Eat, Drink + Be Merry. Travel + Food Photography. Los Angeles and Beyond.

Talk about being late to the party – five years late! I just learned about Camino in Oakland last year from our friends Kayoko and Yoko of Umami Mart and our friend, Honolulu-based gourmand, Reid of Ono Kine Grindz. It’s the kind of restaurant that makes me ask myself, “Where in the world have I been?”. Camino is Chef Russell Moore’s first restaurant. Recently, Moore had committed 21 years of his professional culinary career at Chez Panisse under Chef David Tanis. My discovery of this restaurant could not have come at a better time. The food I was eating of late was just seemingly complicated. Dishes that were basically edible forms of a United Nations meeting. Uni from here, fish from here, vegetables from here, etc. When I finally had the chance to eat at Camino, I was taken back by so many things. I was yearning for simplicity, something fundamental. As I looked at the ten-item savory menu, I suddenly became very excited. For once, I didn’t have to spend time deciding what to pick off the 50+ item menu. I’m all for places that only do a few dishes but do them very well. Why is it that street food is so appealing to many people? It’s because it’s usually from a vendor selling no more than 1 or 2 items. They’ve been so used doing the same thing over and over again, until perfection is achieved instinctively. Too many dishes on a menu, you’re bound to have more misses than hits. At Camino, you won’t see foam, brushed sauces or food contraptions – you’re going to see simple, yet flavorful food on a white plate. In addition to a focused menu, the secret to Chef Russell Moore’s style of food is knowing exactly who the purveyors of meat, fish and produce are – and the magical wood fire-powered hearth that he calls his kitchen. This is Camino.

Walking in and seeing the black wrought-iron ring chandeliers, candles and dark wooden furniture, I got a sense of medieval meets modern. With the hearth in the center of the restaurant and chefs behind the wooden counter, it was almost set up like an old school theater. I already knew the food would be delicious just from walking into this warm restaurant.

Chef Moore uses almond and cherry wood to power the hearth. In the middle of the hearth is a 2′ wide grill. Flanking the grill are various “grill stations” equipped with cast iron pots/skillets and clay cooking pots from Spain/Latin America called cazuelas. When we were in Argentina, we ate various meat and fish stews cooked in cazuelas. This type of material stores heat at higher temperatures for longer periods of time, allowing another level of flavoring to occur than your standard metal pot.

This write-up combines my meals from four different occasions within 2 months. On my first visit, I lucked out during crab season but did not make it for Crab Mondays which I hear gets incredibly packed. Poor crustaceans.

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Last August, Jeni and I had dinner at State Bird Provisions. It was already very popular and well-known amongst the locals and fortunately we were able to get a table quite easily. In the last seven months, many good things have happened to the quaint eatery run by husband-wife/chef-duo Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski including Bon Appetit’s “Best New Restaurant in America 2013″ and a James Beard nomination. From Instagram photos, I’d see 20-30 people already queueing up for a seat before the restaurant even opened. One would think there was a secret concert being held inside, but no – it’s just amazing food being made. Each time we return to San Francisco, we end up here. Not simply because of the food, but because of the whole experience. We love the chefs, the team and the service. Anyone that has been will probably speak the same.  Knowing we’re big fans of their food, Stuart and Nicole invited us in to photograph their food and team in action. I can tell you, it is very difficult to keep focus when your subject is a tasty piece of sea urchin atop a sourdough pancake with shoyu reduction.

Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski. Their first date in 1994 was at a pho restaurant in Cupertino. Awesome. Follow his awesome tour of the Fish Sauce Trail in Vietnam with Top Chef Paul Qui of Uchiko (Austin, TX) and Edward Lee of 610 Magnolia (Louisville, KY).

Stuart and Nicole infuse Asian ingredients into their dishes. Always delicious and well-balanced. I believe these ingredients are used to spice their pork ribs.

Produce you’ll never find in Trader Joe’s.

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Our first experience in London wasn’t as ideal as we thought it would be. Flying from Los Angeles, we had a stop-over in Philadelphia. Due to airplane malfunction, we were left on the tarmac for nearly 4.5 hours without the air vents on. Fortunately they didn’t put on any Katherine Heigl movies to entertain us. Upon arriving at Heathrow, we were welcomed by London’s biggest asshole who happened to be dressed in a wrinkled customs officer uniform. Probably due to the fact that we were Americans (I guess I don’t blame him) and not of the same skin color as him, he decided to interrogate for us nearly ten minutes for the shits and giggles. Even delving into how much we had in our checking and savings. The weather was also colder than we had also expected, even raining and snowing a little during the evening – horribly freezing! We took to the cocktail lounges and drank away all that happened during the day. But the next day would completely redeem everything.

For us, things can change from crappy to happy the second we smell something delicious being cooked, or see steam rising from a grill or table top. Our friends Warren and Laurie took us to the Borough Market as soon as we could wake up. They knew that this would make up for everything and it sure did. We ended up coming back once more before departing to Paris.

Founded in 1756 and located in the Southwark (Suth-erck) neighborhood, the Borough Market runs from 2 am – 8 am for wholesale companies and shortly after to the public. If you could only eat one “restaurant” in London, I’d suggest checking out the market for the “food court” approach. Or if you plan on taking the Eurorail elsewhere, pack your lunch here for the long train ride and make everyone else around you jealous. The Borough Market finely curates some of England’s best food vendors and purveyors – from meat, seafood to artisanal goodies. I had heard that the selection process to become a vendor here is quite difficult and that the committee at anytime may ask a vendor to leave if they aren’t performing to standards. Sorry Los Angeles, but the Borough Market makes the Fairfax Farmer’s Market look like a Food 4 Less. Although the market itself isn’t that large, the appeal was that of a kid’s first visit to Disneyland. (English accent)… shall we?

According to this cow map, the Borough Market is accurately divided into three main sections. But one should not ignore the fine establishments near the neck, brisket or belly. They are just as tasty.

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