It’s a bucket list experience for fans of the iconic movie, Casablanca. Writer Betsa Marsh, a major fan of the film, shares what it’s like to walk into, and dine in, Rick’s Cafe in Morocco – even if it’s a bit of movie magic. 

Save this article about Rick’s Cafe in Casablanca to Pinterest to help you plan your trip there. Photos clockwise: The musical alcove awaits the combo and another round of “As Time Goes By.” The small upright piano, so pivotal in the film, has been replaced by a baby grand from the 1930s. People waiting to enter. Goat Cheese Salad with Figs. Photos by Betsa Marsh. Graphic by RealFoodTraveler.com.

Of All the Gin Joints, it’s Rick’s Café Casablanca

Ordered by a furious Nazi commander to close Rick’s Café immediately, French Captain Louis Renault blows his whistle and thrashes around for an excuse to shut down one of the most popular gin joints in all of Casablanca.

When Rick himself, played by Humphrey Bogart, protests, Renault huffs “I’m shocked, shocked to find out that gambling has been going on in here.”

The café’s croupier sidles up to Renault with a fistful of cash. “Your winnings, sir.”

Renault pockets his spoils, along with his scruples. “Thank you, thank you very much.”

Like gamblers placing bets at that back-room roulette table, you’re either all in or all out at Rick’s Café in legendary Casablanca, Morocco. Tonight’s dinner could be a corny eye roller of an evening, or a sweet homage to one of Hollywood’s best movies ever. Since I adore “Casablanca” the film, I’m all about the experience.

Crowds gather outside the pearly white façade of this 1930s mansion, reborn as Rick’s Café in 2004. It’s just outside the walls of the Ancienne Medina, Casablanca’s oldest quarter in Morocco’s largest city.

Most just want to grab a quick shot and move on, but some, like our quartet, are ready to step into a timeless illusion.

Travelers cluster around the entrance to Rick’s Café for that classic Casablanca photo.

Of course, the entire film was an illusion, shot on a Warner Brothers sound stage in sunny Burbank, California, in 1942. Even if director Michael Curtiz’s budget had run to location shooting, the real Casablanca in the French Protectorate of Morocco was embroiled in war in 1942.

“Casablanca” is a tightly woven love triangle set against the spreading canvas of global war. Bogart’s Rick Blaine loves Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa Lund, who’s married to Czech freedom fighter Victor Laszlo, played by Paul Henreid. It’s December 1941, and refugees from around the globe are trapped in Casablanca, hoping for visas to fly to Lisbon and on to freedom in America.

During their fling in Paris, Rick and Ilsa promised to flee the city together ahead of the Nazi advance. After she stood him up at the train station, an embittered Rick never expected to see Ilsa again.

When she and Laszlo appear at his café door in Casablanca, Bogart’s groans one of the most famous lines in film. “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in the world, she walks into mine.”

Most of the film’s whip-smart dialogue, which was written on the fly nearly every day, takes place within the smoke-blurred arches of Rick’s Café Americain. With Bogart and Bergman at their most luminous, “Casablanca” casts an exotic allure that’s been captivating generations for 80 years.

Hungry for more? Get some ideas for where else to go in Morocco in this article.

A Modern Look, and Dinner, at Rick’s Café in Casablanca

Shocked, shocked that Casablanca had no evocation of this landmark beloved around the world, the late American diplomat Kathy Kriger decided to build her own Rick’s Café. A commercial attache in the U.S. State Department in Morocco, she had contacts. She cashed in her 401K and stateside friends helped top up her $1 million fund to renovate the ramshackle house, hallmarked by two royal palms flanking the front door.

Walk up for your dinner reservations and the spotlights do make it feel a bit like a film premiere. Walk through the fringe curtains and it’s all white arches and brass chandeliers and, somehow, yes, Rick’s. Sure, Frank Sinatra crooning “Once Upon a Time” from 1965 might be a tad anachronistic, but I know eventually we’ll hear “As Time Goes By,” the signature love song of “Casablanca.”

I believe because I’m all in on a Hollywood mirage from 6,000 miles away and eight decades ago.

