Lattitude Restaurant – West Springfield

For a while now, people have been telling me about Lattitude in West Springfield, with some calling it the best restaurant in the area. I’d heard in particular about the fried Brussels sprouts appetizer. “It’ll change your opinion of Brussels sprouts forever,” said my informant.

So, my wife and I gathered our friend Jeff and set off to investigate. Jeff is ideally suited to the task: A former restaurant cook, he’s a knowledgeable and enthusiastic eater. LATTITUDE (1338 Memorial Ave., West Springfield, 241-8888; www.lattitude1338.com), which just celebrated the one-year mark, is across from the Big E, where Caffeine’s used to be. Owner-chef Jeffrey Daigneau took over the spaces on either side and hired restaurant designers Dan Cassidy and Joe Viens. They created a larger dining room, a poured concrete bar and space for private dining. The result is appealing and urban, if a trifle loud when the restaurant is full.

We ordered the Brussels sprouts ($7) while we perused the menu. Daigneau buys a lot of his produce from local farms and farmers markets. The menu changes daily, and by the time we arrived at the restaurant, the lamb entrée listed on the Web site had been replaced by a pork flatiron. The sprouts came while we were negotiating our dinner entrees. Large Brussels sprouts had been cut lengthwise in quarters, then fried without batter or additional seasonings except for a little salt. Served with a chili aioli, they had crisp outer leaves and inner cores cooked without a trace of the sulfurous odor that affects overboiled sprouts. The portion was good-sized, but by the time we were ready to order our meals, I was reduced to searching for crisp little bits to munch on.

Jeff, who once worked for a Boston wine shop, looked over the wine list, noting approvingly that the markup was not extreme and that there were bottles starting at $20. We got a 2005 Number 11 Pinot Noir from California, at $67 somewhat higher than the $40 range of many bottles. The manager spent some time discussing it with us and decanted it, leaving us the bottle to examine. I don’t pretend to a have sophisticated wine palate, but the bottle went well with everything we ordered. The wine list is available online, and I noticed a dozen beer taps as well, with local and micro brews.

We started with two additional appetizers: three large grilled scallops with maple pepper bacon, arugula and orange slices ($12) and a steamed dish of mussels and clams in a sauce featuring white wine and more of the maple bacon ($12). The scallops were amazing, cooked just past translucent. The mussels and clams were fresh and flavorful, the bacon adding a nice note to the broth.

For dinner, we settled on the pork flatiron, with eggplant fries and sautéed broccoli rabe ($18); a flank steak, with mashed white sweet potatoes, tomato and bacon ($20); and roast chicken, served over the mashed sweet potatoes with spring vegetables ($18). All were good; the pork was a standout. A pork flatiron is a shoulder cut that has enough fat running through it to cook up moist and juicy. The eggplant fries, three logs of eggplant covered in panko bread crumbs, were fried crisp and brown and were melting and creamy on the inside.

My chicken, which was a partially boned half bird, was expertly cooked and tasted of the herbs that dotted its skin. The mashed white sweet potatoes were not as sweet as traditional sweet potatoes, but were a perfect complement to the chicken. The green peas and small carrots were, perhaps, a touch too al dente, and the otherwise tasty sauce had a bit too much of the chicken fat from the skin. The flank steak arrived medium rare, covered in a mint-basil chimichurri sauce.

Our server was friendly and attentive, answering all our questions about the menu and responding genially to our jokes, and the food runner was unfailingly efficient.

Jeffrey Daigneau is a local boy, Agawam born and raised, who started in restaurants when he was in 10th grade. After a stint at the Culinary Institute of America from 1995 to 1997, he worked for a number of area restaurants, including School Street Bistro, Max’s Tavern, Tumble Brook Country Club and the Eastside Grill. He searched for three years to find the space that now houses Lattitude. At 32, he is where he wants to be, the owner of a hot new restaurant.

We spent three hours over dinner, finishing with a berry cobbler, a coconut crème brulee and a warm oblong chocolate chip cookie based on Daigneau’s mother’s recipe. The bill, including a tip that reflected the additional time we took, came to about $70 per person, admittedly a lot; with restraint, you could have an excellent meal for under $50 per person.

All in all, dinner at Lattitude made for a fine evening. Best restaurant in the area? Quite possibly. In the top tier? Unquestionably.

Lattitude is open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Dinner is served from 4 to 10 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, and until 11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. The restaurant is closed on Sunday. Reservations are recommended.

Originally published, Daily Hampshire Gazette, July 3, 2009.