to be enjoyed: couscous, steamed three times per the Moroccan method.
“How does this dish represent Morocco?”
"It’s our national dish. We do it every Friday," Alaoui said. "It’s a reminder of family. We eat couscous together."
Since couscous is all about gathering together and family, Alaoui said it's not a dish to be prepared for simple two or three people.
"We do couscous for ten people," she said, serving the couscous alongside vegetables, chicken and a steaming hot pot of freshly made mint tea.
“How does this dish represent Atlanta?”
"It’s happy people in Morocco, happy people in Atlanta also. They love life," Alaoui said.