dinners with friends: A second bakery tour dinner {Camino in Oakland}

Sunday, May 25, 2014

A second bakery tour dinner {Camino in Oakland}

Camino Restaurant in Oakland photo by Julia Spiess

It's not easy seating twenty-six people for dinner in this town - most restaurants will either send you to a private dining room {usually "Siberia" when it comes to ambience, vibe & scenery} or will just flat out turn down any larger group size.

This is where Camino in Oakland comes in. Opened just over six years ago by Chez Panisse alum Russell Moore & his wife Allison Hopelain, one of Camino's most striking dining room features is the room length communal dining table. It is cut from a single tree trunk and surrounded by vintage church chairs. And Camino is also famous for hosting epic dinner parties, from fabulous fundraisers {e.g. the upcoming big Fundraising Dinner Party with Paula Wolfert} to intimate book dinners with chefs & authors in town on a cookbook tour.

Long story short, for last weekend's second bakery tour dinner Camino prepared a special menu - featuring four of their signature cocktails, spot-on suggestions for amazing local wines along with a very seasonal menu. All dishes were prepared in Camino's open kitchen, over open-fire hearth or in the wood oven.

the location.

camino, oakland, california

the menu.

~ cucumber salad with chiles & flatbread

~ local feta & herb jam toast *

~ grilled pork leg & slow-cooked shoulder with farro, artichokes & summer squash

~ fried hen-of-the-woods mushrooms & scallions, red lentils, black kale & egg cooked by the fire

~ grilled local king salmon with english peas, bintje potatoes and fresh mint

~ yoghurt-sesame pudding with chilled cherries
{* very fittingly served on josey bakery bread … who we met on the tour a day before}