Syrah (Santa Rosa) - Review
With the top regarded local restaurants on winter breek (The Girl & the Fig, Zazu etc.,)... I settled on my first visit to Syrah in Santa Rosa's Railroad Square for lunch today.
First... is it okay to admit you like a place where you aren't particularly impressed by the food? This is the case of Syrah... it has a very good vibe, I like that its casual & playful with its shopping center courtyard locaction, nice modern decor with rustic touches, and playful ones (like the Pillsbury doughboy lunch box)... its just a very comfortable place to hang out for lunch. The food is fine... but its not going to attract a Chowhound cult following anytime soon.
> Olive Oil... for 2.75 they provide a big serving of Da Vera Dry Creek olio in a deep serving dish.... if you allow the bread to really soak in there untils it dripping and you have lick your fingers... then you get a good taste of it... very decent.. peppery, slightly grassy, next texture. Personally, I would rather sip it from a liquer glass... but I am not sure their typical clientele is quite "cool" enough for that yet.
> Clam Chowder... nice tomato, fennel & smoked bacon, mirepoix broth with clams on the shell... good but not particularly memorable... maybe if they dial down the bacon... and introduce another two herbs & maybe some chipotle it would be haunting... for now its just solid.
> Duck Confit... their version is served over a bed of Spaetzle & Greens. I had high hopes for the dish but it was a let down. First... Spaetzle is very interesting... and I really like them but I am always puzzled they are served at Fine Dining establishments... they don't seem any more fine dining than mashed potatoes or refried beans... just a comfort item. Anyway... the texture was good but the sauce / broth was just sweet and had zero flavor depth. O yeah the Duck was mediocre... I've had mediocre Carnitas from local trucks that are much better than their Confit. It was a bit greasy... with no good flavor of fat, salty yet bland... and no flavor depth at all (a few bites had a pleasant garlicky flavor... but very inconsistent) it was so mediocre that I left half of it on the plate... you rarely see me do that with any type of Confit / Carnitas.
> Cheese Plate... I went with Cowgirl Creamery's Mt. Tam & Red Hawk; as well as a Santa Rosa St. George (Matos Family). Okay... what could they have done to screw up the Cowgirl cheese's or what are local hounds smoking when they recommend them? The Red Hawk was unpleasantly bitter (and I have a biiiiiiiig tolerance for bitter)... the Mt. Tam wasn't as bad... neither are cheese I would choose in a blind taste test at say... Whole Foods. The St. George was very good like a mild, nicely textured, nutty Reggiano.
Syrah is not responsible for any of this... but imho I think they did screw up the plate by serving these cheeses with dry, cardboard like, excessively savory flat bread instead of a nice crusty bread. The membrillo & local honey were okay but undistinguished (maybe just obliterated by the crappy Cowgirl cheeses)... almonds nothing special.
The most positive aspect was a new (to me) very decent, local small estate wine... the Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc (Russian River Valley).. great structure & restraint.
By Eat_Nopal
on Jan 18, 2008 01:08 PM
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Thanks for the report. I've never liked any of the Cowgirl cheeses, either. Nice to know I'm not alone in thinking they're astonishingly over-rated.
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Yeah... the Mt. Tam is overrated (I can get European "B" cheeses under $12 / lb that are as good or better than this one).... Red Hawk was puzzling... I wouldn't pay $1 / lb for it... I would rather eat a cheap Brie... rind & all than this one.
My experience with local "artisan" cheeses so far has been that they are a nice wedge against NY & Chicago in the culinary bragging rights contest... but otherwise not a good value.
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Yeah, I have to say that there isn't a local cheese that I *love* -- although that's partly because I'm lukewarm on goat cheese, which means I'm not a huge fan of cheeses like Humboldt Fog. I haven't had an Andante cheese for a long time, and they've undoubtedly improved, but at the time I thought they were a little rough around the edges and inconsistent. Off the top of my head, the only local cheese on my repeat buy list is Fiscalini's San Joaquin Gold.
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This is a favorite haunt of local winemakers - the wine inventory is well appreciated, since you cannot find trockenbeerenauslese at many North Bay restaurants.
Syrah has some outstanding items - their sweetbread prep is just stunning.
And I love the attitude of the waitstaff...last time around "blue mouth bass" was on the menue, and after enduring a whole round of jokes about that name, we were presented with a printout from the Monterey Bay Seafood Alert site giving the particulars of that fish...
and my experience with their spatzle was as a accompaniment to a Schnitzel - more apropos I guess.
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The service was very good... no problems with it... he was a bit young, and I don't think as knowledgeable as seasoned servers in world class restaurants... but I loved the attitude... very quaint & welcoming.
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Those Cowgirl cheeses were a step in local cheesemaking. When they first came out they were better than most of what was being produced locally or nationally. They have been surpassed by better and more elegant local and national cheeses which still aren't there yet, but better.
Also, if they weren't ripe then that also makes them less impressive. I hate when restaurants include these on the cheese plate. They are so cliche. Even the new Whole Foods wine and cheese bar in Napa is smart enough not to include them .... tho it has Pt Reyes blue which is another local cheese which IMO, has outlived its acclaim.
205 Fifth Street, Santa Rosa, CA 95401
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Yeah, you know I bought some of that Red Hawk at the Source (hence I know it was not mistreated) and
was completely unimpressed.
Actually Syrah is responsible for the mediocrity of the cheese they serve, cause they
could choose to serve better cheese. too many people slavishly serve the same few local fromages nowdays, and it gets a little boring.
At the same time I don't want to completly bash them because the do make some good stuff, But the prices are FOU!!
I also want to know why I can STILL buy, even with the bad dollar and shipping all the way from europe, cheeses at the same or lower prices than stuff from here, I mean 24-40 dollars a pound for cheese is frankly highway robbery, no matter how precious the cows or virgin blades of local grass they eat. I mean some Rouge River cheeses push 50 a pound, gimme a break.
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jason I think I saw an Andante Crottin 2oz at Whole Foods for about $9, translates to $72/lb, welcome to 2009.
http://www.andantedairy.com/crottin.html
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