Carmel Tagine gives the Peninsula a memorable taste of the North African land.

Fate can be a cruel mistress. Yet for some, she can pave the way to greater things, as in Zin Elyoussoufi’s case. Getting laid off from his high-tech job during the economic downturn led him to his true calling.

Unable to find another job in the industry, Elyoussoufi decided to open a restaurant. The result: Carmel Tagine, the Monterey Peninsula’s only Moroccan restaurant, which opened in May.

Despite his professional background, food has always been in Elyoussoufi’s blood. “I love cooking,” he says. “Cooking is my passion.”

It started when he first arrived in the U.S. in 1982. Homesick for the food of his native Morocco, he would call his mother in Marrakesh and ask her for the recipes he remembered from his childhood. On trips back home, he would fill his suitcase with spices and cookbooks.

Stints at the Inn at Spanish Bay and Doubletree Hotel (now Portola Hotel and Spa) in banquet services and management, meanwhile, provided vital food and restaurant experience.

Carmel Tagine’s namesake is a slow-cooked stew of meat or poultry braised with a sauce created from vegetables, olives, preserved lemons, garlic and spices. The earthenware vessel traditionally used to cook the stew and topped with a chimney-like conical lid is also called a tagine.

Don’t expect Berber carpets or embroidered cushions strewn about the floor at this location, which was formerly occupied by Chez Christine. Carmel Tagine has a modern, albeit nondescript, decor. Scenes from Morocco hang on butter-yellow walls and guests are seated at marble-topped tables.

The cuisine, however, is as authentic Moroccan as can be. “Most of the recipes are family recipes,” Elyoussoufi says. “Some I created myself.” Indeed, his dishes are infused with the signature spices of the North African country: garlic, ginger, cumin, paprika and cinnamon all play starring roles.

The first courses are limited but satisfying. The harira ($6.95), a citrusy tomato-based soup delicately flavored with bits of lamb and studded with lentils and garbanzo beans, is a hearty launch into our meal when my party and I pay the restaurant a visit.

My favorite of the salad trifecta (“mosaic of salads,” $10.95, also available individually) is eggplant soaked in a zingy marinade of paprika, cumin and tomatoes; The tender-crisp carrots, laden with herbs and spices, and the couscous tabbouleh tossed with tomatoes, green onions and cucumber, and seasoned with fresh mint and lemon juice, are just as pleasant. The heady smell and savor of garlic punctuates each dish.

As I eagerly anticipate the arrival of our main courses, I imagine our server delivering a colorful tagine and whipping off the lid with pomp and circumstance to reveal a steaming and aromatic stew.

My face must be an open book when our tagines – one chicken, one lamb – arrive on unremarkable white platters devoid of any fanfare. Sensing my disappointment, our gracious server tells us that if two or more order the same dish, the meal is served in a tagine. Point noted.

However, the stews more than make up for this minor setback. The lemon chicken ($12.95) comprises boneless breast coated in a sauce of pungent preserved lemons (soft and creamy yellow strips that dissolve on my tongue) and laced with ginger, garlic and saffron. Having had my share of musky lamb dishes, I am surprised and delighted at the fork-tender lamb chunks in a velvety sauce heightened by the sweetness of plums and the crunch of marcona almonds ($14.95). Saffron-tinged orzo accompanies both dishes.

In keeping with Islamic tradition, Carmel Tagine uses only halal meats and doesn’t serve alcohol. Elyoussoufi says his main motivation in opening Carmel Tagine is to promote the food of Morocco. Besides, he says, “Seeing the smiles on people’s faces when they enjoy my food is more pleasurable than money.”

Then he adds assuredly, “When we offer our customers Moroccan tea, they forget about wine.” Truth be told, as I sip the honeyed mint tea from a dainty glass, I don’t miss the wine at all.

Carmel Tagine has also just started dinner service during the weekends. While the dishes are essentially the same, the multi-course Carmel Special ($22.95) offers diners a taste of just about everything on the menu – the mosaic of salads, a choice of tagines, Moroccan tea and baklava for dessert.

For those seeking familiar Middle Eastern favorites, lamb and chicken kabobs are on the menu. And Elyoussoufi intends to add side dishes like hummus and baba ganoush in addition to chicken, lamb and falafel sandwiches in the coming months. He encourages patrons to visit often because he plans to rotate the menu every few months to offer “a different version of Morocco.”

I, for one, am looking forward to bístilla, a flaky layered pie of chicken, phyllo and egg sprinkled with powdered sugar, a delicacy that Elyoussoufi assures me will be on the menu come mid-December.

If you can’t wait, you can always call and order the bístilla – and just about any other Moroccan specialty – ahead. Elyoussoufi will be more than happy to oblige. Now that’s taking fate into your own hands.

CARMEL TAGINE Junipero, between Fifth and Sixth, Carmel • 11am-2:30pm daily; 5:30-9:30pm Thu-Sat 624-0300, http://www.carmeltagine.com