This review is copied - verbatim - from Yelp, where I published it originally. I try not to do restaurant reviews on DeliciousLibertine, but with Kasbah I feel a certain affinity.

La Kasbah Restaurant

11424 Washington Plz W
Reston, VA 20191

There are, of course, hundreds of places for Northern Virginians to choose when contemplating dinner, or lunch, or even a coffee. The sad truth, of course, as any small restaurant owner will tell you, is that most of us will choose thickly populated areas with name brand eateries.

We are all the poorer for it.

Small places like La Kasbah, run passionately by people passionate about food and its power to bridge cultures, are always threatened by our own culture of mass undifferentiation. But despite this threat, and perhaps driven in some part by it, the passion at these places shines through in the food, in the service, in the attention to those little things that make a meal something more than an exercise in ‘filling the tank’. La Kasbah does all of these things brilliantly.

The food is classic, and I do mean classic, Moroccan. Chef “D” focuses on the most definable and fundamental flavors of the North African country with a sensualist’s appreciation of melt-off-the-bone lamb, flavors of raisins and nuts, citrus and ras el hanout. You can find kabobs of course, but also an exquisite lamb tagine, a variety of couscous, and more unusual dishes like an excellent chicken in confetti and green olives.

Although La Kasbah recently got their liquor license, the wine list, featuring both Moroccan specialties as well Italian, French, and new world bottles from California and elsewhere, has always had something to attract and hold my attention for a couple of hours. And, of course, if you cannot decide there is plenty of help available.

Yet, for all of this, La Kasbah, like so many equally good places, has to fight for every customer. And, in many cases, the reality is that it’s a losing fight. Were it located in the bustling streets of old Marrakesh, La Kasbah would be fantastically popular, but Lake Anne long ago lost out to Reston Town Center as the place to go, as the place to be. The crowds there, and the lines snaking out of restaurants serving much the same flavors in different packages, leaves little room for discovery. In Lake Anne, there is still the opportunity to be surprised. Pleasantly and extremely so, and nowhere more so than at La Kasbah.

12/15/2007