All this year a downtown Manchester restaurant is offering patrons an opportunity to sample some of the more exotic meals of the Mediterranean without having to travel any further than Elm Street.

Republic Café, located at 1069 Elm St. and owned and operated by the husband and wife team of Chef Ed Aloise and Claudia Rippee, has quickly become known as a dining destination for those seeking unusual entrees. Their latest idea, the Mediterranean Passport program, will only serve to boost that reputation, while also broadening the culinary horizons of their customers.

Republic Cafe is a restaurant based on the European model of a “bar.” Like its models in Europe, New York, San Francisco and other major cities, it allows guests to enjoy a variety of services at any time: coffee in the morning or late evening, a small bite or a full meal, crepes or desserts or a glass of wine.

The Mediterranean Passport concept is an extension of this philosophy. One week each month throughout 2012, Republic Cafe will feature the cuisine of a particular Mediterranean country. The “voyage” began in December with the cuisine of Turkey; in January they featured Egyptian fare; and the trip will continue next week (Feb. 20-24) with the cuisine of Greece.

“It started out with Claudia and a couple of regular customers. It just so happened they were going to have a gathering, called the World Affairs Council of New Hampshire,” said Aloise, who along with Claudia also owns and operates Milltowne Grille in the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, and previously owned and operated Café Pavone in the Millyard for a decade.

“They asked if we would like to host it, featuring the food of Turkey. It spawned an idea on Claudia's part, that maybe we should turn this into a session about once a month.

Since we are a Mediterranean restaurant, we decided to do every country that touches the Mediterranean.”

“Come to find out there are 22 countries that touch the Mediterranean,” said Rippee. “Between islands and countries — I was shocked. I thought it would be about 12.”

“We decided to call it a Passport program, and bring people to all these countries through food,” said Aloise. “We didn't want the usual items, like Italian, even though I'm Italian. We wanted to challenge ourselves.”

The first two Passport countries were very well received.

In December, the menu's Turkish theme featured phyllo with creamed leeks, egg and tzatziki; Borek (a kind of dumpling) with ground lamb, cinnamon, sweet onion, aleppo pepper and pomegranate molasses; Turkish Taverna Chicken Pie with cilantro and allspice, served with Ajdar (roasted eggplant, red peppers and Harissa); Zucchini Fritters with feta, dill and stewed tomato; Monkfish Fume with lemon, tomato, chili and sumac; and a Vegetable Stew with zucchini, eggplant, tomato and bulgur wheat, served with local yogurt and dill. For dessert it was carrot and coconut bars, along with rice pudding with saffron, raisins and pine nuts.

In January, the Egyptian fare was a huge (and surprising) hit. “They have this dish called Kushari — it's a wild concoction,” said Rippee. “It's a street food, and it starts with brown rice, lentils, and then pasta, chick peas, and tomato sauce, fried onions and garlic sauce.

They just layer it up. It sounds really odd, but it tasted great.

We sold more of that than any of the other items we put on the menu that week, I think.”

A regular Republic Cafe customer, Nabil Migali (a native of Cairo who has lived in the U.S. for over 30 years) advised Claudia and Ed on the traditional dishes, ingredients and seasonings of his native country — even going so far as to bring them Egyptian cookbooks.

That would violate one of the most basic rules in many restaurants — that customers stay out of the kitchen — but Republic Cafe is different.

“In here, we're a different kind of restaurant anyway,” said Aloise. “It's all open, and because of the way we're set up, there's a lot of coming and going, and a lot of interaction. One of the major kitchen rules here is if someone else is selling it, you won't see it here, and if we're selling it, chances are you won't see it anywhere else.”

Passport: Greece will feature the cuisine of southern Greece and the islands, which differs from dishes more familiar in America (baklava, moussaka, and so on). Aloise's family has its origins in that region, but again, they welcome input from customers who have traveled in the Mediterranean and/or who have family roots and interesting recipes to share. In the coming months, the program will feature items from Morocco, Lebanon, southern France, and will end with southern Italy.

Like any good trip, travelers want a few souvenirs to remember it by. Aloise and Rippee are no different — the souvenirs in the Passport Program come in the form of a featured meal that finds a permanent home on the Republic Cafe menu.

“We've been through two countries so far, and now some items from those countries are now in our repertoire,” said Aloise. “From Turkey there was a delicious bulgur wheat salad, with walnuts, sweet onions and sumac, and now that's been incorporated in our lexicon. Even though we left that country, so to speak, some of those styles will stay inside our kitchen.”

While never leaving Elm Street, the owners and staff of Republic Cafe are thoroughly enjoying their journey around the Mediterranean.

“We're not only showing people a different kind of food, we're showing them a different kind of culture,” said Aloise. “Finding out that since the countries of the Mediterranean have been populated so long, and have traded for so long between them, that their specialties contain many of the same ingredients, with one or two differences. They share lettuces, spices, and it's just a matter of where you are positioning them and technique. It's been very challenging, but a lot of fun.”