Cyrus (Healdsburg)

We kicked off our weekend with dinner at Cyrus, the Bay Area restaurant most often compared with The French Laundry. I'm probably still a long ways from having either the money or patience to snag reservations for TFL, but Cyrus was a real treat for me. My parents had never experienced a French-style tasting menu or true California cuisine, and they were very impressed by the way the kitchen showcased local flavors and talent. Service, of course, was stellar. There aren't many food experiences more luxurious than a four hour meal during which a fleet of servers attends to your every need.

Cyrus is located in a lovely hotel in downtown Healdsburg. Like most of California's restaurants, it was elegant but casual.



Soon after we sat down, an array of amuse bouches appeared at the table. The concept for the three tiers was "flavors your tongue can sense" or something similar. The bottom tier was umami and salty: sao mai dumplings and a little pastry filled with chickpea puree. The middle tier was sweet and bitter: a pastry topped with something no one can seem to remember, and spoonfuls of campari gelee. The top tier held the representative for the sour camp: raw tuna and mangoes in a tart sauce.


Our second amuse was seared hamachi on ponzu reduction with a sweet potato puree and a side of horseradish sprouts.

We went pretty light on the alcohol as far as tasting menu customers go, I think. My sisters and J opted for Cyrus's famous cocktails, and my father and I shared one wine flight. Everything was well paired, but I'm not sure there were real standouts in terms of the wine.

J's mai tai, which he requested off the menu, was excellent and came topped with a balsamic strawberry. Everyone at the table was also very impressed by Cyrus's sleek metal drinking straws. Does anyone know where we can buy a set?

The first course was cucumber jello with blanched almonds. To me, this was the most unexpected and unique dish of the night. I mean, c'mon. Cucumber jello? It was really quite lovely and refreshing, despite how odd it might seem.

The lobster course was a table favorite. By this time, my dad was in the full swing of things. He got a kick out of tasting the lobster several different ways: by itself, with each sauce, and then with every component of the dish all in one bite.

Another table favorite was the foie gras torchon stuffed with cherries with cooked cherry sauce and brioche disks. At the end of our vacation, my mom declared it her favorite dish of the entire trip. It was a generous portion, and beautifully flavored. The center portion, just around the cherries, was so lightly cooked as to be almost custardy. I'd never tasted foie gras quite like that, and it was amazing(ly addictive).

Liberty farm duck, roasted with a crisped skin. I love when duck is cooked so that it's practically a substitute for beef.

Seared lamb with wild ramps. I love lamb, and this was amazing, but I was almost more interested in the wild ramps because I'd never seen them before.

Like seasoned pros, the kitchen knew at this point in the meal to send out a palate cleanser. That night, it came in the form of a meyer lemon and mango popsickle. It had the crispy texture of granita, and everyone's only complaint was that it was about the size of a small raspberry.

After a well-appreciated long interval, the staff pushed out a rather imposing cheese cart with an assortment of exotic and local cheeses.

This plate almost did us in. I don't remember all the names of the cheeses, but there was an excellent montenegro and a well-ripened Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk. The only cheese I didn't like was the goat's milk blue, and I wish I'd written down the name of brie-like cheese to the right of the photo. The dates and panna forte were both delicious; the figs could have been more ripe.

The first dessert course was a New York egg cream with tiny chocolate chip cookies. The egg cream was delicious, made tableside with Seltzer Sisters seltzer water. However, I felt the chocolate to milk ratio was too high, and the resulting drink was a bit cloying when paired with sweet, soft, fresh-from-the-oven cookies (which were perfect).

Strawberries, rhubarb, tapioca, and in a soup of lemon fizz. I liked this dessert, but found it odd because it was simultaneously very sweet, but sour so that it seemed out of place immediately following a very chocolatey dessert. I hate to say it, but if I had to nit pick about Cyrus I would say their weak spot is desserts.

Beignets that didn't taste anything like beignets. They tasted like deep-fried dense dark chocolate brownies or fudge rolled in sugar. This is not what people want to eat after a heavy meal. We took home an entire box of these, and I think we still ended up throwing some away. I've never thrown away anything from a tasting menu! The lemon mousse on the side, however, was delicious. I could have eaten a whole bowl of that with some cookies.

My mom had requested no deep-fried foods so she got a "carnival desserts" trio instead. Fun concept, but it was hit and miss. The peanut butter mousse and fresh candied corn was delicious and it was quickly devoured. The mint sorbet and ice cream were supposed to evoke memories of snow cones, but it was so minty it tasted a little like Binaca, and the "rocky road" cake was just marshmallow enrobed in chocolate.

Then, of course, came the mingardes cart. Someone please tell me how to spell that.

Everything was tasty, but nothing especially so. I would say standouts included the blueberry pate fruit, the fresh seascape strawberries from the chef's garden, green apple lollipops, and Szechuan peppercorn truffles.

Everyone got a lovely box to take home, filled with a dark chocolate brownie and all our leftover candies. It feels really special when a restaurant gives you a little something to take home and remember them by. However, I feel like after such a bonanza of a meal one expects something a little more exotic than a brownie. The Dining Room, for example, used to give homemade French sea salted caramels, which were especially tasty. The brownies were good, but not better than homemade. All in all, Cyrus is an amazing experience that I would recommend to anyone. But if I went again, I'd skew my experience to include more savory dishes and fewer sweets!

After all that happy eating, we happily tumbled home and awaited our weekend of nature and relaxation. This is the view from our private dock; great huh? Parts of California really are a little slice of Heaven. More tomorrow...