Latitudes - Restaurant Review / Lunch

"We want to celebrate diversity." -Pete Enochs, owner and cook

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At Latitudes restaurant in Auburn, owners Pat and Pete Enochs want to serve "healthy food with a global attitude." "Our goal is go bring different parts of the world to Auburn," Pat said.

Pat runs the restaurant with her husband, Pete, who cooks. Each month, they change the latitude and represent a different country and its cuisine.

On the top of the menu, a box labeled "Monthly Latitude," lists the specials. When we visited Latitudes for lunch, it featured African cuisine. Though these particular specialties may not be available, due to the change of latitude each month, it will give you a sense of their way with food, which is excellent.

We began with an appetizer, the African Salmon salad, called Mishywa. It consisted of poached fresh salmon, tomato and sweet pepper, mixed together and served with avocado and greens. The flavors of tomato, cumin, lemon and garlic made the salad tangy and spicy but light and delicious.

For main courses, we chose the Doro Wat (Ethiopian Chicken) and Halibut Tangine, both from the African Latitude. The chicken dish had a sauce of sautéed onions, tomato paste and berebere, a combination of cayenne and cinnamon. The sauce had a kick to it, but was balanced with organic short grain brown rice.

The halibut was cooked to perfection, light and delicious. It was marinated with chermoula-onions, garlic, cumin, turmeric, bell pepper and kalamata olives-then simmered till tender and served over couscous, on a bed of fresh spinach. The presentation of the bright green spinach leaves, the yellow tinged halibut (due to the cumin, I suspect), and the yellow couscous, made it as lovely to look at as it was to eat.

"The halibut is a good example of regional cuisine. It is a Moroccan dish, but wasn't so highly spiced that it is too much. The cumin and turmeric represent the Mediterranean region," Pete said.

Luckily, we had room for dessert, for the chocolate cake was even better than the halibut. Called "Warm Bittersweet Chocolate Cake," it had a rich chocolate frosting and was served warm with crème fraiche. It was so good, I was afraid Pete wouldn't want to share the recipe, but he obliged. He said the secret ingredient is honey and when the cake is heated, the honey gets soft and creamy, making it especially moist.

The aroma of the bittersweet chocolate and then the rich, full taste of the bittersweet chocolate and the honey, plus the sensation of the warm cake, made it unforgettable.

We also tried the crème brulee, which was excellent, crusty on top as it should be, with a slightly lemon tang to it. But after the chocolate cake, it just couldn't compete. The cake won, hands down.

After lunch, Pete explained the philosophy behind Latitudes. "We want to celebrate diversity. It is a mistake when people assume that because food comes from a different culture, they're not going to like it. Or to assume that everything tastes the same, too," he said. "One culture is not better than another; they are all very interesting," he said.

In September, the featured cuisine is from Spain. "The paella, for example, is a little heavier than the summer foods," he said. October menus will offer German cuisine along with German wine and beer.

November features East Indian food. "It will be the beginning of the cold season and the food is spicy, enlivening and promotes blood circulation," he said. "A cook is responsible for the health and happiness of the family," he added.

In December, they have specialty holiday items such as Prime Rib, Confetti Prawns, and Tempeh Wellington. Every month they feature vegetarian specials and one third of the menu items are vegetarian.

"Our focus is on cultural differences. We want to serve the real food, what the people of the culture eat on a regular basis. We're not trying to be like the Hilton here," Pete said.

He looks for ideas from reading National Geographic and scours cookbooks, searching for the recipes to feature. Each month the employees taste the menu and the wines of the region of the latitude so that they can answer questions and be knowledgeable for the diners.

They use local fresh ingredients, organic when possible. "Last year, we had local tomatoes until the first week of December. In summer, local farmers deliver to our kitchen door," Pete said. They also serve the wines of the region to complement the menu.

The Enochs have been in the restaurant business for 26 years. In addition to the special "latitude" cuisine of the month, the lunch menu offers a variety of soups, salads, sandwiches, pastas and burgers. The soups are homemade, some vegetarian and non-dairy.

The restaurant building dates from the late 1880s, though a new front section, added in 1980, kept the feeling of the Victorian era architecture. When you visit, be sure to check out the majestic 200-year-old Valley Oak tree that comes up through the deck.