MOROCCAN OUT

Ataj Moroccan Restaurant near Celebration is a draw for those with a nose for Berber-y scents

BY FAIYAZ KARA

I’m not sure if we’ve ever had this many Moroccan restaurants operating in the city at one time, but with Moroccan Breeze inside Apna Bazaar, Merguez on I-Drive and TajineXpress on Goldenrod Road (not to mention Spice Road Table and the temporarily closed Restaurant Marrakesh at Epcot), Berber cuisine is indeed blooming, much like the plant and tree pollen in my nose. When my stuffed-up schnoz inhaled a waft of burning wood from the parking lot outside of Ataj Moroccan Restaurant near Celebration, I secretly hoped the scent emanated from the restaurant’s kitchen.

Not so. In fact, the handsome dining room was largely odorless — probably because we were the only customers inside — but that changed quickly after one of our servers high-poured some fragrant mint tea from an ornate pot into a glass tumbler, and another server placed a large bowl of heady harira soup ($5.99) before us.