Food + Dining Scene: Nuestra Mesa Offers Delightful New Brunch

Nuestra Mesa, located in historic downtown Camas, recently launched a new brunch menu that is creative, beautiful, and tantalizingly delightful.

“Brunch is a fun meal period,” said Mesa’s Executive Chef, Zach Capoccia. “Everybody is looking for something fun and outside the box, and I feel we’ve done that here.”

Our review sampled three dishes: Pork Tinga Benedict, Steak and Eggs Hash, and the Carnitas Omelette.

Pork Tinga Benedict

This twist on the Eggs Benedict is creatively designed with a Jalepeno-Cheddar biscuit, habanero-cabbage slaw, poached cage-free eggs, chipotle hollandaise, and served with papas bravas. It’s alive with flavor and the favorite of our sample plates.

“This is a creative Benedict,” said Capoccia. “It was made with love. I cook with my heart, and I wanted to bring that here. It’s such a complex cuisine and it’s in-depth and complex. With brunch, I want people to see what this is all about. For the most part it’s Mexican flavors. Mexico is surrounded by ocean. You see a lot of seafood and people don’t realize that. The slaw is made with lime juice and starts fermenting itself and we let it do its own thing, which gives it a little bit of kick.”

Capoccia says his style is different, even for Mexican food.

“I have massive respect for their cuisine even though I’m not from there,” he said. “It’s more than greasy food. We love our tinga meat.”

Steak and Eggs Hash

The hash is created with a marinated carne asada, papas bravas, onion, April Joy Farms cherry tomatoes, jalapeño, chipotle, crema, and two cage-free fried eggs.

Mesa uses a wet marinade with orange and lime juice, which creates the flavor, along with soy sauce, cumin, oregano, chili powder blended like a vinaigrette.

The grilled carne asada dominates this dish, and we’re fine with that.

Carnitas Omelette

This wonderful omelette is made with poblano peppers, onion, salsa verde, queso oaxaca, and served with papas bravas.

“I wanted to have an omelette and then wanted to use Mexican ingredients,” said Capoccia. “Some is traditional as they do with onions and peppers. The papas bravas has a lot of the same seasonings as our chorizo. It’s our house seasoning with the potatoes.”

Nuestra Mesa welcomes everyone to try their new brunch menu and experience the creativity and heart that goes into their food.

Mesa’s hours:
Mon–Thur: 11:30am – 9:00pm
Fri-Sat: 11:30am – 10:00pm
Sun: 11:00am – 8:00pm

Mesa is located at 228 NE 4th Avenue. To learn more, visit www.nuestramesacamas.com