I recently had my first ever blind date – not only with a guy, but a restaurant – one of the newest additions to the Charlottesville restaurant scene, Camino. In a location that has been turned over many times, I was skeptical about the newest addition, but was pleasantly surprised as soon as I saw the menu, that highlighted the restaurant’s devotion to local ingredients. My heart had already been won over. And anyone who’s a fan of locally sourced ingredients knows that its truly a challenge to mess up the flavors of these ingredients. And Camino definitely succeed in making some tasty dishes. We started with peppers stuffed with goat cheese. The peppers had a pickled taste to them that balanced quite nicely with the goat cheese, which I must admit, is not one of my favorite foods. However I could have had seconds of this appetizers. My date had some oysters on pasta (sorry, I dont eat seafood so I have no idea how to describe this) and I had a delicious penne pasta with mushrooms and a parmesan-like cheese. My pasta had flecks of red pepper on it which warmed my insides on the cold, rainy night better than any dish could.

While I dont know if my date and I will make it past our first date or so, this definitely will be the beginning of a beautiful relationship with Camino and their seasonal, Italian dishes.

-Jess

Warm, comforting pasta makes a first date more comfortable

Tags: buy local, eat local, local foods, locavore, restaurants, virginia

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