The Casbah Teahouse Reviews

by TOM STAUFFER, The Tucson Citizen, January 31, 2008

What was ordered: Falafel Sandwich ($7), Mediterranean Platter ($9), one Blue Sky cola ($1.50) for a total of $18.92, within our Cheap Eats goal of a meal for two for less than $20.

Comments: A fixture on Fourth Avenue for more than a decade, the recently reopened Casbah is a refreshing and peaceful departure from the normal lunch routine, even for Fourth Avenue.

Three different dining areas - a narrow, side patio; a small, quiet dining room, and a large gypsy canopy in the back - offer a healthy dose of ambiance to go with the healthful vegetarian fare.

There are cheaper places to get hummus, falafel and the like, but the Casbah has an undeniable, otherworldly attraction that rightfully pulls in a decent crowd of regular customers.

That said, a recent lunch was not without some shortcomings.

While the organic greens and veggies of the Mediterranean Platter ($9) were plentiful and fresh, we found the hummus and tabouli a little lacking in flavor and all-around character. The hummus looked and tasted as if it was a little long on the garbanzos and a little short on everything else, most notably the tahini and olive oil. The tabouli also struck us as a little on the spartan side, as it was lean on the parsley and lemon juice, with the resulting grain-heavy mixture coming off as somewhat mealy and pasty. Contrasting the lackluster hummus and tabouli were the dolmas, rice-and-pine-nut stuffed grape leaves that were bursting with rich, nutty flavor and a fresh citrus zing.

Like the dolmas, the falafels in the Falafel sandwich ($7) had a nice kick to them. They were pleasingly hot in temperature and spice level, and were cooked to a good texture, brown and crisp on the outside yet still moist and steamy on the inside. Accompanying the sandwich was a ramekin of yogurt sauce laden with fresh dill that nicely accented the falafels.
Both plates were carefully assembled and copious in their offerings, and featured generous amounts of organic cucumber and tomato. Unfortunately, both plates also featured pita bread that was less than exuberant. The sliced pita wedges on the Mediterranean Platter were stiff enough to conjure toast or crackers rather than spongy bread, and the pita that housed the falafel sandwich split apart when we tried to eat it, owing to its brittle, less-than-pristine condition.

The Casbah offers vegan and wheat-free options of many of its menu items, and has a nice selection of vegetarian fare, including an excellent-tasting house-made seitan, which is featured in its popular Casbah Cheesesteak ($8).

Despite a few foibles, I find Casbah to be a pleasant and welcoming place worth frequenting, provided they can be little more picky about their pitas.

Service: Tableside service was friendly and prompt.
Bar: no
Children's menu: yes

Coming Full Circle: She Uses Eatery's Scraps to Make Compost to Grow More Food for Eatery

The vegetarian restaurant on North Fourth Avenue is a full-cycle establishment. Every morsel that doesn't make it into someone's mouth winds up as compost, which supports veggies that will find their way into future Casbah meals, and compost piles, and so on.

"I have my employees separate everything and keep every food scrap," owner Carol Ann Krueger said. "To me it's golden."

She's been perfecting the Casbah's food cycle for almost as long as she's had the restaurant, which she opened in 1996 after years of following the Grateful Dead and other music and art festivals on tour with her traveling teahouse.

On a recent morning, Krueger, 53, brought three five-gallon buckets full of restaurant scraps to the large lot she rents adjacent to her Lost Barrio home. The land contains a 62-by-8-foot shaded garden and a chicken coop housing a dozen feathery-legged Cochin bantams (and one peacock that appeared this spring and has added two very large eggs to the chickens' numerous smaller contributions). The addition of fresh scraps in the coop caused the noisy scratching and clucking commotion common to chickens.

"You'd be surprised how much they eat," Krueger said, holding her favorite pet, a white rooster named Little Bird. "They go through it for a week and then we clean it out and put it into the hoops."

The remaining scraps then sit in the sun in round hoop containers. The piles look more or less like dark-brown dirt, which is essentially what the nutrient-rich compost becomes.

"Putting this compost back in I feel like I'm rebuilding the soil," said Krueger, her long hair woven into two braids. "I believe that whatever you give, you get -- whatever you put in, you get back again."

