Cypress - Charleston, SC

March 29, 2011

Cypress definitely is one of my favorite restaurants in Charleston.  It is run by the same owners as Magnolia's (posted earlier), but in terms of the cuisine it offers, it is a whole world away than the more traditional Southern food dishes offered by Magnolia's.  Cypress was recommended by a good friend of mine who lived in Charleston for many years, and as is usually the case, you can never go wrong with the experience and knowledge of the locals!  =)  Because this restaurant is in the South, you can definitely see a Southern inspiration in some of the dishes they offer, but like a lot of new "american fusion" restaurants these days, the menu also is inspired by flavors from lots of other locales as well.  So why do I like Cypress so much?  Frankly, every time I have had a meal there, at least one dish has been fantastic - in general, the dishes have been consistently cooked well, always balanced with both great flavor and texture, and I also love the vibe of the restaurant.      

I don't usually take photos of the interiors of restaurants, but for me, the interior design of this restaurant adds a lot to the enjoyable vibe of the restaurant.  For instance,  the lights on the ceiling change colors occasionally - blue in this photo - but it isn't intrusive at all.  The restaurant dining area has several large open areas, yet the feeling is also intimate - I suggest reserving for one of their booths if you are on a date =).  Lastly, the lighting is fantastic - it is dark enough that each table is private, yet each table is also illuminated with a light discreetly set in the ceiling above the table, which makes the food easy to see and photograph as well.  Yay, no dark photos!  =)

Our first set of appetizers, sashimi tuna & oysters on bottom (with a cilantro-lime glaze and pineapple wasabi), and a carolina cup oyster on top (garnished with green tomato and wasabi, served with a horseradish-lemon mignonette)   To be honest, I don't usually make a habit of trying japanese-style dishes when I am not in a japanese restaurant, but the sashimi tuna & oysters were surprisingly good.  I enjoyed the contrast of the raw tuna with the raw oyster, the seafood was quite fresh, and the cilantro-lime glaze added a nice subtle tang to the dish.    

Our second appetizer, a roasted beet salad.  Now, I'm not sure if I will ever find a beet salad as fresh and delicious as the one that I had at Marche Moderne, but this one was pretty tasty as well.  The salad was served with a goat cheese mousse (from Split Creek Farms, a local farm in the area), toasted hazelnuts, mache, and a red wine vinagrette.

This pork chop was one of our two main courses, and it was a huge highlight of the meal.  This photo doesn't come even close to doing justice to the dish - it was a bone-in, thick-cut fresh pork chop from a local farm, Eden Farms, who evidently supplies FIG as well...FIG evidently isn't the only sustainable cuisine game in town ;).  The pork chop was extremely juicy and flavorful, perfectly seared and simply seasoned with some sea salt and other spices (possibly some paprika and fresh pepper, I didn't ask though).  In fact, this pork chop was the BEST pork chop I have eaten in my young-ish life so far - if every pork chop was as good as this one, I would be ordering it everywhere (and slowly getting fat and broke).  I particularly enjoyed the thick cut of the meat (like a really thick ribeye steak).  Ha, I have been rhapsodizing so much about the pork chop that I almost forgot about the sides served with the dish: brussels sprouts, bacon, chestnuts, and sage.  

P.S.  As a side note, although it isn't photographed here, I also recommend the rack of lamb offered at Cypress.  They definitely cook their meat well here!

The second entree we ordered was a crisp wasabi tuna glazed with a ginger-garlic sauce, served with edamame and shiitake mushrooms.  Unfortunately for the tuna, the pork chop was so awesome that it completely overshadowed this dish.  It was fresh and well cooked, but not even close to as good as the pork chop.  

