Visited January 15, 2010
Sonoma County's top restaurant, Cyrus holds the honors of "Restaurant of a Grand Chef Relais & Châteaux in town", and two Michelin Stars. It is located next door to the Le Mars Hotel in Healdsburg, CA
Styled after European gastronomic destinations, courses are in flights presented simultaenously, carts are de riguer, and flourishes prevail. Evolutions since our last visit include the new bread selections and a few molecular embelishments in dishes.
What I'd love to see Cyrus do is embrace the wealth of Sonoma and Napa farms but that doesn't seem to be the path Douglas Keane wants to take. There is interest but it doesn't seem to be high on the list.
Overall
the food has a sort of smoke and mirrors affect for me. Dazzling but somehow hollow. Jack does not agree, he likes the glamour and is happy to be bespelled. Cyrus does work its magic well.
Dessert was much much more focused on this visit, a lovely surprise. Unfortunately the hallowed cheese course was weaker both in description and presentation. I think that Cyrus patrons deserve a dedicated cheese person (or at least a chosen personnel who looks after the cheese cart). It was not all right with me to have the waiter stumble over names, and make errors in memory. Either label the cheeses, or have a cheese authority present them.
All that said, we enjoyed dinner. We managed to hold a conversation that wasn't constantly interrupted. The room isn't too loud, the chairs are comfortable and the decor is elegant.
What we had:
Canapes 5- Flavors:
Shitake mushroom broth with ginger
Very nice. I wouldn't eat a bowl but a tiny cup was a lovely start.
Poached cranberry with honey
Honey was obvious. Cranberry was tart and plump.
Citrus Custard Tartlette
Wonderful. I would have been happy if this was on the dessert list.
Gougeres with Gruyère
Not the pinnacle of gougeres, and a bit heavier than I like.
Pink grapefruit gelée
Very refreshing.
Caviar:
American Paddlefish & California Select
The caviar was very fresh, generously portioned, and on that basis I would order it again. It was nicely presented with horn and mother of pearl spoons. However, the presentation is awkward with the caviar presented as a central share plate and impossible to finish down to the last eggs without licking the plate - literally. With two people it might be workable. With a larger party it's tough. The plate itself is heavy and hard to pass.
Individually each diner was presented with a plate with: cucumber planks with nitrogen quick frozen meyer lemon pulp pieces, dehydrated creme fraiche and blinis
The meyer lemon was not frozen when it arrived at the table. The creme fraiche was a neat idea but placed on the warm blini it was impractical as it turned to thin liquid. The blini themselves were not cooked all the way through.
The accompanying champagne cart offered some nice selections including Alfred Gratien Champagne by the Glass.
Nantucket Bay Scallops with a ginger wasabi mayonnaise
Scallops were close to raw, and obviously very fresh. The sauce was really nice. A nice amuse.
Bread Basket
Five types: epi, seeded, brioche, laminated with feta and olives and a foccacia with cheese and bacon.
Not the pinnacle of bread. I appreciate the effort, but hoped for a better product. The two butters were Meyenberg Goat and Spring Hill Farms
Two salts: English (Maldon?) and Hawaiian (Alea?)
Sparkling water is VOSS and note to diners - water glasses are large so that 1 bottle is almost finished after pouring 2 glasses. You will end up going to a 2nd bottle very quickly.
Tuna, Cauliflower and Dashi Parfait with Shiso and Pickled Ramps
The BigEye Tuna had almost no flavor but was nicely cut. The custard was very nice on its own. The gelee (cauliflower? shiso? could not tell) not really adding much. Pickled ramps were thin slices mixed with the tiny caulifower florets topped with julienne of shiso. A nice contrast.
