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E-mail StoryPete Tittl: With a little work, Camino Real could be the next Red Pepper
| Tuesday, Jul 1 2008 12:25 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, Jul 1 2008 2:12 PM
Every city’s dining scene needs its Young Turks, the innovators, those creative souls with a drive to make their mark.
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3500 Truxtun Ave.
852-0493
Hours: 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Prices: Breakfast $6.95-$9.25, appetizers $3.95-$11.95, combination dinners $7.50-$10.50, seafood $12.95, salads $5.95-$9.95, tortas and burgers $8.95, Child’s plate $3.95.
Payment: MasterCard, VISA and Discover accepted. Does not accept personal checks, American Express or The Californian’s Press Pass.
Dress: Casual.
Amenities: Wheelchair accessible; beer and wine served; some vegetarian options.
Food: 3 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Service: 31⁄2 stars.
Next week: Big Popy’s Deli
Photos:
Pepper-jack enchiladas from Camino Real restaurant.
The dessert sampler contains fried ice cream, a cheesecake chimichanga, an apple pie chimichanga, “funnel cake plantains” and a nice mango sorbet with a tamarind sauce. Pete calls the sampler "the perfect end to a meal."
Jose Hernandez, left, and Sandra Perez have lunch at Camino Real.
Fish tacos
Jim Kaspar has lunch at Camino Real.
Camino Real's spin on the Mexican favorite, flan.
Mango Sorbet with Tamarind sauce
Links:
- Check out restaurant ratings and reviews from community members, and add your own, at Bakersfield.com's Inside Guide to Dining.
- Want to find out which restaurants and businesses accept The Californian's Press Pass, your ticket to savings? Check out our map
- Read reviews of other restaurants Pete has visited
Bakersfield has had its share, people like Red Pepper co-owner/chef Gilbert Sabedra who always tested the boundaries of Mexican cuisine and eventually went from the chef in the kitchen to the owner of his own restaurant.
We may have a new Gilbert in Alejandro Ocampo, the co-owner of Camino Real restaurant, located in what long-timers would call the old Cask ‘N’ Cleaver on Truxtun just west of Oak Street.
This young man worked in other restaurants in town for eight years, starting as a busboy and working up to bartender.
He watched, observed, made mental notes to himself about how he would do it when he had his own restaurant. Now, with financial backing from family (parents Fernando and Ruth, brothers Juan, Miguel, Fernando Jr. and sisters Magdalena and Patricia), he’s opened a place that will aim to offer the same creative selections that has made Red Pepper such a local institution.
Camino Real was still in the midst of a remodel when it opened and we visited. Work was going on in the old bar area, but customers were already streaming into the dining room and the owner was a social presence there, meeting and greeting and explaining his hopes, goals and dreams.
The menu has breakfast, lunch and dinner in the form of omelets made with cactus (a long time since we had that, and few local restaurants serve it), tortas and burgers, combo meals and a healthy list of seafood items.
It’s really a charming place already, with a subtle green and gold color scheme and pictures of California missions on the wall, votive candles, really interesting decorating. Nothing garish or loud. Someone with taste is behind this. (Ocampo said his sister Patricia, a fourth-grade teacher, inspired the mission theme.)
What first caught my attention was the orange chicken burrito ($9.95), which was described as citrus-marinated grilled chicken that had been fried. East meets Southwest, you might say. Had to order it. I’d love to rave, but I just can’t.
The chicken had a flabby batter that wasn’t crunchy, though I did appreciate the subtle, not overly sweet orange sauce. Chalk it up as an innovation that needs work. One nice touch: It was made with a whole wheat flour tortilla.
One of my companions ordered a carnitas burrito ($8.95) while another chose the pepper jack shrimp burrito ($10.95).
The latter was simply excellent, though I wish the grilled shrimp had a smokier taste to blend with that excellent sauce made from pepper jack cheese. Also in the shrimp burrito were red, yellow and green peppers as well as onions and zucchini. A compatible vegetable mix, that’s for sure.
The burrito was all meat with the beans and rice on the side. Oddly, my companion didn’t appreciate that, but who amongst us has not ordered a burrito that was mostly rice and beans filler?
Other interesting choices we didn’t get a chance to sample were the mole enchiladas ($9.95) and the Philly cheesesteak torta.
There’s a lunch buffet ($9.95) served from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. every day with special theme days: Italian (Wednesday), Asian (Thursday) and grilled BBQ (Friday).
Special $5 breakfasts will be offered from 7 to 9 a.m. The beer and wine bar, decorated in a bullfighter theme, will have its own in-house disc jockey.
By all means save room for the dessert sampler ($12) which included fried ice cream (a small scoop of vanilla bean, not a baseball-sized mound with a hard center), a cheesecake chimichanga, an apple pie chimichanga, “funnel cake plantains” and a nice mango sorbet with a tamarind sauce. A perfect end to a meal.
Ocampo said they’re already working on a new menu to debut in a few months that will feature some of his mother’s recipes, “more traditional Mexican food that I don’t see in a lot of restaurants.”
Camino Real is not up to Red Pepper’s level yet, but it will be fun to watch this restaurant develop.