Err, here is dessert.  Sorry, I can't be more descriptive than that, but I forgot to write down what we ordered, so you can just make up a name for it - I'm just going to call it "chocolate hazlenut yummy-ness", not that I actually remember what it tasted like - and acribe whatever your favorite dessert flavors are to the dish.  Sometimes, your imagination can be better than the real thing.  =)

FIG - Charleston, SC

March 28, 2011

Adding to the large amount of posts, comments, yelps, etc. about this acclaimed restaurant almost seems unnecessary, because pretty much everyone who has been to Charleston has probably been to this restaurant, or has heard of it.  And what is there not to like about it?  First off, the name is simple, but whimsical - FIG stands for Food Is Good - after I saw that on the restaurant's website, I was pretty much sold without even looking at their menu, so amused I was by the name, as well as completely in agreement with the owners of FIG about the phrase (I wish I had though of that name for my blog!).  Second, they are completely committed to local, sustainable sources for their foods, which is always great.  Third, there are a ton of positive comments, rave reviews, etc. about it.

So why did I even bother with this post?  Well, after going to FIG, my general feeling about this restaurant is:  YMMV.  I have absolutely no complaints about the food at FIG - all the ingredients were incredibly fresh, the flavors were light, flavorful, and served as a good accompaniment to the food without overwhelming the freshness of the food, the dishes were plated well, there was a lot of variety to choose from on the menu, and the restaurant's design was clean and modern (a little crowded though, and also kind of dark, which made my photos come out bad, apologies for that).  But, while everything was good, nothing about the food or the restaurant was particularly great or memorable to me...hence, no comments about each individual dish from me for this post.  And my friends and I tried a pretty fair portion of the menu.  I'm completely glad I went to try FIG, but there are other restaurants in Charleston that I've enjoyed more (offhand, Cypress, Justine's Kitchen, Bowen's Island, and most of all McCrady's are in my personal tops, all of which I will post about when I can).

So, with all that being said, YMMV.  Maybe you'll have an absolutely great meal, like a lot of people other than me have experienced.  Or maybe you will be like me, and get a really good, but not memorable meal (maybe my expectations were too high?).  Anyway, I've been writing too many of my random thoughts about the restaurant without showing the food, so without further ado...                            

P.S.  At least for my own purposes, this is more of an "American fusion" kind of restaurant (i.e. a restaurant that incorporates a lot of different flavors from different cuisines), rather than a restaurant that serves Southern food.  I have a feeling that most Southern restaurants don't generally have a mezzeluna knife to make their pasta with.  ;)  

The first of five appetizers we ordered to share for the table - a kobe-style wagyu beef tartare, served with a parsley salad and potato wafers.

Second, chicken liver pate, served with pickled grapes and toasted brioche.  In keeping with their sustainable cuisine philosophy, the chicken liver was provided from a local farm, Keegan-Filion Farms.

The third of the appetizers, crispy pork trotters from Caw Caw Creek (another local farm), served with a sunny side up farm egg, endive leaves, and a mustard vinaigrette.  I do have a distinct memory about this dish, but not a good one - the fried pork trotters, while beautifully presented, were also kind of greasy =P.

The fourth of the appetizers, a sheep's milk ricotta gnocchi bolognese.  

The last of our appetizers, a sweet potato mezzeluna, with pecans from John's Island (really local, John's Island is approximately 15 minutes away from downtown Charleston), sage, and parmesan.  

The first of two entrées, an Eden Farms boneless pork chop, with a sweet potato puree, brussel sprouts, and pink lady apples. 

The second of our entrees, Strube Ranch wagyu bistro steak, with hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, salade verte, and a sauce agrodolce.

For dessert:  a sticky sorgum pudding, with pecan ice cream.  

A Three Hour Tour of Devereaux's - Greenville SC

On a short weekend trip to Greenville, South Carolina awhile back, we took the opportunity to expand our indulge our tastebuds at Devereaux's, a restaurant that definetly aspires to offer a high-end culinary experience like you would get a big metropolitan city like Atlanta, New York, or Los Angeles. It had been awhile since I had a good, creative meal, and after hearing good comments about the place, I was excited to try the food there. The atmosphere of the restaurant itself is very comfortable - warm, but dim lighting (great for dates, bad for my blog post =P), exposed brick walls, etc. However, the space itself is pretty large with higher ceilings, and depending on where you sit, you might get a slight feeling of a cavernous space, rather than a more intimate one.