The garden now supports basil, baby greens, parsley, cucumbers, chard, and a few varieties of beans and peppers, all in various stages of growth. The restaurant owner is also working on building a greenhouse in her backyard so she can grow year-round.

"If you stagger your planting, you can stagger your harvest," she said. "If you plan it right, you can have something ripe at all times."

Krueger learned much of her gardening and cooking philosophies from her grandmother, who fed a family of 16 from her Wisconsin farm. The restaurateur also picked up a lot from working in the community kitchen and soy dairy on The Farm, a Tennessee commune where she lived in the mid-1970s.

After feeding the chickens, Krueger headed over to a patch of chard. She leaned over the deep-green, leafy plants and carefully chose select shoots.

"I take the bigger leaves and the ones closer to the ground, and that keeps it growing back," she explained as she threw the severed stocks into a large basket. "I usually take about a basket a day to the restaurant."

Back at the Casbah, she chopped the chard, which was then sauteed with celery, carrots, onion and garlic before being added to pressure-cooked black beans and seasoned with coriander, cumin, pepper and salt. The flavorful bean mixture is used in many dishes, including Gypsy Stew, Brazilian Black Beans, Burritos and Huevos Rancheros.

"We're one of the few restaurants where you can ask, 'What's in this?' and we can actually tell you," the bespectacled foodie said, laughing. She added that many regular Casbah customers are people with special dietary requirements.

The garden creates a lot of the food for the restaurant -- about 40 percent of the lettuce served this winter -- but it can't provide it all. When she has to supplement her supply, Krueger finds organic products whenever possible.

"A vegetarian restaurant consumes a lot of produce," she said. "A lot is expensive and has to be shipped in. I'm always looking for local sources, and I put the call out to local growers. I don't like shipping produce with fossil fuel. The more you can produce locally the better."

Healthy cooking and eating have long been passions for the restaurant owner. In 1969, Krueger was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, but she eschewed the drugs and surgery that were presented to her as the only options.

"At that time just a few books were coming out about natural food and diets," she said, and she became dedicated to learning as much as possible about it.

"I really believe you can heal yourself," she added. "I feel like it's a balance of elements and chemistry, and I believe if you can get that right, you'll be fine."

Over the years, Krueger has seen more Tucsonans catch on to the benefits of eating organic vegetarian food, but the local numbers still pale in comparison to the interest she sees each summer when, as she has for the past 15 years, she takes her traveling teahouse up the West Coast, stopping to serve at fairs and festivals.

"There are more and more people interested in it," she said. "Sometimes I think that if I was in Seattle or San Francisco, I'd have lines of people at the door."

"Tucked away just off of 4th Avenue is an exotic oasis, a gypsy tent offering a respite from the hustle of the street, a brief escape to a land of tribal rhythms, hypnotic dancing girls, spicy curries and Middle Eastern delights, Chai tea and Turkish coffee."

"Carol Ann learned the art of vegetarian cooking for large groups of people at The Farm, Stephen Gaskin's spiritual commune, in the '70s, and she obviously learned her lessons well. The food is excellent and the menu is varied and plentiful. Everything is fresh and almost everything is organic. "

"I urge you to visit the Casbah for the quality of the food, of course, but for a real treat try to visit when live entertainment is offered (and that's almost every evening)."

The Casbah Tea House is one of Tucson's few all-vegetarian restaurants. They use organic ingredients when possible. They're located on 4th Avenue, the perfect location for this hippie/bohemian joint. There's a small coffeehouse in front, with a full restaurant in the back. The restaurant is decorated with Middle Eastern/Asian/hippie flair.

"I love all the food but am most impressed by the fajitas. The vegetables and protein (your choice of tofu, seitan, or tempeh) are grilled in a wonderful raspberry-chipotle sauce, and it is served to you with a couple of whole-wheat tortillas (or one huge tortilla, depending on what's on hand). Also impressive are the black beans and the Mediterranean platter."

"Our order was of a Vegan Reuben, Burrito, Mocha Shake and Vegan Malt Shake, and as I said, it was very good. I was particularly pleased that they made Vegan malts, and it did not disappoint. "

" They do provide vegetarian and vegan food in a fun atmosphere. Kids will love the outdoor seating. And the belly dancers at night are always fun to watch. So when you've got an evening free, head over to Casbah for some veggie fajitas. You'll have fun."

