This weekend was my 27th birthday, and Ngoc planned a grand slew of festivities, not least of which was a Saturday evening dinner at Cyrus in Healdsburg. Herein I'm going to try and accomplish the arduous task of recounting our dinner affair, but first a little bit about Cyrus.
Cyrus has actually only been open for roughly three years now. In that short timespan, it's earned 2 Michelin stars, a 4-star rating from the SF Chronicle, and a listing in Gourmet Magazine's Top 50 Restaurants. In short this place is no joke! The reputation can be attributed mainly to exec. chef/owner Douglas Keane. Douglas Keane started his West Coast culinary career working under Traci Des Jardines at Jardiniere. He eventually worked up to the position of Executive Chef at Jardiniere, along the way taking a short leave of absence to work as opening Sous Chef at Gary Danko. It wasn't until 2003 that he parted ways with Traci and the family at Jardiniere to begin his restaurants ventures in Napa and Sonoma Counties with partner Nick Peyton. For those of you into the local SF food scene, having pedigrees from Jardiniere and Gary Danko on your belt is a career-maker in itself.
Immediately after sitting down, you are treated to a prologue palate cleanser. This was not the Amous Bouche! This prequel plating, so to speak, consisted of a variety of tiny flavors. In order, we tasted small guava puree sqaures with mint, seeded braised shitake mushroom rolls, ruby grapefruit bites, and finally "cleansing" pieces of fresh rhubarb and cucumber with hawaiian sea salt.
Our dinner at Cyrus then began in earnest with a small plating of American Paddlefish Caviar. We shared a couple pours of champagne with this, and enjoyed various "fixings" alongside the caviar, including potato cakes and grits patties.
We prompty signed up for their 5-course menu, and chose a couple glasses of Riesling for the first couple courses, which were from the sea and contained some thai spices/flavors. We then moved on to a Pinot Noir from Sherrer, a local boutique winery that is known for their attention to craft.
Our first post-caviar plating was a small Amous Bouche of yellowtail, onions and small greens over a reduced asian sauce not unlike tonkatsu sauce actually, but a little thinner.
This was followed by our first course, a roll of lobster and avocado in thai spices. The lobster was fresh beyond recognition, and a small round of mango that the roll sat on provided some really great sweetness. This course paired better with the wine we were drinking than any other course, in my opinion.
Second, a foie gras pate served alongside a fig jelly. OMG possibly the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. I've had foie gras plenty of times before, both whole and pate. BUT HOLY HELL this took the cake. We're talking melt in your mouth butteriness that was sweet and savory and fruity and all magical flavors of the rainbow. I hope to immortalize those few bites in memory for the rest of my life.
Third was a seared scallop topped with chorizo alongside a baby clam. This was probably the least interesting dish to me, although the texture was definitely wonderful. I wasn't quite sure what the chorizo's purpose was...purely texture? The flavor of the chorizo was bland, since the meat seemed to be very well cooked onto the scallop. {update} Ngoc wants to make sure I note that, while this may have been my least favorite dish, the singular clam served alongside the scallop was the best clam she's ever tasted.
Fourth were our mains. Ngoc had a duck breast and I had a couple small medallions of lamb tenderloin with greens and white corn grits. By now we were well into the Pinot Noir, and the lamb was definitely up to the challenge that the wine presented! The grits were heaven. Come on, grits! Who doesn't love grits! (sorry Ngoc)
Our fifth course, dessert, consisted of a small triangle of tiramisu, a chocolate cardemon gelato, candied fennel in a chocolate foam, and a small espresso "bubble" spoon. The latter was interesting...essentially a chocolate gelatin bubble with a small shot of espresso inside, buried under a froth of milk foam, all to be enjoyed in one large bite! Impressive.
Just when we thought we were done, they wheeled over the "candy bar", and we were treated to our choices of various sweets and treats. There were wine-flavored chocolate truffles, marzapan and dark chocolate bites, candied lychee fruit squares, caramel squares, etc etc so many I can't remember them all.
And top it all off, they sent us out the door with custom printed menus (including the wines and variety of caviar we ordered!) and small gold leaf baggies each containing fudge brownie squares and which read "Tomorrow?"
Wonderful. Are you as exhausted as I am???
