Camper - Menlo Park downtown

[osho]

We had a rather excellent meal at Camper in Menlo Park a few weeks ago. I am usually cooked out by Friday and it’s good to get out of the house and have someone more competent than me take over the cooking, service and cleanup

We chose to order some of the appetizers and make a meal of these.

1. Butternut squash soup
2. Shishito peppers with honey vinaigrette
3. Mixed greens salad with bulgur and a superb aioli-like dressing
4. Corn bread with jalapeno butter
5. Shoestring fries - perfect texture and shape with spicy light mayo and home made ketchup

The wife ordered fresh lime soda and I had a hard cider with the meal.

Every thing we ate was superb. Texture, layering of flavor, presentation was top notch. All the dishes were thought through and presented with care. Service was great in terms of timing and demeanor. We’ve been back once after this visit, and Camper is on the dining out rotation for sure.

I heartily recommend this place if you haven’t been yet.

[honkman]

Restaurants on the Peninsula are often overlooked compared to their counterparts in San Francisco even though many of them offer good dishes which reach similar levels of quality. Camper in Menlo Park is one of these places which is more recognized as a neighborhood place but actually delivers on many levels - good appetizers, great house-made pasta, excellent desserts and good cocktail program.

Mix of our Market Haul Vegetable Pickles

Natural Levain Sourdough Bread, Whipped Wild Ramp Butter

Mediterranean Olives marinated in Roasted Garlic and Spices

Blistered Sugar Snap Peas and Shoots, Hazelnut Granola, Muhammara Sauce

Crispy, flash-cooked Brussels Sprouts, Cajun Crunch Seasoning

Wild Mushrooms Tartine, Whipped Ricotta, Porcini Furikake, Pine Nuts, Miner’s Lettuce

First Local Asparagus, Distefano Burrata, Artichokes, Pea Shoot Pesto, Croutons

Red Wine Strozzapreti, Braised Solano Lamb Sugo, Pistachio Gremolata, Mint, Olives, Garrotxa

American Wagyu Cheeseburger, Pickled Green Tomatoes, Gem Lettuce, Secret Sauce, Shoestring Fries

Duroc Pork “Katsu”, Cabbage, Sugar Snap Peas, Crispy Leeks, “Bulldog” Sauce

Creekstone Bavette “Greg’s Steak”, Mole Negro, Crispy Sunchokes, Green Onion Salsa Verde

Olive Oil Mochi Cake, Blood Orange, Harry’s Strawberries, Mascarpone, Bee Pollen

Caramelized Milk Jam Pudding, Dulce de Leche, Whipped Chantilly, Candied Pecans

Smoked Guittard Chocolate Cremeux ‘Smores, Toasted Graham Tarts, Burnt Meringue

[honkman]

Another visit to one of our “neighborhood” restaurants - Camper https://campermp.com/ Small, lively place with normally well thought out and executed dish and good cocktails. This time a few missteps - some of lamb dumplings had dried out skin and weren’t well heated up. And the flat iron steak was a really bad value - two relatively small slices for a high price. Yes, prices are going up everywhere but the price for that amount was ridiculous.

Good cocktails (including mocktail)

Lightly pickled mix of vegetables

Griddled lamb dumplings, smoked yoghurt, sumac, walnut + golden raisin vinaigrette

Eggplant moussaka, tahini aja blanco, cashews, peppers, espelette

Slices of hiramasa, hatch chili leche de tigre, cucumber, orchid melon

American wagyu cheeseburger, pickled green tomatoes, gem lettuce, secret sauce, shoestring fries

“Clams casino” bucatini, corni di toro peppers, smoky bacon, parsley bread crumb

Creekstone flat iron “Greg’s steak”, roasted + raw squashes, zucchini-ganoush, chicories

“Peach melba”, almond frangipane, vanilla gelato, blood orange caramel

Smoked guittard chocolate cremeux ‘smores, toasted graham tarts, burnt meringue

[dvlpmnt]

holy shit that pile of fries rules lol

I haven’t gone because that’s literally where everyone at my work takes their invited guests/speakers to “wow” them (which lol)

[honkman]

The burger with the fries is really nice - and the current favorite restaurant burger of our daughter

[robert]

@honkman

shoestring fries

Those are regular fries. Shoestring fries are cut much finer. They’re crisp all the way through, like potato chips.