I visited the Casbah Teahouse in Tucson last week. It is a quirky and individual place, the back restaurant is charming fitted out as a Bedouin tent with Moroccan carpets and furniture making it fun to visit. The vegan and vegetarian menu is extensive and interesting as is the salad bar. A wide range of delicious teas, fair trade coffees and some splendid puddings.

"If you find yourself trekking through the Tucson area in search for a nice oasis at which to slake your thirst and sate the grumbling hunger within, you should stop by the teahouse. I've never been to anyplace quite like it before, and I'm pretty sure I never will again. The calm and relaxed atmosphere was wonderful."

Great food, relaxing ambiance await at Casbah Tea House
Raina Wagner, The Arizona Daily Star

Have you ever wanted to be the Calgon lady, relaxing in a luxurious bathtub that instantaneously ``takes you away'' from the stress and noise of your life? Well, I can't help you with bubble baths, but I can tell you about a restaurant filled with soft light, overstuffed cushions, intriguing music and food fit for a feast.

It's the Casbah Tea House, a little place on Fourth Avenue that seems light-years away from the hustle and bustle of the nearby downtown district. It actually sits well back from the street, down a little alley decorated with colorful Celtic knots on the sidewalk, and nestled behind the Creative Spirit Gallery, its mother company.

The restaurant and coffee/teahouse is a huge Bedouin tent under which 100 people can lounge on cushions or sit India-style on short-legged brass chairs. (There are also a few regular tables and chairs, but in a place like this, how could you deign to use them?) Since the teahouse opened, the Casbah has been doing good business, feeding people vegetarian fare and specialties like the Chai Tea, the Ginger Root Tea and an organic coffee, called ``Capulin,'' grown for Krueger by a friend in Mexico.

Everything at the Casbah is good. I had to try my favorite beans - black beans - when I saw them on the menu with basmati rice, served in a bowl or a plate. I opted for the bowl, augmented with a fresh whole-wheat tortilla. The savory beans were spiked with surprises, including carrots and green onions, and they were perfect with the slightly sweet basmati. A whole-wheat tortilla made a fine wrap for mini burritos - it's no surprise the Black Bean Burrito is also a menu item.

Later, I tried the spanakopita, a spinach and feta cheese blend wrapped in flaky filo The blend had the consistency of quiche, but tasted much healthier. One more perusal of the tearoom menu ended with the selection that gave me a little bit of everything: the Middle East Plate. For $9, you get a huge offering of hummus (not too garlicky), tabouli (a flavorful mix of bulgur wheat and parsley and a bit of mint), rice-wrapped-in-leaves dolmas, a pile of feta cheese and many toppings (olives, tomato, lettuce, etc.) to wrap in a warm wheat pita. Not a single item fell short of expectations on the Middle East Plate - and that's a lot of items.

Being a teahouse, it's no surprise that the Casbah has more than a few teas. The restaurant also serves several soups and salads, plus organic bagels, baklava and an array of healthful desserts. During every evening but Sunday, entertainment gets served up as well. Look for belly dancing on Friday nights, poetry readings on Tuesdays, and a mix of live and taped music from flamenco guitar to the aforementioned, dearly departed Garcia.

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"Yearning for several of your more serene past lives?"
January 1998
The Awareness Journal

Ease into Middle Eastern bliss at the Casbah. Slump into a pile of colorful floor pillows. Sign, and savor hummus, butternut squash melts, hibiscus and rose is tea served on round brass tables nearly floor level. Envelop yourself in a cocoon of sensuality, lush plants fanning high, and sound of a bubbling fountain nearby.

"The Teahouse is not strictly Arabian, Turkish, or Moroccan," says Carol Ann. "It's a cultural collection in the tradition of the tea ceremony and traditional coffeehouse. We honor the tribal ways of all cultures here, embracing diversity and its roots."
The Casbah creates space for meeting of the minds. It honors the essence of Mashdi Moktar, a mythic Persian who had a teahouse where people gathered to share their experiences and philosophize about life.