As for the food, we of course ordered "The Chef's Ultimate Tasting Menu" after finding out something like that was on the menu, because I love to see how creative chefs can get with their food (especially with fond memories of my more recent meals at Fleur de Lys and Water Grill). Devereaux's offers a standard tasting menu of five courses, and the "Chef's Ultimate Tasting Menu" of ten courses. A ten course meal is never going to be cheap, and the one offered here is not for the faint of heart (price-wise), but if you're a foodie, can you ever say no to a large variety of food? I can't. =).

Before getting into the meal, a couple of overall comments about the tasting menu: Overall, Chef Devereaux Greene definetly has an impecabble sense of modern, minimalist food presentation, as you will be able to tell from the photos. And some of the dishes were truly very delicious, although a bit small at times. However, I do have a couple of service-related critiques that hopefully the restaurant can improve on. First, the waiter, although friendly and gracious, could have had more knowledge about the food, and it seemed that he had a lot of area to cover, so we didn't seem him very much. Second, the timeliness of the dishes was a problem - it took three and a half hours for the entire meal to be completed....Gilligan and his friends took a three hour boat tour of Hawaii that they were planning to be shorter than the length of our meal. That comes out to be about twenty minutes between each dish, and with the amount of food provided on each dish, it didn't take long to finish it. We had exhausted every topic of conversation twice over by the time dessert was served. Admittedly, we do eat pretty fast anyway, but a high-end restaurant should have its waiters communicating with the chef to adjust the timing of the dishes served.

Anyway, enough service-related comments. We are really here to enjoy the food, right?


First, we were served an amuse bouche: a crab salad with cumin and carrot puree. A very nice, light start to the meal, and I enjoyed the color and flavors provided by the puree.

Second for the meal was a Tasmanian salmon sashimi, served with a cucumber flower. I've eaten a lot of high-quality salmon sashimi at some very good Japanese restaurants, and this stood head-to-toe with them. The dish was excellent, and one of the highlights of the night for the both of us. The presentation with the cucumber flower was a very nice touch also.

Next, we were served a two-part dish: on the left, an apple and beet tartar, and on the right, a gazapacho with beef.

For our fourth dish, we were presented with a celery root soup with smoked bacon and potato. A little bit too creamy, but I enjoyed the smokiness of the bacon.

Next, a grilled tiger prawn with apple salad. The most underwhelming dish of the night for me, partly because I felt that it would have been more effective with at least two or three, instead of just one tiger prawn. I enjoy minimalist dishes as much as the next person, but too little on a dish seems a bit parsimonious.

The sixth dish was foie gras on a french baguette with bittersweet chocolate and passion fruit. The quality of the foie gras was pretty good, and I enjoyed the contrast in texture between it an the baguette.

A Japanese red snapper in bonito broth. The bonito broth was a bit too light, and could definetly had more body, but it was interesting to see such a simple Japanese dish in this mix of food, but I appreciated the timing of the dish, to balance out the heaviness of the foie gras before we ate the next dish...

The eighth dish was the best dish of the night, in both our opinions: It was quail prepared three ways: at the top, a flash fried quail leg encrusted with panko and stuffed with beef tenderloin; in the middle, pan seared quail breast; and not visible (under the quail breast) was quail risotto. It was a creative trio of quail - the quail leg was fried perfectly with a very enjoyable contrast in texture with the beef tenderloin, the pan seared quail breast was quite succulent and juicy, and the risotto had a deep, mellow, flavor.

The last main course was a soux vide beef short rib. Like all soux vide dishes, the short rib was very tender.

I don't like strong cheeses, so honestly, I didn't appreciate this next dish very much - a Roquefort cheese and jam.

