Casablanca

Years

1955 – present

Location

40 Brattle St., Harvard Square

Profile

Bar and restaurant, creative Mediterranean cuisine

 

History

The early Casablanca was a bar, a faithful watering hole for the neighborhood's eccentrics, students, and Brattle Theatre moviegoers. In 1970, they expanded upstairs, started serving food, then became a full-fledged restaurant in 1977 under the tutelage of waiter-turned-owner Sari Abul-Jubein. Simply known by first name to most, the amicable Sari successfully steered the business into the 21st century, with the help of great-chefs- to-be Ana Sortun, Marc Orfaly, Laura Brennan, and Andy Husbands. The late Cantabridgian artist David Omar White painted the restaurant's celebrated murals, which depict scenes from the 1942 film by the same name, and create a nostalgic atmosphere of a scaled-down Rick's café.

Photos by Rain Robertson