Washington Post
Weekly Dish by Tom Sietsema
Wednesday March 2nd, 2005
CLUB MED(ITERRANEAN): Just when you think every decent location downtown has
been gobbled up by a Starbucks, a Cosi or a Potbelly, along comes a place like
Couscous Cafe & Catering (1195 20th St. NW; 202-689-1233) to prove you wrong --
and make your lunch hour a little sunnier. A cup of tomato soup thick with
cracked wheat, chickpeas and lamb, and phyllo-wrapped chicken with crushed
almonds are the sort of dishes co-owner Aziz Benassou says he was raised on back
in his native Algeria. Now he now offers them in the 30-seat eatery he runs with
the help of his mother and sister, Hadda and Ranu Benassou. " Couscous is to us
what pasta is for Italians," says the restaurateur, who features the processed
wheat (semolina) in a stew of root vegetables and as an accompaniment to broiled
salmon. North African music and walls painted in soothing yellow, green and
burnt orange offer patrons a welcome break from the same old, same old at noon.
Sandwiches $4.99-$6.99, entrees $6.99-$7.99.