Monkey Cat Restaurant in downtown Auburn has dogs dining night, Placer county, CA

Jamie Mulkey, Ed.D. is the editor and a contributor to Placer magazine. She can be reached at: jamie_mulkey@ncbb.net

What's a Monkey Cat?

You walk in the door and hear soft jazz playing in the background. The room is decorated in muted tones, small tables, eclectic, tropical paintings, small hanging lamps, and an occasional decorative monkey. A wait staff is quietly but quickly taking orders and serving pleasing dishes. The aroma coming from the kitchen is heavenly; a bit of garlic, some aromatic spices, and grilled foods permeate the air.

You have just walked into a swank little San Francisco café, right? Actually, not quite. You're in downtown Auburn. Welcome to Monkey Cat, one of Sierra Foothills' newest and tastiest upscale bistros. And just like the legend of the Monkey Cat itself, this restaurant prides itself on an elusive, ever-changing menu of flavors from around the world.

Owner Jim Brill is no stranger to managing restaurants. Jim, a 27-year veteran of the world famousFior d'Italia restaurant in San Francisco, California, evolved his way into the restaurant business. Says Brill, "You can't come at having a restaurant from another walk of life; people in restaurant business are passionate. They learn to live and love working in the restaurant business from the ground up."

Having traveled between the Foothills and the Bay Area for some time, Jim and his wife, Trish, knew they wanted to retire somewhere up here, they just didn't know it would be this soon.

Opening Monkey Cat seemed like the perfect opportunity. "Auburn was ready for a restaurant like this", say Brill. And, indeed, he's right. On our recent outing, we found the restaurant full with clientele.

The menu is varied enough to satisfy even the most discriminating gastronome; one can find a varied selection of main dishes to choose from. The menu always offers fish, meat, poultry, and pasta. Brill changes the menu about 25% each month. Specials that become popular make it on to the regular menu.

On our most recent evening out to Monkey Cat, we took a few friends to help us sample the Monkey Cat's faire. The peppersteak, a New York sirloin crusted with black pepper and smothered in a peppercorn brandy sauce, was a big hit. The grilled salmon finished with candied almonds in a sun-dried apricot cream sauce was also a thumb's up. The coconut prawns with an apricot-ginger dipping sauce, (a house favorite) was delicious. The seafood pasta special that evening was clams, muscles, and scallops over linguini in a light Thai-coconut sauce, also quite tasty.

Before our meal, we tried a few appetizers; spicy Ahi tuna-stuffed calamari and crab cakes with a cilantro-lime and red pepper aioli. Fabulous!

Not to miss is Monkey Cat's house salad; baby greens with goat cheese, walnuts and dried cherries lightly tossed in the House vinaigrette. The Serengeti salad is also a winner; butter lettuce with blue cheese crumbles, red onions, a trio of pear tomatoes, also tossed with the House vinaigrette.

Where possible, Jim Brill tries to use local produce and products to support the community. "There are so many good products up here that I didn't know existed."

All this food making you thirsty? Not to worry. Monkey Cat has a full bar and offers 16 different wines by the glass. Fifty percent of the wine Monkey Cat pours is local. Jim strives to bring in wines that will work with a variety of his dishes. So if one person is having steak, the other fish, they can both enjoy the same bottle of wine.

You will also want to save some room for dessert. Jim uses two local pastry chefs to round out his dessert menu. We tried the Grand Marnier Chocolate Soufflé and Chocolate Trio - white, light, and dark chocolate mousse covered in chocolate. Both exceptional. One of my favorites was the key lime mousse banded in a ribbon of white chocolate.

You want to eat outside, you say? At Monkey Cat you can plan to eat either inside the restaurant itself or outside in the outdoor patio. Where, by the way, your pets may accompany you. Yes, folks, Monkey Cat is a pet-friendly.

What Jim and Trish Brill hope to achieve with Monkey Cat is a comfortable place to eat good food in a relaxing atmosphere. "I want to give clients a sense that they are getting something unique, something special."

What's next for Jim Brill and Monkey Cat? Just opened is the outdoor bar adjacent to the restaurant. The new bar features live music from local musicians.

Open for lunch and dinner.