| Mission: Cyrus |
[Aug. 27th, 2009|03:42 pm] |
It has been a while since I've done a Mission: Michelin update. In fact, it's been over a year! That doesn't mean I haven't been continuing on with my quest to eat at each establishment rated one or more stars in Michelin's inaugural guide to the Bay Area; it just means I've been a total slacker in regards to actually writing the meals up. That slacking has to end, and end now. And so it shall.
My friend (M) and I ate at Cyrus in Healdsburg on Sunday. Ate is the wrong word for the experience; indeed, we dined at Cyrus that evening. I've long wanted to visit this place and had built up rather unreasonable expectations as to what it would be like. I'm delighted to say that it more than lived up to my expectations. We arrived early for our 8:30 reservation as the walk from our hotel (the excellent Healdsburg Inn). We were shown to our table immediately, passing through the bar and into the well-appointed dining room. Along the way, we were greeted as if we were regulars by the gentleman who would be our waiter. That was a nice touch.
We were seated and presented with the caviar and champagne menu. Since we were planning on having the 8-course tasting menu, we declined both (though the selections looked good) and were soon examining the dinner menu. Cyrus offers two tasting menus, vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Our waiter encouraged us to look over vegetarian menu, as we were free to make course swaps between it and the regular tasting menu. We both opted for the regular tasting menu, with the wine pairings.
The dinner started with a round of five canapes, each designed around one of the basic tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami. These little bites were incredibly flavor-filled and stimulating and unusual. For example. the sweet was an apple and calvados globe with a liquid center that just filled the mouth with a lovely sweet apple taste. The canapes did the trick; our palates were suitable stimulated. Next came the amuse bouche, a fresh peach, served on a bed of slightly bitter greens. Again, lovely.
After those warm-ups, dinner began. We both started with the Seared Hamachi with Tomatos, Melon, and Cucumber, Sesame-Balsamic, which was paired with Kasumi Tsuru Yamahai Gingo Sake from Hyogo, Japan</i>. Oh, what a great way to start the meal proper. The hamachi was delicate and perfect and well paired with both the sake (which was nice and earthy) and the other flavors on the plate.
Next came the Foie Gras "Torchon" with Plums and Cashews, Toasted Crumpets and a glass of 2004 Domaine Ehrhart "Grand Cru Blend" Pinot Gris from Alsace, France. This was one of my favorite courses of the evening. The Torchon was rolled in crispy rice, which gave it a great texture and did a great job of making my first bite of this dish sublime. The rice kind of insulated my tongue from contact with the bite, and I got this wonderful flavor of the essence of the foie gras without the texture. It was really interesting and quite awesome. M had the Abalone with Hijiki Noodles and Snow Peas which she said was delicious.
For my third course, I had selected the Corn and Black Truffle Risotto with Taleggio from the vegetarian menu. It was rich and creamy with a great flavor of black truffle that didn't overwhelm the dish, but complimented it well. I wanted to just push my face into the plate and lick the bowl clean; it was that good. Obviously, one of my favorite dishes of the evening. (There might be a theme going on here.) It was served with a 2007 Peay "Estate" Chardonnay from the Sonoma Coast.
The fourth course was Duck Breast with Rosti Potatoes and Peppers, Sherry Jus, along with a 2006 Skwis "Reserve" Pinot Noir from the Anderson Valley. As anyone who's read my food posts know, I love duck. This duck breast was perfectly prepared and I loved the way the texture of the potatoes went along with it. Delicious.
Next came the Cyrus BLT. Our waiter told us this was one of the place's most popular dishes, and that it kept coming back onto the menu when tomatos were in season. I can see why! It was a nice piece of braised (I think; my memory's a little hazy at this point) pork belly on top of some heirloom tomato on top of a piece of butter-sautéed lettuce, served with a piece of fried green tomato and a mayonnaise sauce. Wow. This disk was really unusual and out of this world good. Certainly one of my favorites of the evening. The pork belly was like uber-bacon, flavorful and tender and the whole thing added up to the best BLT you've ever had -- sans the bread. This was also one of my favorite courses of the evening, and I can see why it keeps returning to the menu.
Somewhere in here we had a little bit of a sorbet to cleanse our palates. Then it was on to the cheese course. We had a selection of 5 cheeses, served from a cart that must have had a dozen or more cheeses on it. Alas, I don't have the names of what we consumed, but we had some kind of triple cream soft cheese, a hard goat cheese, a really nice aged cheddar, a beautiful bleu, and a French cheese of some kind, all accompanied by a 2007 Montlouis Sur Loire Deletang "Les Batisses - Demi Sec" from the Loire Valley. It was a great combination of tastes and textures and probably would have been enough to finish off the meal. But we weren't done yet.
We moved on to the first dessert course, Cherry and Pistachio Ice Cream Sandwich, Cardamom Streusel accompanied by a glass of 2007 Elio Perrone "Bigaro" from Piedmont, Italy. A lovely combination of sweet, spice, crumbly, and cold. Quite an excellent dessert. The second dessert courses, the Strawberry Rhubarb Bread Pudding and the Chocolate Cake and Watermelon (with the latter accompanied by a 1990 Mas Amiel Maury from Roussillon, France) were OK, but neither blew my socks off. They were my least favorite courses of the evening. They kind of felt like they were trying a bit too hard. The Maury was very nice, though.
We sat back, replete. But Cyrus wasn't finished with us yet. Our kind waiter pushed up a cart of mignardises for us to choose from. i was comfortably full and probably didn't need more food, but they looked so good I had to try a caramel and a cookie. Ah, wonderful sweet bites.
Cyrus was full of nice touches. They had a very tempting selection of breads to accompany the meal (baked twice nightly, we were told) that were served with two types of butter (a goat's milk and a sheep's milk) and two types of sea salt. I didn't want to eat a lot of bread, but what I did eat was very, very good. The service was spot on; plates were delivered simultaneously, dishes were cleared when everyone was done, water glasses were never empty, and yet the servers left us alone to enjoy our meal in peace.
Our waiter did an excellent job of explaining the dishes without talking down to us. Renowned chef Hubert Keller and his wife, Chantal, were dining at a nearby table. The wait staff gave us the same explanations and services as they did to their more famous guests. Having just seen Chef Keller on the Top Chef: Masters finale (and having eaten at his excellent Fleur de Lys in San Francisco), it was quite a thrill to be dining at the same restaurant.
Cyrus was an unqualified success. The food, ambiance and service were all top notch and combined into making this evening one of the best dining experiences of my life. It was also the most expensive meal I've had to date, yet I look forward to revisiting Cyrus at some point in the not too distant future.
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