45662 Tue May 02 20:02:21 -0700 2006 3 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 226081 Sold my children for a birthday dinner this weekend at Cyrus.Recommendations? What size are the portions? Tue May 02 20:02:21 -0700 2006 0 gianni w 1 226090 I love, love, love Cyrus (had my birthday dinner there in January). We had the Chef's tasting menu, which was way too much food, but so enjoyable (especially paired with the wines and sakes). For the tasting menu, the servings are, as expected, smaller; if you do the four or five course menu, the portions will be larger. For fine dining, it's actually an excellent value (I think the Chef's menu is $95). I loved the foie gras course, the cheese and champagen services are stellar, and don't miss the Caramel Soup with Kettle Corn Sorbet for dessert (that was my only special request with the tasting menu). Can't say enough about how great the place is. Tue May 02 20:46:16 -0700 2006 226081 0 TheDive 1 226287 I had dinner at Cyrus a few weeks ago and have not gotten around to posting a report. It was very good, but with a few glitches. Mostly on par with top kitchens in SF. Very expensive, of course. As for portion sizes—they are scaled by the chef based on how many courses you order. They serve bread. It was plenty of food. Only one amuse, which disappointed me. Yes, I’m spoiled. I was very impressed with the wine pairings. We each ordered 5 different courses and told the sommelier that we wanted only 3 wines each. He did a beautiful job of bridging across 2 courses (and not the same courses for both of us) to pace the wines. Very thoughtful selections. Here are the dishes that really stood out as excellent: Truffled red wine risotto—perfectly and beautifully prepared. Very aromatic and toothsome. I couldn’t keep my nose out of the bowl. Thai-marinated lobster—this was a cold preparation of lobster with avocado and mango. Quite delicious and fresh. Rack of lamb with grits cake and mushrooms—tender and very flavorful lamb. One of the best lamb preps I’ve had. Hate to say it, but the meat was better than the same cut of lamb I had at Chez Panisse a few months back. Halibut with crab in a coconut milk broth—beautiful and elegant flavors; came with a tiny softshell crab on top that you eat whole in a single bite. Carmel soup with kettle corn sorbet—really inventive and unexpected, fun. And it tasted great too. Don’t miss it. Good but not great: Billi-bi soup—this was a very rich and intense mussel broth. The actual soup was excellent but it was served with a single deep fried mussel on the side and a little dish of olive oil and potato puree. All the fried items we sampled that night tasted off—I don’t think the oil temp was right. The potato puree tasted good, but didn’t make any sense with the soup. I longed for a few poached mussels in the bowl rather then the items on the side. Seared foie with oranges—the foie was good, as were the cara cara oranges and the port reduction, but it was served with kataifi (shredded phyllo dough) which just didn’t work for me. Got soggy and really detracted from the foie. It seemed a shame. Artichokes “a la barigoule” – various preparations of artichokes with other spring veggies. Mostly very good, but the fried elements marred the total plate. Tamarind duck confit—perfectly good; I remember enjoying the bite I had of it, but can’t remember any details. Not good: Endive, crispy chard cake and creamed spinach—the endive was tasty, but there was just one small sliver; the chard cake just tasted of the frying oil (I was bummed because I LOVE chard); the creamed spinach was one-dimensional. This was the only thing I was really sorry I ordered. Wed May 03 22:19:45 -0700 2006 226081 0 eel 2 226296 It is to bad to see that the menu is the same as it was in july when I was there. Looks as though my inital judgment that it was like Restaurant Gary Danko in the the Front, which made since as Nick was there but the food with all of the great produce in the area should have evolved by now! Wed May 03 23:27:25 -0700 2006 226287 0 Trix