Bar Omar

We're currently in the Algerian section of the AtWCC, which brings back memories of the only Algerian restaurant we've ever been to - Bar Omar in Williamsburg. We went back in 2017 when we were doing more WorldEats exploration than we are now, and the dinner we had was great. The restaurant was only open for a couple of years and closed a long time ago (2018, maybe?), but since Algerian cuisine wasn't common in NYC, we were grateful we had the opportunity to go. Even now, there are only a couple of restaurants that are serving Algerian cuisine, so it's still relatively rare.

We went to Bar Omar after spending the afternoon going to the Hall of Magic (a promotional event sponsored by The Magicians, reminding us we still need to finish watching that), and walking around on a cold January night. The sign outside advertising "Algerian soul food" sounded like exactly what we needed in the middle of winter.

We split one appetizer and one entree (since the tagines served two). Our starter was chicken bastilla, described as "sweet and savory chicken with almonds in brick pastry." We had a little familiarity with brick pastry from a Tunisian dinner in London (which we never got up to in our recaps, maybe someday we'll get back to those), and thought it would be similar to that (which was very crispy and light). What arrived was more like a pie, denser, more solid, but the flavor of the seasoned chicken was excellent. It's probably the taste we remember most from that meal. The powdered sugar on top was also a surprise for us in how well it went with such a savory dish.

Tagine was the dish we most associated with Algerian and North African cuisine generally. We chose the kefta, so it came with "North-African beef meatballs, cracked egg, potatoes, bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, and zucchini." (These recaps almost six years later would have been so much more difficult without pictures of the menu.) We had some couscous on the side, and it was good from what we remember, but it didn't make as much of an impression on us as the bastilla, maybe because we've had more similar dishes to tagine before.

Based on our one meal there, we would have returned, but we didn't find ourselves in Williamsburg very often back in 2017, so unfortunately didn't make it back before they closed. But we are thankful that we made it there at all, because otherwise we never would have known about chicken bastilla!