In addition to nourishment for the soul, the Casbah provides food that is "mostly organic." Gypsy Stew, Spanakopita, black beans and rice, and tofu cream pies. Even the Turkish Coffee is rich with tradition. In the Turkish ritual, you boil the coffee in tiny cups, bringing it to a head and letting it fall, then rise to a boil again three times. After drinking the coffee, you can turn the cup upside down, letting the coffee grounds drip into a pattern that can be read.

While reading your Turkish coffee grounds on Friday nights, you can enjoy belly dancing at the Casbah. On one particular Friday night, the belly dancer moved like a flame. Her shadow was a young girl from the audience, about three years old, dressed all in white, with white-blonde hair who swirled her young arms in joyful imitation of the flame.
Pull up a pillow and read your grounds. Perhaps you will glimpse one you your past lives there.
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"FIND YOUR BLISS"
Eva Maria Lugo, Downtown Dateline News

Perhaps I should start by saying that I have an intrinsic mistrust of advertisement. Maybe it is that my father was a journalist who taught me to question everything, maybe it is due to my artistic training that taught me to seek my own truth, or maybe it is due to the fact that as a child of this day-and-age I have learned to see beyond the surface of things. At any rate when I read the advertisement for the Casbah Teahouse, promising bliss with a picture of the Buddha, I had to check it out.

It turns out that this place is very pleasant. The gallery is not a gallery in the normal sense of the word, it is more like a store where beautiful handmade products from all over the world are sold. I spoke with the owner, Ms. Carol Krueger a lovely blond lady with gentle manners and a soft voice who graciously took the time to talk with me and walk me around the place. Ms. Krueger talked about her intentions when she and her husband created this ambiance know as the Casbah Teahouse.

Ms. Krueger is a "true American Hippie" that wanted people of all cultures to come together and enjoy a vegetarian meal in a peaceful environment. Originally a jeweler, by trade, she would come to Tucson just for the gem show and found the people and the climate too enticing to leave. The people that visit her little heaven are tourist, 4th avenue regulars, friends from all over the world, and locals who need to get recharged by a change of atmosphere.
The main room of the place is surrounded by hand carved settees from Nooristan. Low tables and brass ornaments and candle holders decorate the place, the food is healthy, vegetarian, and inexpensive. An almond eyed beauty brought me one of the best Chai teas I have had for a very long time, and I sat back to listen to Ms. Krueger tell me about her plans and the pleasure that this place brings her and her visitors.

I liked that this woman sincerely enjoyed her business and wanted to "create and oasis in the middle of the City", I liked her warm sincere delight when one of her clients stopped by our corner to tell her that he had really enjoyed his meal. I liked the variety of things that were on sale in the little gallery/store in the front. I liked that they have belly dancing on Fridays and poetry reading and storytelling on Tuesdays. I like the man that was washing dished in the back because he greeted me with a smile. I liked that the musicians that were preparing to play were treated with respect.

So there you have it, stranger-friend who plans to order a cup of tea with a plate of organic dates, when you stop by this place and visit the little garden in the back where the fountain is. If you happen to find bliss while there, well Buddha was right, we can all find bliss if we live in the moment. I send blessings from my heart to everyone for the new year.
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"BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY"
Hanging Out At The Casbah Tea House Is Good For Your Health
Tucson Weekly Rebecca Cook

"Your sick of hanging around and you'd like to travel/Tired of travel, you want to settle down/I guess they can't revoke your soul for trying/Get out of the door--light out and look around."
"Truckin'," by The Grateful Dead

While many devoted Deadheads found an intellectually esoteric significance in the band's every lyrical turn of phase and resonant guitar chord, Carol Ann Krueger took the lines to heart and converted them into action.
Along with husband Wild Bill From Over the Hill, Krueger not only joined the thousands of Deadheads who flocked to each and every Grateful Dead concert, she actually devised a way to make a living while doing so.
Investing in a food-service travel trailer, Krueger and Wild Bill fed the hungry masses gathered at venue around the country. The fare was all vegetarian and conspicuously healthy, unlike the usual concession food menu consisting of nachos, hot dogs and hamburgers. No estimates are available on how many Deadheads were served over the years, but the venture was profitable enough to net thousands of dollars each year it was in operation.