We settle in among the palm fronds for dinner—and yes, there’s an ashtray on the table as there would have been in 1941. In the film, beverages flow at Rick’s, but the only food anyone eats is caviar. We’ll have three courses, from a tangy goat cheese salad with figs, followed by roast salmon with grainy mustard mashed potatoes, warm vinaigrette and greens. Rick’s Cheesecake might be a little too thick on the gelatin, but the cinnamon-honey orange salad on top is a fresh finale.

Roast salmon pairs with grainy mustard mashed potatoes, warm vinaigrette, and greens.

In the film, Major Heinrick Strasser of the Gestapo relaxes at Rick’s and orders “Champagne and a tin of caviar.”

Capt. Renault counters “May I recommend Veuve Clicquot ’26, a good French wine?”

So that’s how a family of Veuve Clicquot bottles comes to stands tall on the landing one flight up in Rick’s Café, on the way to the bar. I didn’t spot a 1926 bottle, but they still float around at auction: one sold in 2018 for $536.

A family of bottles of Veuve Clicquot.

Hungry for more? Read more about Veuve Clicquot in France.

The cozy sculpted bar, with its “Casablanca” posters and “As Time Goes By” sheet music, is the place to settle in with your Veuve and rewatch a continuous loop of the movie.

There are loving references everywhere. The roulette table, just for show, has a red chip on No. 22. Everyone knows that Rick, a softie at heart, tells a desperate newlywed to play No. 22 to earn enough money to buy exit visas for himself and his new wife. Rick rigs the game with his croupier so that the man wins 2,000 francs, a gesture that keeps the bride out of the leering clutches of French Capt. Renault. The newlyweds are on their way to America.

While the roulette table at Rick’s is atmospheric, casinos are dotted around Morocco. It’s one of the few Muslim countries that allows gambling. Gaming started under the French Protectorate, which lasted until Moroccan independence in 1956. Gambling here follows French code rather than Sharia law.

Alcohol is also prohibited in Islam, labeled “haram,” prohibited or sinful. But visitors are welcome to order any drink in the house, such as the Cointreaus, cognacs and champagne cocktails that the stars drink in the film. Or, maybe even better, the signature “Sour Jdid” concocted by Rick’s Cafe creator Kriger.

“Rick’s is located on Boulevard Sour Jdid, ‘new walls’ in Arabic – at the end of the Medina walls,” Kriger wrote on the café’s website. “English speakers have suggested there has to be a cocktail called a Sour Jdid. Sitting in my corner one night I got an inspiration, went behind the bar and started mixing. The Sour Jdid is composed of Red Label scotch, red vermouth, mashed lemon slices and a splash of sparkling water… We invite you to share in Sour Hour!”

No matter how we spin out the evening, every movie must eventually wrap. We say a lingering adieu over “Moroccan whiskey,” cups of mint tea, poured from a dramatic height by our server.

Then it’s out into the Moroccan night. Rick warned us in the film, “Nobody’s supposed to sleep well in Casablanca.” But surely we can dream of a night at Rick’s Café. I’m all in.

The three-story atrium, topped by an octagonal cupola, soars in the center of Rick’s Cafe. There are five dining rooms over two floors.

BONUS: An 80-year-old masterpiece of its moment

“Casablanca” was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won three in 1944: Best Picture; Best Director, Michael Curtiz; and Best Writing, Screenplay, Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch.
The film was set for release in 1943, but a special screening was held in December, 1942 in New York to coincide with the Allied invasion of North Africa and the capture of Casablanca. The wide release was Jan. 23, 1943, to capitalize on the Casablanca Conference between President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Hungry for more? See what it’s like to attend a cooking class taught by locals in Morocco.

WHEN YOU GO to Rick’s Café in Casablanca

Rick’s Café, 248 Boulevard Sour Jdid, Place du Jardin Public, Casablanca. Open daily for lunch and dinner, reservations suggested. Visit the website for dress code, reservations and more information.
For more information on Morocco: visitmorocco.com/en

– Story and photos by Betsa Marsh

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