A pre-dessert palate cleanser: a lemon posset (basically, a simple lemon/key lime pudding).

Lastly, at the end of three and a half hours, we were finally served our dessert: carrot cake with vanilla ice cream.

Solstice Kitchen - Columbia, SC

Solstice Kitchen is definitely one of the better high-end restaurants I've been to here in Columbia (as a side note, I would refrain from comparing the higher-end restaurants in Columbia to higher-end restaurants in cities like Atlanta, Charleston, and elsewhere - Columbia is a smaller city, and its higher-end restaurants are comparable in flavor/experience to middle tier restaurants in bigger cities); it specializes in dishes that I think are best described as modern, dressed-up Southern cuisine, with a touch of American Fusion cuisine here and there. The location is a bit out-of-the-way though, in Northeast Columbia off I-20, about 25 minutes from the center of downtown Columbia. Solstice Kitchen is run by the same owners as one of my favorite restaurants here in Columbia, Mr. Friendly's (which I haven't posted about yet only because I'm not really satisfied with my photos there so far). The restaurant has a relaxed, warm atmosphere, and is a great date place, if you are looking for a private place with good food. My only criticism of this restaurant is that they need to vary their sauces more (see below). Here are the photos from a meal I had when I took the chance to come here for a celebratory event with my family:

Our first appetizer, a rare yellowfin tuna with mango salsa and two sauces: a wasabi ponzu sauce (in the glass), and a basil-orange aioli with cilantro and sriracha. This is definitely a dish that I would characterize as American fusion, quite clearly inspired with Asian flavors (the wasabi ponzu from Japan, and the sriracha, a Vietnamese chili paste).

Another appetizer - foie gras prepared two ways: on the left, pan seared foie gras with a berry compote and a homemade cinnamon toast crunch (interesting twist, but I didn't really like the preparation, especially since I don't like foie gras paired with overly sweet elements), divided by balsamic vinegar in the center, and on the right, pan seared foie gras with coriander mustard and toasted garlic bread (much better, the spicy mustard definetly added a new dimension which I appreciated). As for the foie gras itself, I've had higher quality and better tasting foie gras elsewhere (the pieces here were a bit small), but I did like that I had the option to order it here.

Our last appetizer, a beef tenderloin carpaccio with a black pepper aioli and capers, with fried cauliflower at the top.

One of the salads we ordered: a "Three Way Tomato Salad", with vine ripened, heirloom, and fried green tomatoes, along with the black pepper aioli and a goat cheese sauce. By this dish, I really started to notice that the restaurant (at least with the dishes we ordered), seemed to rely really heavily on similar tasting sauces as accents (i.e. the black pepper aioli and the balsamic vinegar)...I kind of wish they varied the flavors a bit more, especially since Southern cuisine has a lot of different flavors not present in other types of American cuisine.

One of our main dishes: a "Mint Salt Seared Yellowfin Tuna" on top of buttermilk mashed potatoes, and sauteed spinach. This dish suffered from the same problem I mentioned above, namely the profusion of similar tasting dark sauces, this time a sweetened balsamic vinegar.

I hadn't eaten scallops in a long while, and when I saw this dish, I happily convinced one of the members of my family to order it: Sea scallops prepared in a low country shrimp and oyster stew, with polenta cake and an argula-basil pesto. This was one of the better dishes of the night, and I think the restaurant definitely prepares better quality food when it comes to making higher-end Southern cuisine.

I guess that makes two of us that wanted scallops this evening: citrus seared scallops with fusilli pasta, grape tomatoes, spinach, green peas, and Parmesan cheese. I could have done without the cheese, but it wasn't too overpowering.

The last dish: I ordered the "Low Country Blackened Flat Iron Steak", with a gorgonzola mornay, paired with fried green tomatoes and buttermilk mashed potatoes. It was good, but this dish definitely did not need the sweetened balsamic vinegar; by this time, I figured that they used these darker sauces not so much for the flavor, but more as a visual accent. They could still have used a different flavored sauce. Seriously.

