Cyrus, the former two-michelin starred restaurant, finally reopened this past month after being closed for 10 years. I’ve never dined at the original location, but I wanted to give them a chance having read about Chef Douglas Keane’s approach in achieving pay equity, with a minimum pay of at least $65,000 a year, for all full-time employees.
I was also intrigued by Keane’s concept of moving guests around the restaurant throughout the dinner to break up any monotony in sitting around the restaurant for hours. So off I went in snagging a reservation on Tock.
Food: I had high expectations coming in given the accolades of Cyrus’ previous iteration. Did Cyrus 2.0 at least match it? No. To be honest, the food and menu needs a little work. Some dishes really sang…like the perfectly cooked lobster canape…sweet and bouncy flesh contrasted against that super bright sour thai dressing; or that light and velvety cauliflower panna playing as a perfect counterpoint to the brine and sweetness of several tongues of sea urchin; how about the flawlessly cooked al dente risotto? Creamy as can be but bursting with intense red wine flavor. Did I mention how good their desserts are?
But for each delicious bites that we had, we’re reminded of the slightly chewy duck with somewhat flabby skin; steamed buns that were more gummy in texture than fluffy; and a rather pedestrian braised beef final savory course that didn’t leave much of an impression. My other slight criticism is that the pace of the bites presented in the kitchen felt a bit rushed. At one point, 5 canapes including the plate of “crudites” were in front of us, as intended. But facing that many bites, we felt “busy” trying to get through all the food before the next bite potentially dropping at any given moment.
In conclusion, we still had a great time and a very unique experience at Cyrus. I’m hoping that, as Chef Keane’s menu evolves, he’ll serve more substantial dishes in the kitchen and talk us through his style of cooking in place of parading guests with a series of almost canape-sized dishes.
Service: Top notch. Every staff we encountered were warm and personable. They were also able to anticipate every need that we had. Heck, our server even walked us out the door.
This absolutely gorgeous restaurant sits in the middle of a vineyard with a magnificent view.
Upon arrival, we were introduced to our server of the night by maitre’d Nick Peyton then off we went to the first phase of the dinner…bubbles lounge
we were encouraged to explore the property and take in the beautiful scenery
then came the first bites of the evening…canapes
sweet | fig, chorizo
salty | gougere, comte fondue
bitter | charred radish, matcha butter
umami | tomato, parmesan, tartlet
sour | lobster, avocado, thai dressing
After spending 30 mins or so in the lounge, we were shepherded into second phase of dinner…chef’s table.
yup, that is a pacojet on the far left 
douglas keane - mr sergio himself
“crudite” | umeboshi
gazpacho consomme
uni, cauliflower, sudachi
oyster, ginger, shiso, dashi gelee
kanpachi, sweet potato, passion fruit, poke
shima aji, ice plant, radish, candied kumquat
billi bi, fennel pollen
at this point, we moved on to the final phase of dinner in the connected dining room.
tiny plate…we know what’s coming
saikyo miso butter
steamed buns
foie gras torchon, compressed peach
salt - no explanation was given of why it’s there until we asked: season as your please!
red wine risotto, parmesan froth
wa-gyuto for the next course…possibly 6 inches? Honestly, I had trouble using it. Given the rectangular shape of the duck course’s plate, I could only use the first 2 inches or so, tip side of the knife, to cut my duck. Otherwise, the edge or heel of the knife would be hitting against the edge of plate. Very clunky and difficult to cut through my duck given that the knife wasn’t sharp by any means…
sonoma duck, kosui pear, turnips, hoisin
beef, squash, maitake, umeshu consomme
pretzel bread
aged gouda, pear, mustard
strawberry, lemon verbena, greek yogurt
plum, black sesame, akajiso, kobuto
chamomile tea
Surprise! Just when we thought the night was over, we were brought into this room that was perfumed with an intoxicating chocolate aroma. In fact, part of the back wall is a chocolate fountain with 500 pounds of melted chocolate running 24/7. On the foreground is a spinning pedestal that levitate. Sitting in midair were our parting gifts…2 boxes of house-made chocolate bonbon.
profiteroles
there was an explosion of chocolaty goodness when we bit through the lovely choux pastry
Cyrus
275 CA-128
Geyserville, CA 95441