The death of Jerry Garcia in 1995 brought an abrupt end to the enterprise and Krueger and Wild Bill began looking for a comfortable place to park their trailer for awhile and put down some roots. Who could be surprised that Tucson, and in particular Fourth Avenue, won the prize?

The trailer has been converted into the kitchen for The Casbah Teahouse. Krueger and Wild Bill's latest endeavor along with the adjoining Creative Spirit Gallery. (In addition to her culinary skills, Krueger apparently also has some talent as a jeweler. Many of her necklaces, rings, earrings and accessories, as well as a selection of Eastern-style clothing, are sold at the next-door gallery.)

Still imparting a hint of impermanence, The Casbah Tea House resembles a huge tent, decidedly Bedouin in style and design. Although tableside service is sometimes available, most customers prefer to order at the counter and then wander off to one of the garden patio seating, a selection process that isn't quite as simple as it sounds. True, there are a few traditional picnic tables; but much more intriguing are the large pillows and brass, spheroid tables hovering close to the ground and surrounded by chairs with tiny four-inch legs. Depending on your mood (or your ability to get up and down with relative ease), you make your choice.

The setup and design of the Casbah is important to note because -- just like the band that inspired the creation of this eatery -- it is not a restart of universal appeal. For example, while my mother might actually adore the food here, she would be so enormously uncomfortable with the surroundings (both physically and socially), that it would be impossible for her to fully relish her meal. The Casbah is part and parcel of the Fourth Avenue Street Scene: funky, slightly unpredictable and utterly singular. In cafe parlance, it won't be everyone's cup of tea. My bottom line, however, is the food. As much as I eschew an exclusive diet of things that are good for me, I have to admit that the Casbah does an outstanding job of producing wholesome, organic food that's as delicious as it is nutritionally sound. In my experience this is an extremely rare occurrence.

The most spectacular, perhaps, are the Casbah's salads, which are all made with fresh, organic ingredients and come bursting with the flavors of the backyard garden. Every ingredient tastes like its supposed to -- not even close to that nondescript, crunchy impostors you frequently end up with when you buy your produce at a chain supermarket. The baby greens are delicate and provide the requisite balance between sweet and bitter; the tomatoes are deeply red, rope and luscious; the sprouts fresh and slightly crunchy; and the red onion mild enough to be enjoyed without overpowering your dinner companion later in the evening.

The organic potato salad is magnificent: tender chunks of new potato tossed a barely detectable dressing of yogurt, dill and fresh ground pepper. The salad is a good example of the Casbah's ability to get away with making dishes comprised of few ingredients; the items they do include are so full of flavor that additional doctoring would be superfluous. Embellishments aren't needed when the core constituents are so delicious.

The Middle East Plate is a dine way to sample a variety of Casbah specialties. Composed of organic hummus, tabouli, dolmas and a lovely salad with feta cheese and Greek olives, this is a fun dish to work you way around. The chick pea puree manages a satisfying balance between sesame, lemon and garlic, and the tabouli contains a delightful infusion of mint, parsley and garlic. The dolmas are tender, rice-filled treats with a subtly briny piquancy that lent itself well to a quick dip through the hummus. I was totally enamored.................The Casbah's menu contains several more sandwich items, including meatless burgers and hot dogs, as well as soups, salads, stews, bean dishes and bagels with a wide variety of organic toppings.

Not surprisingly, the Casbah offers an assortment of tea, ranging from those meant to please your taste buds to those intended to cure what ails you. Black teas, green teas, herbal teas and blends are available, The next time you're down with a case of the sniffles, you might try Mama Bear's Cold Care and cup of homemade soup.

Most impressive at the Casbah are the homemade desserts, many of them vegan (no eggs or dairy products). With trepidation we sampled the carrot cake and a chocolate espresso cake (being of the mind the dessert should always be exempt from all health consideration) and were rewarded with a sweet intensity that rivaled the competition at the finest bitter-and-cream patisseries.

