Your choice: You could ask co-owner and Executive Chef Jose Antonio “Chef Tony” Castillo to explain the concept for Longitud315, his South American fusion restaurant in Highwood. Or you could order the Churrasco ($29.95), the menu’s signature entree, which serves up a representative sampling of evocative tastes spanning the continent: grilled steak, chicken breast; Brazilian sausage, black beans and rice, plantains and yuca, a sweet potatolike root vegetable.
“Every country in South America has its own version of this,” Castillo said. “It represents the concept of the restaurant.”
Castillo opened Longitud315, his first restaurant, three years ago after stints with Flap Top Grill in Evanston and for a food service company that provides cooking service to Takeda Pharmaceuticals in Deerfield.
“It has always been my dream to own a restaurant,” he said. His dream, but according to his grandmother, his destiny.
As a child, he lived with her in Venezuela and served as an apprentice of sorts in her catering business, providing meals to 100 people in the neighborhood.
“I was 7 or 8 years old and wanted to be outside playing with my friends,” Castillo said. “My grandmother said, ‘One day you will be a chef and you need to learn.'”
One of the first dishes he learned to make, Arepas Dona Ynes, a white corn and cheesecake appetizer, is on the menu (two for $5.95), as is Bocado de Rey, a bread pudding dessert ($9.95) that is his grandmother’s recipe.
His grandmother’s father was from Brazil and her mother from Venezuela.
“That combination created the concept,” Castillo said. Travels to South America expanded it. He has brought back authentic recipes, such as Chupil de Camerones ($22.95), a garlic shrimp dish he learned from a 92-year-old Peruvian woman, he said.
The kitchen is equipped with an open flame wood grill representative of Argentina. Dishes that evoke Brazil incorporate coconut and fresh tropical fruits. Castillo recently returned from Colombia and is adding dishes with ingredients associated with that country, such as corn, potatoes and plantain. The wine menu focus on South American wines.
More Top Picks Best Wifi Routers For Large Homes
While authenticity in the food is paramount, Castillo also places the highest priority on serving healthy dishes “without sacrificing the flavor.” Meats and produce are organic, he said.
In 2014, voters on the Open Table website ranked Longitud315 among the top 100 Restaurant Neighborhood Gems in America.
“The whole idea behind the restaurant,” Castillo said, “is that people who have been to South America an come to Longitud315 and feel like they are still there. And for those who have never been, when they do go, it will be like they’ve been there before and recognize some of the dishes that we serve.”
Hours: Closed Tuesday; Monday, Wednesday, Thursday: 4:30 p.m.-9 p.m.; Friday-Saturday: 4:30-10 p.m.; Sunday: 4:30 p.m.-8 p.m.
Address: 315 Waukegan Ave., Highwood. Contact 847-926-7495 or go to www.longitude315.com.
Donald Liebenson is a freelance writer.