Profile

This venue is closed.

Owners Omar Balouma and Abdellah Ksiyer—the duo behind midtown’s Barbes—spent weeks in Morocco acquiring custom-made tables, multihued cushions, and exotic lighting fixtures to transform L’Occitane’s old coffee bar into Soho’s answer to the Casbah. Their lively main-floor lounge, dominated by a tile fountain and an enormous traditional hanging lamp, now hosts multilingual locals and tourists for drinks, small plates, and larger meals. In the more subdued dining room upstairs, couples and well-mannered groups share classic North African fare like tajines and couscous. Despite the all-Moroccan cooking crew, dishes are clearly tempered for American palates, so you’ll have to wait until the weekend for the East-meets-West idea to be fully realized, by way of a D.J. and a belly dancer. Just tear your eyes away long enough to appreciate the intricate wood moldings and decorative arches whose creator carved parts of Casablanca’s Hassan II mosque. — Michael Kaminer

Cigares de crevette, $12; couscous traditionel, $18; rouget tajine, $25