Ramadan days …
I never cease to be surprised when Casablanca empties out during the month of August - for the Mediterranean north coast, or the 120 degree sauna that is Marrakech in the late summer. With an idyllic climate, why don't the Casablancais just stay home? This is one of the vestiges of the French protectorate - the other being the long mid-day lunch, for businesses, government, schools and shops! This year the government took a deep breath and declared that "continuous hours" would be put in effect in July and become standard year round. The work day would be 8:30 to 4:30 or some combination of that, with a brief lunch break…for the government and private sector. Banks were up in arms. The first week there was a nationwide bank strike. And the next week the continuous hours at the banks were gone. What resolve! The education ministry is still "studying" how to accommodate this in the schools. Solving this problem would surely increase productivity, not to mention reducing the daily rush hours from 4 to 2. But I digress - my point was what happens in August. In making my initial projections, I never imagined there would be a slow month at Rick's…silly me. Reality hit last August, so perhaps we were psychologically more prepared this year, struggled through it, and looked forward to a busy September. The month started out on a fun note, surprising Issam on a major birthday. His family were invited and hidden away in the office, while our secretary and controller guarded the door to let in other invitees…all while he was playing the first set. Our chef El Baz had made a cake like a grand piano, in spite of the fact Issam had said the day before, "I don't know if there's anything for my birthday, but I don't want a cake." So we arranged a scenario with a false client in the VIP room and the need to play Happy Birthday - on the queue El Baz was to sneak down the front stairs with the cake, Issam's family and all would follow the cake to the piano…but it wasn't that smooth. He'd practically finished playing the song when El Baz appeared, and our secretary forgot to let Issam's family out of the office! El Baz and I presented the cake and I pleaded with Issam to "Play It Again"…to no avail. Nevertheless the Chabaa family was reunited and all enjoyed toasting Issam as he started a new decade. Over the summer planning was launched on a stall in Casablanca's French market, the Marche Central. Right in the center of town, this colorful and lively market is a stop on all the city tours. As I do the restaurant marketing there I see the tourists wandering through by the hundreds…and there's really nothing to buy. So the idea came to set up a stand to sell "Rick's Gear" and incidently let visitors know about Rick's Café. This has been another Morocco learning experience. What started out simple - a sublease from our vegetable dealer, Mustapha, has now ballooned into authorization change applications to the Commune and various side agreements. I have no doubt it will happen, but we await the signature of the President of the Commune. Today's excuse was that the King is in town and he's occupied; earlier in the week it was that he's a practicing Dr. and has office hours in the morning, and because it's Ramadan the afternoon is short. Oh yes, speaking of Ramadan, just as we got our steam up in September, Ramadan started on October 5…no alcohol served to Muslims, which severely cuts into our local business. We've done some good promotion with the hotels and this year seems much better than last because of the foreigners. And media attention has helped also. The front page article on the CNN/BBC visit is a fun read. And the Friday after, Petronella Wyatt flew down from London for what is to be a two page spread in the Daily Mail. Petronella was accompanied by her mother, Veruschka, who kindly gave me some great gulas and chicken paprikash cooking tips. Even though covering Rick's for a newspaper - with a photographer in tow - Petronella asked if she could sing "As Time Goes By" - I asked if there was going to be video filming too, and she said no she just wanted to sing! Issam accommodated her. Unfortunately just minutes before she was to sing a group of 15-20 officers from the British Royal Navy, here on a sea visit, arrived and lined up two deep at the bar. Veruschka was quite annoyed as they continued their chatter during the song, but other diners enjoyed this little bonus. I saw the ladies again on Sunday for lunch. They were lamenting their dining experience of the previous night, when they'd asked their hotel to reserve a table at the best fish restaurant in Casablanca. After taking a long cab ride they found there was only one other table, and the diners got up and left shortly after being presented the menu. When the waiter approached their table and handed them their menus he said, "I'm sorry to say the restaurant has no fish tonight." Asked for an explanation, the restaurant was closing from the next day for the rest of Ramadan. Although we had planned to close the 20th, we soon decided, for financial and marketing reasons, to stay open the whole month. And for all those fish afficianados, we welcomed Houssein Atmani at the beginning of October as Executive Chef. He comes with more than a decade of experience at one of Casablanca's other excellent fish houses. Already we've sampled Sole Filet Paupiettes, fish soup and oysters gratineed with salmon. The Paupiettes were served with Crevettes Royale accompaniment and a bisque sauce for a KIA Motors dinner in honor of the Company V.P., Mr. Park, who pronounced them "excellent."
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Kathy Kriger
October 21 2005 |
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