Cyrus reopened and was inspired to make the fine dining meal there a journey that mimics a dining experience in a home.  You start with cocktails and a welcoming treat then move to the kitchen where you interact with the chefs and then into the dining room with a final stop in the Chocolate Room.  Co-owned by Chef Douglas Keane it serves modern California cuisine and has one Michelin star. Keane opened the place in 2005 at a Hotel in Healdsburg naming it for Cyrus Alexander an early settler of Sonoma County  The hotel changed ownership and he sold the restaurant in 2012, but retained the name. In 2020 Keane acquired the ground floor of a prune-packing plant.  The modifications were hindered by the Covid pandemic and it finally reopened in Sept. 2022 and received one star in Dec.  Private investors now own the 6 acre property and hope to add a 6-room hotel on the second floor as well as an orchard and herb garden.  It’s a large, very modern structure with friendly staff and very good food on the long tasting menu. If you find yourself in the area I’d get a reservation – I’m not a fan of the moving-around concept but the food here is good.

Bubbles Lounge

 

We started with their gin martini which included beeswax-washed gin, DEN 90 (saki), sea buckthorn and grains of paradise.  It was cold and good.  With it was the snack of Billi Bi soup which was a mussel soup made with a pil-pil technique, which makes a rich, emulsified sauce.  It was warm, seasonal and very tasty.

 

Kitchen Table

They started with a tray portraying the 5 basic flavors – sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami.   Sweet (spiral filled with green) was a canapé of sweet pea ganache and olive oil chestnut which was light and airy.  Sour was Centennial sorbet in the edible rind.  You could eat the whole thing and it was lovely.  Salty was represented with a gougere with parmesan, cream and prosciutto which was outstanding.   Bitter was the charred allium tartlet which tasted like browned onion in a crisp crust.  Finally the umami was a Kusshi oyster and umeboshi which was perfect.

 

Aka Amadai (horsehead tilefish) was with leche de tigre, pickled green strawberry and lemon balm.  The light fish went well with the flavorful marinade.

 

Ossetra caviar topped some asparagus custard and was served with a green garlic hushpuppy.  While this caviar and custard were wonderful, I think the hushpuppy was my favorite.  It had a wonderful crisp outside with a green interior.  It was light and fun.

 

Chicken and the Egg 2.0 was made with chawanmushi, fried chicken and black truffle.  The moist tasty chicken nuggets were in a sweet spicy sauce but they didn’t retain their crisp exterior.  However it was good regardless.

 

You were then invited to roam the kitchen and get a couple of bites at certain chefs’ stations.  The Adult “Oreo” with foie gras torchon and cassis was in a chocolate cookie.  It was yummy.

 

A5 Waygu with yuzu kosho was cut into little squares and was as it should be rare and melt-in-your-mouth tender and flavorful.

 

Dining Room

We were then seated in a large glassed-in room with water features next to the building and overlooks of some vineyards and crops.  First up was Sobacha Epi with house-cultured butter.  The interesting shape of the bread was mimicked with the pieces of butter.  The small portions of the bread sections allowed it to maximize the crust to interior ratio.  The bread was made with buckwheat and good.

 

Alaskan halibut was served with white asparagus, whey and mustard seeds.  The moist fish was topped with ‘shingles’ of white asparagus.  The fish and asparagus were both excellent but I am sorry they had to import the halibut from Alaska rather than use some from the CA coast.

 

Chicken roulade was plated with spring peas and a morel mushroom.  The morel was stuffed with chicken and some pea gel was under some of the leaves.  A tiny grilled leek was in the center and some pea whip was under the snap pea.  I didn’t care for the pea variations but the chicken and mushroom were nice.

 

A Sonoma lamb chop was alongside preserved yuzu tapenade and fried garlic and black garlic yogurt.  The lamb texture reminded me of meat cooked in a sous vide.  It was tender but dull and had little lamb flavor.  The garnish on the side was quite tasty but wasn’t enough to carry the plate.

 

Red Hawk cheese was with bee pollen, nasturtium and orange puree. This was a locally produced triple-crème aged cow’s-milk cheese.  The slice was creamy but a bit dull and the cracker underneath was quite tough, but it did add texture.

 

The first dessert was a Ginger and pink peppercorn diplomat with rhubarb and buttermilk sherbet.  Some of the rhubarb was pickled and it was sitting on something like an angel food cake.  It was okay.

 

Mignardises brought us back around to the 5 basic flavors. Sweet was jasmine-verjus pâte de fruits and mint marshmallow that was yucky.   Sour was represented by Yuzu and olive oil tartlet with shiso meringue which was okay.   Salty was a Black sesame bonbon with toasted rice ganache which was good.   Bitter was an Earl Grey canelé which was okay.  Lastly was the Umami represented by a dark chocolate seaweed chouquette with sweet soy which was good.

 

Chocolate Room

The Chocolate Room was the last spot of the journey.  First you were given the Cyrus marked chocolate disks to make a wish and throw in the fountain.   Then you were given a cup of Hot chocolate which was rich and tasty.

 

A parting gift was a Sobacha and golden sesame crunch bar with koji caramel to eat later.  It came in a Cyrus box in a bag that also contained the evening’s menu.  It had lots of texture but was not something I or my husband finished.