The Bride and I wandered over towards Wrightsville Friday to check out Cameo 1900. Good food+ different layout + helpful service = a pleasant experience.
The first thing you notice is that it’s not laid out like most restaurants. Rather than a sea of two-tops and four-tops, the space is divided into a series of semiprivate areas. You are separated from the next group by a sheer black curtain. The chairs are different too. Rather than the usual upright chair cleverly designed to be comfortable for a short period of time, the chairs are designed for you to lounge in. Cameo wants to be known for its cocktails and the chairs certainly facilitate sitting back and sipping something in a glass. Friday was Mojito night.
Cameo’s setup is all designed to match their key concept which is that you should enjoy a ‘flow’ of food and drinks coming to the table. We strived to be up for the challenge.
We began with the Rock Shrimp. It promised mango, rice noodles, tomatoes, peanuts and a curry vinaigrette. The Bride liked it, I found it too lemony. The rice noodles looked like pipe cleaners and had no taste. Being long, they were somewhat awkward to handle althought that did slow down my eating allowing me to better savor what I ate.
Okay, so then we got smart. We asked Jessica what was good.
She brought out their tuna tartare which comes in a little pile atop a base of avocado. Its presentation reminds one of an upturned bucket of sand. Tasty and nutritious. It was well worth it. Kirsten Mitchell, the chef, definitely needs to keep this on the menu.
She also brought out an order of the Korean style BBQ. More food to play with and assemble. Lettuce leaves in lieu of a bun, the Q, and carrot slaw make up the ingredients for you to put together as you please. It really works well together. This will get Kirsten votes in the Top Chef competition (running currently in the Wilmington Star News).
And who could go to a restaurant of small eating areas and small plates without ordering small burgers? Cameo offers burger sliders an pork sliders. As a fan of Wilber’s (Goldsboro) all BBQ runs 2nd. But the burger slider with goat cheese and an onion marmalade was great. The menu officially offers 3 of one or other but they accomodated our request for a split. Special orders don’t upset them.
Since I missed the memo about Cameo being a cocktail place I ordered wine. Fine, but a missed opportunity. Their cocktails are all made with fresh fruit. The bride’s Grey Goose Gimlet and traditional mojito seemed to really hit the spot. Mojitos were the beverage special that night. They offered more variations on the basic mojito than I could keep up with.
Lumina Station has a great option when you’re looking for the unhurried dinner of small plates so everyone can get what they want.
You can read the Wilmington Star News review at this link: http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20100504/ARTICLES/100509909