Sunday, March 25, 2012

Two Twins Cafe: Lincoln's hidden gem?

So Jon and I decide to go to lunch Friday at a totally new place we've never tried before.  Our go-to's are Granite City, Kinja, Green Gateau, and Venue for lunch and we were just in the mood for something different.  When we sat down to lunch we saw an advertisement for a Moroccan dinner that very same night.  When I read about the guest Chef I told Jon we should go check this out. 

This was on our table.
Chef Karim Chhibbane is from Marrakesh, Morocco.  He spent most of his formative years learning Moroccan cuisine in various kitches throughout his home country.  He then went to France to work as a chefin top hotels and prestigious restaurants.  With his passion for Morocco he returned home to further perfect his skill of Moroccan cooking.  He served as a private chef to top dignataries and celebrities including service as President Nixon'[s prviate chef.  He opened his own restaurant and served customers for 30 years.  He now teachs culinary arts at Santa Barbara College. 

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I should probably talk about the cuisine but I wanted to spend some time on the personality of the restaurant.  Anothy Ditton is the new owner.  He was walking the floor the entire night making sure people were enjoying themselves.  The turn out was not great but the restaurant isn ot being advertised.  It felt to us, like a hidden gem.  Anthony spent a large amount of time with us talking with us about the changes he'd like to make to Two Twins, his plans for more businesses in Lincoln and his background.

The new owner is a businessman and entreprenuer.  He's owned Connoisseur magazine and now owns a beauty and health company.  He began his entreprenuer path owning galleries.  He owned Anthonys Framing & Fine Art Gallery in Lincoln and began branches all over the world including L.A. where he currently resides and/or calls home-base where his wife and daughter currently live. 

Anthony got to know Chef Karim from his CA days and helped him with the business side of things when he went to open his restaurant.  Anthony said "he owed him a favor" and that is why Chef Karim came to Lincoln to be the guest Chef for two nights at the Two Twins.  It doesn't suprise me he would agree to leave California and come to Nebraska in the middle of March.  He is one of the nicest people you'll meet.  He truly cooks for people and enjoys cooking only as much as his connoisseurs enjoy the food and give him feedback.  He even invited us to call him if we ever come to Santa Barbara and he said he'll cook for us and take us to the best restaurants and to prove his sincerity he gave us his phone number!

Myself, Chef Karim Chhibbane, Jon


This conversation with both Anthony and Chef Karim is in part why we enjoyed our dinner so much.  Ah!  The dinner...

It began with a rose water wash for our hands and a choice from the special menu.  We went with the smorgasbord, give-us-all-you-got option.   We ate with our hands which is traditional in Morocco.  This was a treat for me because I lived in Sri Lanka for 6 months and always ate with my hands.  (I personally think food tastes better when you eat it with your hands).  First came the bread with sauce.  The sauce tasted a lot like salsa without the paprika, hot peppers or onions.  Two appetizers of lentil soup, which you drank or scooped up with your bread and a "wedding pastry" made with cinammon, powedered sugar and beef.  One entree each and of course, we got two different entrees and sampled each.  Chicken and steak kabob with cous cous which you could also scoop up with your bread.  To end we drank mint tea after another rose water wash for our hands.

During the meal we were entertained by not only Anthony's story and our own conversation but a belly dancer in traditional dress.  She went to each table to entertain for awhile with her dance.  All the senses were engaged!  My kind of eating experience!