Nightly entertainment, ranging from poetry readings and live music to Friday night belly dancing, are also a prime element of Casbah experience. The Dead tours may have ended, but a regnant of that bygone era persists her at home, in a little space on Fourth Avenue. Krueger and Wild Bill might say, "What a long, strange trip it's been."
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"SUPPER TO SOOTHE THE GYPSY SOUL"
The Awareness Journal

"Are you the Bedouin Gypsy people that set up the tent?" customers routinely ask Carol Ann Krueger, CO-owner of the Casbah Teahouse, and her partners, Wild Bill from Over the Hill and his guiding light, Mashdi Moktar. Wild Bill is flesh. Mashdi Moktar is all spirit. Moktar is the mythical Persian owner of a traveling teahouse. He is the inspiration of Krueger and Wild Bill's once nomadic teahouse which found a home in Tucson two and a half years ago.

Occasionally, delighted customers recognize the living essence of the Casbah from the many festivals in Oregon and California in which Krueger and Wild Bill catered and performed for 15 years. Like the Casbah, the nomadic teahouse offered people tea, cookies, and belly dancing. A "taste of tribal living."
To others, the Casbah is a completely new sensation. "The other day a young guy came in here and asked me, 'Is this a theme or is this a lifestyle? Maybe this is like the hippies from the fifties,'" says Krueger amusedly. "It made me think. It's a little of both."

Actually, it is a lot of everything. With tents from Egypt, Afghan rugs gracing the walls and floors, brass trays from India, and a peaceful meditating Buddha overseeing the adjoining patio, the Casbah is an eclectic blend of all world cultures. A convergence of all kinds of people, flavors, tapestries, and entertainment.

Recently, Dr. Andrew Weil and some heads of his University of Arizona alternative medical clinic feasted on the international vegetarian faire, which is 90 percent organic. Last February the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show packed the place. Colombian, Africans, Egyptians, and turbaned Indian nourished themselves with everything from Spanakopita (spinach wrapped in fail dough and baked to a golden brown) to hummus and tabouli and upside down pineapple cake. Mikaela Rierson munches there quite often. A man from Afghanistan, while dining at the Casbah, recognized the low, intricately carved chairs that line the walls and circle the tables. He even knew exactly what city in Afghanistan they were made in and which carpenter carved each chair.

On a recent visit, my eating partner and I sat in the tented patio near the gracious Buddha, listening to birdsong and running water from the nearby fountain. My eating partner devoured the Gypsy Stew a Casbah exclusive concoction of coconut curry, red lentil stew nesting atop steaming basmati rice.....
Meanwhile, I savored the Shepherd's Pie -- mashed potatoes, peas, corn, seasoned tofu drenched in cashew gravy. The creamy, warm texture soothed my frazzled nerves. Definitely comfort food at its finest. Just to make sure I didn't get too relaxed, though, I capped it off with a Mocha which will satisfy anyone's Java and chocolate fix. This is definitely food for the Higher Self, although the lower self won't feel deprived.

For dessert, we split the lighthearted tofu cheesecake topped with juicy blueberries and made by baker Pamela, who was literally the answer to Krueger's prayers. "We wanted someone who knew how to cook vegan style. Low fat, no refined products, and organic. So that it was appealing on all levels."

The Casbah is appealing on many levels. Where else can you experience tea ecstasy with so many flavors to choose from? Mandarin Orange Spice, Licorice Spice, Hibiscus and Rose Hips, Moroccan Min, Organic Bancha. Even herbal medicinal such as Echinacea and Golden Seal. Mama Bear's Cold Care, Gotu Kola, Alfalfa-Peppermint. Woman Liberty. Breathe Easy. Ginger Yogi Tea. Coffee? Try the Turkish or Herbal Espresso or the organic Latte. And there's Blue Sky Sodas and organic juices and natural. How about a Lime Cactus Quencher to stun the dusty throat?

Those is culinary transition can chow down on a vegetarian bologna sandwich or the Casbah Cheese "Steak" which is a marinated seitan steak on a whole wheat onion roll, smothered with lettuce, tomato, red onion, and your choice of soy or jack cheese, or the Reuben Burger -- complete with sauerkraut and you will swear you are in Philadelphia and this is real corned beef (actually it's tempeh!) And there are homemade pies, just like Grandma made.