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Article: Garden of earthly delights: the Maison Arabe pitches a Berber tent and opens a Casbah cooking school on a property outside Marrakech.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Interior Design
- Article date:
- June 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. (US). This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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IN THE 1940s and 50s, the Maison Arabe was me legendary restaurant of Marrakesh. Installed in a riad, or town house, in the medina--the colonial city's old Arab quarter--and run by an eccentric Frenchwoman and her daughter, the Maison Arabe was famous for its superb Moroccan cuisine and an international following that included Hemingway, Churchill, and Eisenhower. When the Frenchwoman's daughter, Susanne Larochette-Sebillon, finally retired in 1983, the restaurant closed, and the building remained shuttered and empty for nearly 20 years.
Then Fabrizio Ruspoli met Larochette-Sebillon by happenstance. A descendant of a noble Roman family, Ruspoli was born and raised ...