Brunch at Camino!
For some reason I've been lucky enough to have some excellent meals lately. A combination of a tiny windfall of money, not enough time/energy to cook, and willing dining mates have led me to Heaven's Dog, Saul's, Kirala, late night pate sessions, and...brunch at Camino. Camino, Camino, Camino. My gastronomic platonic ideal. Owner/chef Russell Moore worked at Chez Panisse for 20 years, and has brought with him a focus on ingredients and a comfortable rustic vibe - replete with an open fire and 30 foot long "community tables," reported to have been carved from a single redwood tree. One dining experience became a double date with the couple sitting next to us. After sitting so close we were privy to each others' conversations, we soon struck up a friendship and by the end of the meal were sharing desserts and exchanging business cards.
This was my second time brunching at Camino. Breakfast is probably my favorite meal of the day. Since getting out of bed is my least favorite activity, bacon, eggs and coffee are my only incentive for rising. Or in the case of Camino, poached eggs with peppers, sweet condiment plate, sardines, and single origin drip coffee make a pretty good case.
The menu isn't overwhelming, but gives you everything a breakfast buff might be after: homemade doughnuts, grilled pork sausages, roasted potatoes, poached eggs, stone-ground oats, french toast, and tasty morning cocktails such as the Tequila/tomato number I ordered.
Beverage buffet: water, single-origin drip coffee, and a cleaned up Bloody Mary with tequila, tomato, lemon, salt, pepper, and chile. Served with wedges of pickled carrot and fennel. Mmm.
Sweet condiment plate with Sheepsmilk ricotta, walnut butter, Thompson grapes and homemade plum jam. This is not the health-food-store walnut butter with which I'm familiar. No my friends this is butter, with walnuts. You also have to order the "basket of grilled bread" separately. I mean I don't want to be too much of a curmudgeon, but was I going to slather those grapes with butter?
I wish I knew how to spell the moan that escaped from me as I put these poached eggs in my mouth. Served with sweet and hot peppers, yogurt and flatbread. When these arrived I had forgotten about the yogurt and spent the rest of the meal pondering what the magical cream could be. Ha ha. Oh, you chameleon yogurt, you. Seasoned with...cumin? a little cayenne? Something in the smoky spice realm.
Potatoes roasted in duck fat and butter lettuce with avocado. There's something utterly sensible about having a salad with breakfast, plus I love butter lettuce - the most luxurious of the greens.
Sardines with cucumbers, preserved lemon, and green olives. And a little eggy! Thank goodness I had an expert de-boner for a dining partner.
See what I mean??
And...scene.
Okay, despite all this culinary perfection, I have one teensy weensy complaint: our server didn't course out our food and everything arrived at once. I would have appreciated a little break between dishes, so next time I have to remember to ask.
But the food was heaven.
This was my second time brunching at Camino. Breakfast is probably my favorite meal of the day. Since getting out of bed is my least favorite activity, bacon, eggs and coffee are my only incentive for rising. Or in the case of Camino, poached eggs with peppers, sweet condiment plate, sardines, and single origin drip coffee make a pretty good case.
The menu isn't overwhelming, but gives you everything a breakfast buff might be after: homemade doughnuts, grilled pork sausages, roasted potatoes, poached eggs, stone-ground oats, french toast, and tasty morning cocktails such as the Tequila/tomato number I ordered.
Beverage buffet: water, single-origin drip coffee, and a cleaned up Bloody Mary with tequila, tomato, lemon, salt, pepper, and chile. Served with wedges of pickled carrot and fennel. Mmm.
Sweet condiment plate with Sheepsmilk ricotta, walnut butter, Thompson grapes and homemade plum jam. This is not the health-food-store walnut butter with which I'm familiar. No my friends this is butter, with walnuts. You also have to order the "basket of grilled bread" separately. I mean I don't want to be too much of a curmudgeon, but was I going to slather those grapes with butter?
I wish I knew how to spell the moan that escaped from me as I put these poached eggs in my mouth. Served with sweet and hot peppers, yogurt and flatbread. When these arrived I had forgotten about the yogurt and spent the rest of the meal pondering what the magical cream could be. Ha ha. Oh, you chameleon yogurt, you. Seasoned with...cumin? a little cayenne? Something in the smoky spice realm.
Potatoes roasted in duck fat and butter lettuce with avocado. There's something utterly sensible about having a salad with breakfast, plus I love butter lettuce - the most luxurious of the greens.
Sardines with cucumbers, preserved lemon, and green olives. And a little eggy! Thank goodness I had an expert de-boner for a dining partner.
See what I mean??
And...scene.Okay, despite all this culinary perfection, I have one teensy weensy complaint: our server didn't course out our food and everything arrived at once. I would have appreciated a little break between dishes, so next time I have to remember to ask.
But the food was heaven.
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