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| Cocktails anyone? |
To begin with, the restaurant itself is a beautiful open space. It’s a large converted furniture store, that oddly enough used to be the site of a dear friend’s antique store. Entering it was like coming home, as memories flooded my head, I was simultaneously greeted by the warmth of the wood-burning brick ovens that line one end of the high-ceilinged hall. Were it not for something inherently and irresistibly modern about the venue, one might almost imagine Henry VIII and his court holding some sort of post-jousting feast there. The warmth of the oven permeates the entire space - the scent of the smoke wafts everywhere gently, like a subtle breeze off the ocean. It is very well ventilated, however, so the smoke is not "smoky, per se." The only thing that reaches the customer is the lovely scent of the roasting meats, the wood fire and just enough light and warmth to be pleasurable. It is an extremely welcoming environment, particularly given the feeling of vast negative space provided by the completely open layout.
We began, as we always do, at the beginning. I had a drink consisting of rum, lime, orgeat, absinthe and coffee bitters. They do not give their drinks names here, the menu simply lists several different cocktails with a variety of ingredients. The bartender is a magician, all the same. Mine was an amazing cocktail, the flavors were very herbal while at the same time being a bit sweet. The mixture had a hint of the absinthe flavor without overwhelming the rest of the drink. It was delicious.
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| Grilled Pork Belly w/Sauerkraut |
We dug into a nice loaf of Acme teardrop loaf bread to begin our evening.
We ordered starters to share. The first was the Grilled pork belly, which came with a side of homemade sauerkraut and carrot salad. The sauerkraut was crisp and airy, like a pickled cotton candy. The flavor of the pork was mouth-watering, it was just a bit fatty, the flavor of the bacon rich against the pickle of the sauerkraut. The carrot was also a bit sweet and complimented the richness of the bacon perfectly.
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| Bucatini w/Sardines |
The other dish we shared was the wood-oven-baked bucatini topped with local sardines. The pasta was a lovely bowl of thick strands of egg-rich noodles with a savory sauce of wild fennel, saffron, almonds and currants. We both loved it. I think the strong briny taste of the sardine over the slightly sweet currants in the buttery pasta was spectacularly unusual and such a treat. The pasta was thick enough to make more of a statement, giving almost a bready consistency to every bit. We both loved the toasty crunch of the croutons as well. This dish had a hearty blend of flavors, each mouthful was like a “surprise” mini-buffet, with every bite a slightly different variation on the theme of the whole. Really creative cooking.
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| Oven Roasted Sand Dabs |
Our mains were both adventurous without being over the top. The BH enjoyed what was essentially a “duck two ways” though it wasn’t called that. It was titled simply, Grilled Duck Breast and Slow-cooked Leg. The grilled duck breast was slightly rare, not at all gamey and perfectly cooked. The slow cooked leg had that lovely vaguely greasy (in a good way) flavor duck can have when the fat is roasted straight into the meat. Very tasty. The sides that came with the dish were some Belgian endives and blood orange, along with a set of roasted potatoes cooked in duck fat. Seriously good eats.
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| Grilled Duck Breast & Slow-Cooked Leg |
I had the fish, which tonight was the wood-oven roasted Sand Dabs. They were flaky, light and buttery, the lovely bed of farro underneath was similar to wild rice in consistency and flavor, perhaps even a bit more interesting with its herbal crunchiness. The dish was finished off with wild nettles and seasonings.
Desserts here were as varied and unique as the other dishes. My BH tried something incredibly simple, a dish of broken Tcho chocolate, which was served as a lovely little dish comprised of flaked of this magnificent brand of semi-sweet chocolate. He had it with his coffee and found it to be just the thing to finish off his meal. A lovely lingering taste of bitter chocolate on the palate. Something really smart and restrained about the choice to serve an actual “bite” of sweetness at the end of a meal.
I myself sampled (and subsequently devoured) a Cornmeal olive oil cake with poached prunes. The prunes themselves had been cooked at length (virtually stewed in fact) in wine, sugar and blood orange juice which left them soft, almost like peaches and amazingly un-prunelike in the resultant flavor. Not that I mind a good prune necessarily, they are after all, dried plums and plums are delicious. But I digress. They were just lip-smacking good and combined with the density of the cornmeal cake made for nice spongy mouthfuls of tasty. The olive oil flavoring kept the cake from being overly sweet, and the prunes kept it from being overly savory. The strong cornmeal texture was just the right balance to offset the creamy sweet of the prunes.
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| Cornmeal Cake w/ Prunes |
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| Tcho Chocolate |
Camino
3917 Grand Avenue
Oakland, CA 94610
510-547-5035
Dining time: nothing you'd want to rush, but they don't serve lunch, so no worries
Noise level: potentially very high. We had no problem because of the way they space out the patrons, but if it's full, then you might have to shout. 3-4
Service: excellent.
