Casaville

Chicken b’steeya

Photograph: Shani Bar-on

This tiny, authentic North African bistro in one of Manhattan’s least distinguished areas (the no-man’s-land just above Murray Hill) is an unlikely transatlantic portal. There are restaurants just like Casaville in every neighborhood in Paris—low-key destinations for good, cheap wine and hearty Moorish food (to the French, couscous is no more exotic than takeout lo mein is to us). On a recent visit, the mood-lit dining room, bisected by an archway with gauzy curtains, had its own Parisian soundtrack—piped-in lounge music punctuated by barstool conversations in French. Chef Lahcen Ksiyer offers some fine Gallic and Spanish fare on his multinational menu (the latter includes plump garlic-drenched shrimp in an earthenware crock), but the iconic dishes of his native Morocco are the real reason to visit. His sweet-savory b’steeya—cinnamon-dusted shredded chicken and almonds wrapped in a thin, flaky crust—is a pitch-perfect classic. Couscous Royale, tossed with plump raisins, spoon-tender root vegetables, caramelized onions, grilled merguez sausage, and stewed chicken and lamb, is a feast in a bowl. To find better, or more reasonably priced, homespun North African cooking, you’d have to travel to Paris or Casablanca—or at least the far reaches of Brooklyn or Queens.

—TONY