I remember Cam telling me about El Camino's back a few months ago, but promptly forgot about it. It's a fairly new place, from my understanding, so it makes sense that I haven't committed it to memory before. Much like many of the new cafes/restaurants that have been opening in Vancouver, it's fairly small and straight-forward. A bar with a few seats greets you at the door, while the opposite wall is lined with tables for 2-4 people each. A group of a few booths are also located in the back of the place. Cam and I arrived before our friends Devon and Sam, and the place was already packed, so we chose to sit at the bar. Unlike many people, we don't find it totally necessary to sit at a table when eating. Plus, you ever notice how long people will wait in line to sit down, even when there's spots open at the bar? I guess they're just not in a hurry or something, which I can relate to. So yeah, we sat at the bar, ordered a couple of coffees and began looking over the menu. El Camino's touts itself as a provider of "Latin American Street Food", and the menu doesn't disappoint. Beans, salsa(s) and spicy ingredients pepper the menu (did you like that pun? Yes you did!) items, making it tough for someone to pick just one thing. I finally decided upon a Spicy Shrimp Scramble, while Cam went with The Hangover (to match how he was feeling that day). I also ordered a classic mimosa, simply because I wasn't hungover and felt like it would be a good thing to have on this rainy Sunday morning.
The servers (only two working at the time) were slammed almost immediately after we arrived, so the service was a bit slow. At the same time, as I said to one of them when she apologized for the wait, "If people were in a hurry, they wouldn't come into a place like this. They'd hit McDonald's." That's kind of my take on most restaurants/cafes/etc, though. The people that come walking into a place, order food and immediately follow it with a mention of what a hurry their in, or something to that effect. If you're so strapped for time, what are you doing sitting down at a restaurant? Anyway, I've gone off on a tangent, so back to breakfast!
It wasn't a relatively long time to wait for our food, and when it did arrive, we were ready for it...
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| Spicy Shrimp Scramble |
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| The Hangover |
Holy crap, the potatoes were awesome! As we all know, I like to eat them first, and generally judge a place on its potatoes, and El Camino's did not disappoint! The toast was also quite tasty, I must say. Most of all, the scramble was just the right amount of spicy. Not so much that it masks the flavour (or lack thereof), but enough to make you want to have a drink. Speaking of drinks, my mimosa had a bit of orange juice in it, to colour the champagne of course. If you like a stiff drink at brunch, this is the place to be. Meanwhile, Cam made short work of his Hangover and enjoyed every bit of it. I tried some of the tortilla chips and they were also lovely. With the bill coming in at about $24, taxes in, it was a bit pricey but totally worth it. Plus, I could have easily saved $7.50 by not having the mimosa, so yeah, can't really complain about the price, especially considering not only food and coffee quality, but also the quality of the service. The servers did their best to keep an eye on everyone and keep a smile on their faces even with how packed the place was this morning. Kudos! For that, El Camino's scores 4 Bacons from the Team!
Stay sharp, kids
Jesse
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