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For our 50th birthdays and our 30th anniversary, my parents took Lori and I to the Russian River area for a few days. Yes, this is a big year for us, with lots of milestones with "0" at the end. Our birthdays are only 16 days apart in the Spring, and our anniversary is coming up this Summer. So a few days off, mid-week, and we based ourselves in Healdsburg for the few days of vacation. While we enjoyed going around to some wineries (see some of the posts in the Russian River Winery Experiences section of this Forum), the highlight of the trip was dinner at Cyrus.
Cyrus was recently awarded 2 Michelin stars (out of a possible 3), and is consistently rated among the top 50 restaurants in the country. Cyrus offers either a 5 course or 8 course prix fixe meal each night, and either of those can be a vegetarian meal. We chose the 5 course meal, which had even more than the 5 courses when the little treats from the chef are counted. Cyrus will pair wines with each of the courses, but this is expensive (doubles the price of the meal). Cyrus also has an extensive wine list (48 pages!), but getting the wines you'd like to have will cost you. At $35 per bottle for corkage, we chose to bring our own wines.
Chase decanting the '99 Chateau Montelena
The menu for our evening was
Canapes
Amuse Bouche
Seared Hamachi or Soup Billi-B
Butter Poached Lobster or Foie Gras or Morel and Green Garlic Ravioli
Ikeime Tai (fish) with Rice Noodles
Lamb Loin or Beef Short Rib
Tiramisu or Chocolate and Peanut Butter Tart
The wines we brought were
2003 Meursault Poruzots Domaine Francois et Antoine Jobard (white Burgandy)
1999 Arrowood Cabernet Sauvignon (Sonoma County)
1999 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley, Calistoga Cuvee)
Morel and Green Garlic Ravioli
The highlight of the meal for me was the Morel and Green Garlic Ravioli, which also included a slow poached egg and was garnished with a parmesan broth. This dish came from their vegetarian menu, but they were flexible enough to allow me to substitute that for the meat options for the "second" course. This dish, with the earthy Morel mushrooms paired with the bright flavors of the green garlic, the incredible egg done perfectly, and the subtlety of the parmesan broth, was just amazing. Everything else that we had was great too, but this was both creative and perfectly executed.
A couple of notes on the wines. If you're bringing special wines to a restaurant, bring them early and let them stand up in the restaurant cellar. You don't want them bouncing around and warm in your car. Standing the wines up will also let any sediment fall to the bottom, making decanting that much easier. For our two Cabernets, we knew they would need some air, so we had them decant the wines when we first sat down at the table. We didn't even try the reds until about an hour later, and even after an hour the Chateau Montelena had not opened up. The Arrowood was delicious at that point though. 30 minutes later and the Chateau Montelena was there. Beautiful nose, nice entry, great finish; just what a excellent Cab should be.
One of the keys to a great meal is the service, and Cyrus did not disappoint there either. A very relaxed atmosphere, attentive service, a bit of showmanship with everyone at the table served at once; just wonderful. If you need a place to have a special meal, this is the place.
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