it's saturday night. we don't have a reservation. they tell us the wait is over an hour. what do we…read moredo? we wait.
and thank jebus we did, because this ended up being one of the best meals i've had in a while.
we started with the prawn. we each got one, and given that they're $10 a skewer, our bill started off STRONG. the prawns were perfectly roasted with hints of mezcal and prickly pear. the candied habanero or whatever garnish of death was on there totally kicked my ass in terms of spice. in true Asian fashion, we ripped the heads off and sucked all the goodness out of them too. no shame. you don't waste the good stuff.
then the cornbread showed up. the group collectively agreed we'd pass on this one next time. for me, the goat cheese threw me off, but that's entirely on me because i hate goat cheese and still knowingly ordered something with goat cheese. i played myself. there was absolutely nothing wrong with the dish, but compared to everything else we ate, there wasn't anything particularly standout about it either.
but then.
the fucking broccoli showed up.
it is literally charred broccoli with chermoula, lime, and peanut. that's it. BROCCOLI. and after taking one bite, i learned that broccoli could, in fact, be life changing. suddenly i was a new woman. a woman who wanted nothing more than to sit there and stuff her face with massive amounts of broccoli.
unfortunately, i couldn't because we still had dishes to taste.
and so i moved on to the pork belly.
when people describe something as "melting in your mouth," they are specifically referring to Campfire's pork belly. because that's exactly what it did. just melted all up in my mouth and lit my taste buds on fire. normally, i find pork belly prepared this way a little heavy and can only stomach a few bites, but i could have eaten the entire dish.
but of course i didn't, because i'm a lady.
and the octopus was about to show up.
and show up it DID.
i don't like celery, and this dish had plenty of it, but because it was shaved super thin, it was actually super palatable. the octopus was incredibly tender, and there were little bits of chorizo throughout that gave it the perfect balance. also, love me a good chimichurri sauce.
and finally, last but truly not least, the chicken.
a whole ass half bird, charred to perfection with roasted red pepper, kumquat, and fennel. apparently i like fennel now??? i didn't even know i liked fennel like that, but here we are. if i hadn't already been stuffed to the absolute brim, i could have destroyed this entire dish. the chicken was juicy and tender, and paired with the fennel, you're almost like just having a healthy dish???
LOL.
although we went in with every intention of ending the night with s'mores, our bodies simply said no. there was no more room at the inn. see what i did there :P
so instead, we left and went on a very long walk to digest all the delicious goodness that was Campfire.
i cannot wait to go back. mostly for the broccoli, which is a sentence i never thought i'd write in my life.
and this time, i will absolutely be making a reservation.