Deep in the hive-like medina (old city) of Fez, Morocco, one of the world's most beautiful restaurants has just reopened as a venue for an intriguing new visiting-chef-in-residence project that casts the kitchen as an incubator for both cultural exchange and culinary innovation.
Restaurant Numero 7 is owned by Stephen di Renza, a former fashion director for Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman who divides his time between Fez and Marrakesh, where he is the creative director for the Jardin Majorelle, Yves Saint Laurent's old lair. Di Renza, who has lived in Morocco full time since 2007, originally designed the striking restaurant — which features black-and-white tile work, a black marble water wall and an installation of hand-blown glass bubbles — to complement his adjacent hotel, Riad 9. But he had to close it when its founding chef, Bruno Ussel, decided to return to France last year.
Some time later, Di Renza found himself in conversation with Tara Stevens, an English food writer who divides her time between Fez and Barcelona, and Jerome Waag, a chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., about what to do with the restaurant. Together they came up with a chef-in-residence program based on the discovery of Moroccan produce and the Moroccan palate, a concept they dubbed "Beldi market cuisine," beldi being a Moroccan Arabic term used to denote something indigenous, traditional or locally produced.
Each visiting chef will be invited to create a daily menu based on seasonal produce sourced from Fez's central market or nearby farmers. After a fire at Chez Panisse cleared a space in the French-born Waag's schedule, he agreed to go first. He'll be creating daily three-course menus until June 23, when the restaurant closes for Ramadan and the rest of the summer; taking over on Sept. 1 will be Analiese Gregory, who has been cooking at Quay in Sydney and Mugaritz in Spain.
Waag's most exciting discovery in Morocco, he says, has been the country's "amped-up produce. It's so dense and intense, so I've had to rethink the way I use an herb like mint — it's so potent here." A recent menu of his included chilled fava bean and almond soup with rosemary-infused olive oil, baked sardines with pickled plums, fried sage and green beans; free-range chicken braised with fresh figs and anise seed and served with an okra and artichoke flower ragout; and camel's milk panna cotta with carob honey and plum sauce.
"Food is the fastest way to understand a culture, and cooking puts you into immediate contact with where you are," Waag says. He noticed, for instance, that Moroccans usually throw away beet greens, which he likes to braise or use in soups. "So I saw a man with a donkey loaded up with beet greens that he was taking away to be thrown out, and I stopped him and said I wanted to buy them. He thought I was joking, and said I could have all of them for two dirhams — roughly 25 cents. I told him I was serious, and he asked me what I was going to do with them. I said, 'cook them and eat them,' and he laughed. But I'd be surprised if he didn't start wondering what they'd taste like if he cooked some himself."
7 Zkak Rouan, Fez, Morocco. Open until June 23 and after Sept. 1 for dinner only; reservations advised. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. For more information, visit restaurantnumero7.com.
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