Chef Mourad Lahlou’s Long-Awaited Napa Restaurant Opens Next Week

More than two years after first announcing plans to expand to wine country, chef Mourad Lahlou will finally debut his counter service restaurant Moro at Oxbow Public Market. According to a press release from the Napa food hall on Monday morning, Moro will open on Wednesday, March 20. The restaurant draws inspiration from “the grab-and-go food of Chef Mourad’s childhood and the food stalls at Jemaa el-Fnaa, Marrakesh’s famous night market,” the release states.

Moro moves into the former C Casa space within the Oxbow Public Market; that business moved into a larger space at the food hall. On the Moro menu, look for “grilled meats, flatbreads, salads, and house-made dips made from fresh local ingredients,” per the release. Previously, Lahlou told the San Francisco Chronicle that the Moro menu would feature some items similar to those found at his San Francisco restaurant Aziza. For example, a white bean dip made with “vadouvan oil, piquillo peppers and almond and dill-lebni with smoked trout roe.”

Lahlou, who told the Chronicle he relocated temporarily to Napa during the pandemic, operates two restaurants in the city: Aziza, the more casual of the two located in the Richmond District, while his eponymous fine dining restaurant Mourad continues to operate downtown. The latter previously held one Michelin star and is known as one of the most beautiful restaurants in San Francisco. Lahou is known for his elegant Moroccan cooking, having grown up in Marrakesh before moving to the United States at 17 years old.

For updates about the Moro opening, follow the restaurant on Instagram.