While some may prefer the more gentile confines of SF neighborhoods like Embarcadero and Fillmore for their weekend dining, there is little doubting the culinary virility of a few select new Oakland hotspots. At the top of the list is the former 20-year Chez-Panisse alum Russell Moore who finds a new home in a charming but small dining room along Oakland's Grand Avenue. The space is rustic yet refined, with open-style kitchen alit by a prominent wood burning oven and fireplace that creates a rotating menu of handpicked specialties cooked on the open hearth.
The Food
Everything from the cocktail menu to the daily rotating special is derived from locally sourced ingredients from small area farms and produce vendors. Dinner is served at communal tables that feel like Haight Ashbury in its communist-loving heyday, but with incredible flavors of provincial lamb dishes or homemade seafood paella that change daily. Diners descend on the restaurant with unkempt beards and vintage Gap T-shirts in a come-as-you-are-style that bucks the preppy traditions of San Francisco’s finer eateries.
Last Word
Check-out the Camino Restaurant website for the daily changing menu and wine additions.
