Oh, really?

I had an interesting and kind of funny restaurant dining experience last night. It's also a good lesson to not believe everything your server may say.

The menu listed a fish special with Moroccan tapenade. Hmm, that's interesting.....now, what makes the tapenade Moroccan, I asked the server?

Now, I wasn't being a smart ass. I'm quite aware that tapenade is a Provencal condiment made with crushed olives, but this sounded intriguing. I was expecting to hear that, perhaps, harissa, a red North African chili paste, was blended along with olives.

Nope. The server goes on to say that tapenade is a traditional Moroccan dish - and gives me the "like, duh, don't you know?" face - and explains it's an olive dish.

(Thoughts racing through my brain: Tapenade is Moroccan? Really? Since when? Tell that to all the people in the south of France who claim the condiment as their own and spread it on crusty bread like we use butter.)

I didn't share those thoughts, but my dining buddy, a guy who knows me so well, started laughing when the server walked away.

"Tapenade isn't Moroccan, is it?" he said.

Mediterranean, yes. Moroccan, well....like, I said, France comes to mind before Morocco....

(This is yet another reason to get an iPhone so I could google tapenade on the spot and prove my point.)

The tapenade came - served on the side - and it was a red paste. I'm guessing that was the addition of harissa. And it was delicious with the fish.