Tasty Treats: Aziza

Happy Valentines Day to everyone!  I hope you have some fabulous plans for today or that you will at least treat yourself to a little something special!

For today’s tasty treat I wanted to share one of Carlos and my favorite local neighborhood restaurants, Aziza.  It is an amazing Moroccan restaurant in the Richmond District in San Francisco.  The restaurant is located on Geary Avenue and from the outside you wouldn’t realize that inside is this romantic and delicious restaurant.

One of my favorite things about Aziza is how Mourad Lahlou (who is in the running for hottest chef in San Francisco by Eater SF) blends fresh and local California ingredients with the taste of Morocco.  Not only is the food amazing (the spreads with flatbread and duck confit basteeya are definite must haves), but their cocktails are outrageous.  They use fresh muddled herbs, spices, vegetables and fruits that are in season to make their cocktails and the results are so very tasty.

There were rumors that they were moving to Jackson Square, but supposedly that is off the table and for now they will remain in the Geary location (yeah for the Richmond locals).

Now that we have kids, Carlos and I have started going out the weekend before or the weekend after to celebrate Valentines Day instead of on Valentines Day.  We really enjoy doing this for three reasons – it’s not as crazy busy, not as expensive and we always feel that the food is better.  We always find that the food is never as good on busy holidays because the kitchen is always slammed.  Instead, we make a romantic dinner that we eat at home and pull out our wedding china (oh we be fancy) after the bambinos have been put to bed.  We will be going to Fifth Floor this Saturday and I am excited to see what David Bazirgan has done with the menu and the food.  We went there years ago before David was the chef and we were not that impressed.  I will definitely be sharing my experience with all of you!

What are your plans for today? Happy Valentines Day!