Camille’s at Crystal Beach
2931 Scenic Hwy 98, Destin, 337-8860
By Bruce Collier December 16, 2004 Issue
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The weather was unusually warm the night we ate at Camille’s at Crystal Beach. This allowed diners to eat outside on the balcony, which affords a partial view of the Gulf. We stayed inside, and I was interested to see just how many people had come in by the time we left. Camille’s has not been open a long time, but apparently the word is out. For an off-season weeknight, the place was pretty full. The wood-paneled dining room is warm and comfortable. I counted nearly 30 framed and unframed mirrors hanging on the walls, which gave a sense of openness.

Camille’s has a full bar—small but pleasant—sharing space with an equally small sushi bar. Sushi is overseen and occasionally prepared by sushi mistress Yoshie Eddings, who divides her time between Camille’s and other restaurants. The server brought us the regular menu and a list of some 50 sushi rolls and about two dozen varieties of nigiri (fish with rice). Yoshie’s reputation precedes her, and I noticed that many of my fellow diners were making a meal of sushi.

The server took our drink orders, told us about several specials, including discounted drinks and sushi items, and left us to sample a house specialty, smoked tuna dip. I’m not a fan of this, usually, but Camille’s version is light on the mayo and heavy on the tuna. It tasted good with cocktails, so what more do you want?

We were here to sample the regular menu, mostly, but I couldn’t resist getting a couple of rolls for appetizers. This caused a slight glitch. My friend ordered an appetizer of fried green tomatoes off the regular menu, and I ordered a soft-shell crab roll and spicy octopus roll. Her tomatoes came out well before my rolls, and I had to ask the server to check on them. Granted, sushi takes time, but since the same server was working both the sushi bar and the kitchen, he might have timed it better. He remembered this, though, and when my friend later decided to take the plunge and order her own sushi (a first for her), the server advised us that it might collide with the serving of our entrÈes. It did not. Problem solved.

The tomatoes were perfectly fried, crisp and greaseless. The Creole honey mustard sauce was a welcome change from the usual ranch or remoulade. My rolls were excellent, and came with plenty of fiery wasabi and pickled ginger.

Other appetizer choices included chicken and vegetable spring rolls, crab and cheese wontons, marinated portabella mushroom with goat cheese, pan-fried pot sticker dumplings with sesame dipping sauce, and fried lobster.

We moved on to split Carla’s Summer Salad, despite the season. Fresh mixed greens came topped with strawberries, blue cheese and glazed pecans, dressed with raspberry vinaigrette. Blue cheese and pecans never fail, and the single portion was big enough for sharing. Camille’s also offers house and Caesar salads.

The regular menu offers seven entrÈes. Two specials were also available. My friend ordered one, seared trigger fish topped with grilled shrimp, and asparagus and roasted potatoes on the side. I ordered crab cakes from the menu. They came with asparagus and pasta.

My friend, who had never tried trigger, was well pleased, and she has never met a shrimp she didn’t like. Both fish and shrimp were moist and flavorful, with a light beurre blanc. My crab cakes were the genuine article—including some bits of shell—and paired well with a lemon caper cream sauce that was also on the pasta. Other entrÈes included a blackened grouper (the other special); paneÈd chicken with pasta, New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp, sun dried tomato-crusted grouper, sautÈed red snapper, ribeye, and a meal-sized seafood gumbo.

Camille’s offered three desserts that night. I think they can vary. We had a warm key lime crepe and creme brulee, both of which were exemplary. The other choice was a cheesecake with strawberries.

Camille’s version of Gulf Coast/New Orleans cooking, with its emphasis on seafood and French-inspired sauces, marches well alongside the simple, individualistic flavors of the Japanese kitchen. It might seem an unlikely marriage, but so far, so delicious.

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