An ocean view, stylish décor and a menu of simply prepared fare make Latitudes a special dining option
Canadian oysters on the half shell.
Located beachfront at the luxe Delray Sands Resort, you can dine well while enjoying a relaxing surfside panorama.
By ALAN J. WAX
There are three reasons to dine at Latitudes at the Delray Sands Resort: location, location, location.
This upscale restaurant’s location, right on the Atlantic Ocean along A1A in Highland Beach, is the main reason to visit. If you are outside on the deck, or inside behind the windows, you get a stunning panoramic view of the waves rolling in from the deep blue as you dine on a menu of mostly freshly prepared simple seafood.
Latitudes interior. (Latitudes’ photo).
Coming by a primetime dinner reservation is not easy, even a month in advance. However, we were fortunate. We booked for 8 p.m. but arrived 45 minutes early hoping to catch the sun’s last rays. Upon reaching the hostess stand – we passed through a pair of glass doors at the end of a long, white outdoor hallway – we inquired if we could be seated early. We were told to stop back 7:30-ish. We did and were rewarded with a table just steps from the dining room’s big picture windows.
Good thing. By the time we placed our orders and our entrees arrived, the sun had faded and the view of the surf had been replaced by reflections of the stylish dining room, which has modern touches of nautical blue and crisp white throughout that’s accentuated by strings of glass bubbles.
View of the ocean from inside Latitudes.
Watching the waves while contemplating what to order from the hardbound menu and munching on the fresh asiago bread and whipped butter that had been delivered to our table was a tad distracting. But we persevered.
To be sure, food is not an afterthought here. Much of it is very good, though a bit pricey.
I started with an appetizer from the raw bar, a half dozen briny, sweet Malpeque oysters ($19) from the cold waters off Canada’s east coast. They arrived atop a bowl of chipped ice accompanied by a variety of classic dipping sauces, including a tiny bottle of Frank’s Hot Sauce. I prefer my oysters naked to better appreciate the flavors of the ocean. They vanished all too quickly and matched beautifully with a glass of flinty Murphy Goode “the Fume” Sauvignon Blanc ($13). The wine was marked up by a factor of 4 over retail at Total Wines.
Bread basket can easily fill you up.
Wedge salad with blue cheese.
My wife was flabbergasted by the size of her salad, a baby iceberg wedge ($14) with an intensely flavored triple-cream blue cheese and accented by red roasted peppers and some bacon. It could easily have served two or been an entrée for one.
My daughter’s stone-baked flatbread pizza ($16), Margherita on this evening, had a crispy crust. Though tasty, it would have benefited from the use of fresh mozzarella cheese instead of the greasy cheese melted atop the crust.
Rustic coastal shellfish stew.
“Naked Bird” Tanglewood Farms chicken.
For a main, my seafood averse spouse was happy with her juicy “Naked Bird” Tanglewood Farms all-natural chicken ($34), served with a Florida sour orange, garlic and honey glaze, whipped potatoes, red wine jus and sweet and sour mango chutney.
My daughter opted for a grilled chicken panini ($19) with pesto, arugula, roasted tomatoes, fontina cheese and roasted garlic-balsamic aioli. It was definitely garlicky.
Margherita flatbread.
Raw seafood bar.
Meanwhile, for a main I ordered the rustic stew of coastal shellfish ($41), which featured a Maine lobster tail, a pair of large sea scallops, rings of calamari, mussels, a duet of shrimp, local line-caught fish and grilled ciabatta toast, all swimming in an earthy, spicy tomato broth that resembled a fra diavolo sauce. Each crustacean and the flat fish was perfectly cooked.
To be sure, the bread at the start and the two courses proved to be too much food. Lots of it went home for another evening’s dinner and, it turned out, we were too sated to order dessert.
From what we could tell from the tables around us, Latitudes is definitely a place for celebrations. During our visit, birthdays were being observed at more than one table, including ours. That, however, can mean lots of drinking – Latitudes has a respectable list of wines, beers and proprietary cocktails. And with the drinking comes loud camaraderie with folks shouting across their tables to each other. Decibel levels hovered around 80, as loud as a downtown street, according to the decibel meter app on my iPhone.
$10 valet parking is mandatory.
Latitudes is inside the Delray Sands Resort.
And, Latitudes can seem a bit pricy. You’ll get your first hint of sticker shock as you drive up to the entrance and see the sign noting the $10 charge for mandatory valet parking. The valet parked my car just several steps from the entrance.
Latitudes and the Delray Sands Resort in which it is found are part of the Opal Collection, which includes the new Opal Grand Resort at the beach and Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach and the Delray Breakers on the Ocean, among others in South Florida. Opal is a marketing group for hotels affiliated with Delray Beach-based Ocean Properties Ltd., Florida’s largest hotel management company with more than 125 hotels in the U.S. and Canada.
To be sure Latitudes isn’t a stuffy cathedral of fine dining, where gourmands solemnly contemplate the dishes set before them. Latitude’s food, though largely simply prepared and presented, is fresh and tasty, and comes in generous portions. That, along with the natural environment and the dazzling décor, make Latitudes a fine option for special occasion waterfront dining.
Latitudes
2809 S. Ocean Blvd., Highland Beach, FL 33487
(561) 278-2008
www.latitudesdelray.com
