The room is smaller than I remember it, one of those inner-city spaces in which you’re barely inside the front door before you’re bumping into the back wall. There are only eight tables, two-tops, with some of them pressed into fours, according to notes a reservation book that’s marked in thick, black ink: NO MORE. A mere 40 people will eat chef Roberto Castre’s unexpected spin on a rarely attempted type of cuisine here tonight, while at least 50 others have phoned and been turned away.   Such is the price of instant fame in Houston. It’s a good problem to have. But on a busy Saturday night, with Latin Bites Café proffering an international-fusion spin on Peruvian food in the old home of Dharma Café, as it tilts toward cult status, here amid a funky tangle of streets just northeast of Downtown, it’s still a problem.   “I tell people we’re sorry and they always say they understand,” offers co-owner Carlos Ramos, between answering phone calls. Ramos is a schoolteacher by day, and I can’t help but wonder if working with third graders and dealing with certain restaurant employees and customers isn’t pretty much the same thing.    “But I worry,” he says. “No matter what they say, I’m always afraid they’ll never call back.”   Well, he’s not that afraid. The partners in Latin Bites Café, which started as a catering outfit out of Conroe and opened as a Houston restaurant in August, are already thinking about expansion. Ramos, his wife Rita and Castre (who’s also Rita’s brother) say they’ll probably keep this location going but also create another, bigger place somewhere else. And this time, they’ll have a beer and wine license—not the current BYOB situation.   The neighborhood, also home to the avant-garde DiverseWorks arts space, has an unabashedly bohemian vibe. There’s a tattoo parlor conveniently located next door to the restaurant, plus many old warehouses turned into lofts nearby. But inside the café, there’s a warm energy, courtesy of the discolored red brick walls, and the huge windows that let sunlight filter through straw by day and open to the cityscape after dark. There’s a still-functioning clock mounted above the front door.    Beyond that, the owners have kept things simple, all shades of tan, brown and blue. Cream-colored cloths hang down the rear wall beneath a post-industrial crazy quilt of wood, steel, wire and duct work. There’s a Pop Art-type painting that’s all about circles and, near the restroom, an abstract metal sculpture.  I claim my table at 5:30pm, the only time I could get a reservation, and the dining room—far from empty, even at this early dinnertime—is lively and pleasant. People are extremely casual, though several older gentlemen in jackets and ties will wander in as the magic hour of 7 approaches (when I know I’ll have to vacate to make room for the next shift). The crowd is multiethnic, multicultural and multilingual (including Peruvians, attracted by a chance to celebrate their native cuisine while speaking in highly excitable Spanish). The music is Latin, danceably Cuban, in fact.   I have to say that I love the food here. Although I’m not always sure how “Peruvian” it is. And if I’m not, neither is the hand-lettered sign hanging above Latin Bites’ small open kitchen: “Here you will taste a sophisticated cuisine, which combines the flavors of Asia, Europe and Africa with native Peruvian ingredients!” I ask several servers if this “fusion” is fundamental to Peruvian food, historically speaking. Yes, I’m told. I also ask if, perhaps, it just happened today in chef Roberto’s imagination. I’m told yes again. And so the mystery remains.   Fact is, however, that few diners in Houston—or New York or L.A. or anywhere else—can precisely define what is or is not Peruvian food. Castre mastered his craft back home in Peru, but he perfected his sense of what Americans like while working with Stephan Pyles at Pyles’ eponymous restaurant in the Dallas Arts District. And he’s even had the chance to cook Cajun for private events with no less an icon than Paul Prudhomme. It would be natural here to say: No wonder the guy’s confused.    But, the thing is, he’s not. Castre bridges continents with a fluency only a seasoned road warrior would understand. And in culinary terms, there’s no jetlag. Case in point: The chef’s sashimi tiradito tres sabores is an eye-popping appetizer, its hyper-fresh raw fish blanketed beneath a national flag of three tasty cream sauces, each turned an exotic pastel by chile peppers that may be the most Peruvian thing going on here. The colors are unsettling at first, perhaps from another planet, or maybe from the set of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. But slowly they take on a stronger food association, their pale yellow, pink and green resembling melted Neapolitan ice cream.    The three workhorse sauces turn up again as a tri-colored accent for the papas a la crema, baked potato chunks with sauce where butter would typically be. Meanwhile, the babytalk-sounding tacu-tacus starter involves three other great toppings. Three deep-fried cakes formed of rice and beans come decked out in an extraordinary succession of roasted pork adobado, lamb cilantro stew and spicy shredded beef. Like the chile sauces, these meat elements—which represent untold hours of slow-cooking summarized on my single small plate—turn up in different iterations throughout the menu. There are also some exemplary empanadas.    And at some point, you just have to try Peruvian ceviche. You’ve seen it on other, more-Mexican menus, but here’s your chance to tuck into the real thing. If the Mexican version is allowed to “cook” a while in its acidic lime-juice marinade, Peruvian ceviche (I’m finally told in a way I understand) is quickly tossed and raced to your table. The lime and spice are much milder, and the seafood more firm and springy. Topped with crisp-thin slices of raw purple onion, Peruvian ceviche is a delight.    Though loosely formed around the somewhat faddish “small plate” tapas concept, the Latin Bites menu allows for a full-on appetizer-entrée-dessert approach if you want it to. I do want it to, so I sample the pescado a lo macho, an amazing entrée of pan-seared fish buried—hidden entirely, actually—beneath a mountain of sautéed shrimp, clams, mussels and octopus. And my single favorite dish here turns out to be the tallarin saltado especial. Don’t let the oh-so-Spanish name fool you. This is some of the best Chinese food you’ll ever put in your mouth, a generous mixture of tender beef, pork and chicken atop Asian noodles with a sauce built on soy, garlic, ginger and more crunchy vegetables than most of us eat in a week. I decide the chef must be secretly Chinese.   Desserts at Latin Bites re-imagine familiar dishes with traditional Peruvian fruits and flavorings. The tiramisu is great, its Italian mascarpone turned wacky orange with a tropical fruit from the Andes called lucuma and its ladyfingers doused with the local firewater known as pisco. Like everything else Castre serves at Latin Bites, this dessert is Peruvian food for Americans, Peruvian food for lovers of world cuisine, and best of all, Peruvian food for people who appreciate intelligent things cooked with generosity, warmth, creativity and excitement.   And, apparently, there are many of us.    Latin Bites Café   Rating *** 1302 Nance St., 713.229.8369    WHY GO At a cult-hit, bohemian restaurant, Peruvian chef Roberto Castre takes cues from his country’s immigrant-rich history, and reaches out to other cuisines, too. Especially Japanese and Chinese, and also other Latin nations.   PARKING Unless the tattoo parlor next door gets busy, you can find a spot on the street.   GAME NIGHT As a tiny place with tables close together, this is a great spot to eavesdrop. Try counting how many different languages are being spoken in the dining room.   BYOB BASICS There’s no liquor to be had, so bring your own. Most guests tote red wine, but remember all those wonderful sashimis and ceviches on the menu, calling out for a medium-dry riesling or an Alsatian gewurtztraminer.   HOURS Monday-Thursday 11am-9pm, Friday-Saturday 11am-10pm. Closed Sunday.   PRICES Starters, sashimis and ceviches $8-$16; sandwiches $12; mains $11-$22; desserts $6-$8