Casablanca Is a Milwaukee Success

Casablanca. Photo taken Nov. 3, 2025 by Cari Taylor-Carlson.

Casablanca has been a destination for people who want authentic Middle Eastern food since 1988 when Jesse Musa opened his small restaurant at 730 W. Historic Mitchell St. In the late 1990s Musa relocated Casablanca to Oakland Avenue. Then he moved back to Mitchell where he served his Mediterranean dishes until 2005 when he found a permanent home on Brady Street.

I have been a fan since I discovered Casablanca on Mitchell in the early 1990s. That was when his sons, young teens at the time, were spotted helping in the dining room. Now his sons, Alaa and Nas, chef and manage Casablanca on Brady. According to our server, Jesse Musa is no longer active in the kitchen but he plays an active role in the restaurant’s management.

In 2012 the family added a second floor that includes a dining room and a large balcony overlooking Brady. With its stunning white pillars and architectural details, Casablanca stands out on the east end of Brady. In addition to their Mediterranean cuisine, Casablanca offers a place for people to smoke hookah. On a warm evening, the sidewalk in front of the restaurant reverts to a temporary hookah lounge where people smoke and socialize.

You could start your meal with a cup of lentil soup. Its balance of spicy heat mingled with the lentils and lingered after I emptied my bowl.

If you wish, you can order hummus, two spinach pies, baba ghanoush, or fafafel, as appetizers, or, you could do as I did and order the combination platter. Then, in addition to the appetizers, you also get a large portion of tabouleh salad and several stuffed grape leaves. This was a generous array of Middle Eastern specialties and a chance to sample much of the fare on a single plate.

The baba ghanoush was tasty but needed more lemon and garlic; the hummus was flawless including the addition of olive oil, chick peas, and pickled turnip; the exceptionally fresh tabouleh salad was dressed with lemon which enhanced the flavors of the mint, chopped tomatoes, and bulgar; the stuffed grape leaves or dolmades were tart and delicious; the spinach pie tasted as if it just came from the oven; the fafalel had a thick crust and needed the accompanying tzatziki sauce; and the pita was soft and yeasty and like the spinach pie, just out of the oven.

My companions’ combination platter included one lamb kifta, one chicken kabob, basmati rice, and grilled onions, peppers, and tomatoes. There was enough food for two with some rice left over. The chicken had grill marks and it was juicy, tender, and hinted of the spices in its marinade. The lamb kifta, three pieces of grilled lamb that resembled small oval-shaped burgers, were succulent and filled with the flavors of garlic, onion, and an array of Middle Eastern spices.

You will find a lengthy menu at Casablanca that includes a variety of beef, chicken, and lamb entrees, along with several pasta choices, burgers, wraps, a Caesar salad, and a long list of luscious desserts such as triple chocolate mousse cake, New York cheesecake, and casa brownie souffle. If you want to stay with a more traditional Middle Eastern dessert, do as I did and order the baklava. It was sweet, rich, oozy from honey and filled with chopped walnuts.

There is a detail I need to mention because friends and I came for Sunday brunch and found the restaurant closed. If you check the Casablanca website, it says the restaurant opens daily at 11:00 a.m. The 11:00 opening is for takeout and delivery only, a detail not mentioned on the website.

Casablanca opened on Mitchell 37 years ago, before baba ghanoush or hummus were menu staples and before restaurants that served Mediterranean cuisine began to open in Milwaukee. Given the number of restaurants that have disappeared since the 1980s, the fact that Casablanca is still here says it all.

On the Menu

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The Rundown

• Location: 728 E. Brady St.
• Phone: 414-271-6000
• Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Mon-Sun (carryout and delivery until 4 p.m.)
• Neighborhood: Lower East Side
• Walk Score: 92
• Website: http://www.casablancaonbrady.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/casaonbrady
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CasablancaOnBrady

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