The first of our desserts: A wild berry spring roll topped with cinnamon sugar, with preserved lemon/thyme ice cream. If it was fried correctly and had a little less dough, it would have been the perfect dessert, but it was a bit soft, and the spring roll was a bit too thick. The ice cream was very good, though.

A "Bannana-kopita". Definitely the most interesting of the desserts: caramelized banana, vanilla marscapone with a phyllo-dough wrapping, served with a side of vanilla ice cream. Quite delicious!

I'm always glad to see a sorbet dish on the menu; it never fails as a nice, light way to clean your palate and enjoy dessert at the same time. Here, they offered a strawberry and lemon sorbet.

A Celebration of Great Food at Water Grill

Water Grill has been on my list of restaurants to eat at for a long time, and after going there, I wish I hadn't waited so long! I had heard already heard a lot of good things about the food here, but after enjoying a truly wonderful meal there, I think this place is near the top in Los Angeles for creative, high-quality seafood presentation and preparation. And although I don't usually comment on the service at a given restaurant, I had such a good experience with the entire staff at the meal that I couldn't go without commenting about it; everyone was incredibly polite, pleasant, AND very efficient - it was a quite impressive orchestration of the service aspect of restaurant dining.

A photo of the inside of our restaurant, specifically a view from our booth. I don't usually take photos of the interior in restaurants, but you can thank Jen for doing so. The atmosphere is warm and private, without being overly pretentious; it is very easy to enjoy a good meal here.

We went to Water Grill for Jen's birthday, and they printed out a more personalized menu for us. A very nice touch...sometimes, it is the small details about a place that really distinguish it from the rest. I should also note that they allowed us to keep the menu from that night, which really gives it extra pluses from me as a foodie.

I've probably said this before, but I always love to order the tasting menu to really see how creative a chef can be. Some places just present the same dishes as on their a la carte menu, but not at Water Grill, something which I appreciated very much. The prices were very reasonable for a six-course tasting menu as well.

The dish above was our first dish for the tasting menu, an amuse bouche: a tuna tartar wrapped in cucumber with a sprinkling of caviar on top; a light and refreshing way to start off the meal.

The two photos above are of Water Grill's "Fruits of the Sea" platter, not included in our six-course tasting men, but since Jen loves seafood and it was her birthday, there was no way we would leave the restaurant without trying it. On the platter was a choice of oysters, Prince Edward Island mussels, littleneck clams, dungeness crab, mexican white shrimp, and maine lobster.

Onto the next dish of the tasting menu; a marinated Hawaiian blue prawn with charred octopus, lemon curd, and smoked paprika oil. And it tasted as good as it looks.

I probably should have taken two photos of this next dish, but I didn't =P. The description of the dish is a "european turbo with sunchoke-truffle soup and spiny lobster angalotti". The angalotti, basically a lobster-filled pasta at the bottom of the bowl, isn't visible in the photo, unfortunately (it is the lump in the middle of the soup). The bowls were brought to our table first with just the angalotti, and they poured the soup over the angalotti at the table. I think this soup was one of the better ones I've had so far in my life; I loved the texture - very smooth and warm, and eating the angalotti at the bottom with the soup brought an extra layer of lobster flavor to combine with the rich truffle soup. It was quite delicious, and one of the highlights of the meal.

Next were grilled diver scallops, braised in red wine and fennel, with a confit pork belly, coco beans, and tiny carrots.

Jen loved the oysters so much that we ended up ordering more of them; since we love oysters from the West Coast, we tried some Tottens (from Totten Inlet, WA), Raspberry Points (from Prince Edward Island), and our favorites, Kumamotos (Puget Sound, WA).

We were sent an extra dish not included on the tasting menu from the kitchen - hey, I never complain about free food sent to me! =) - although I didn't write down what dish this was, I think it was one of the appetizers off the a la carte menu: Japanese hamachi crudo with grapes, meyer lemon, and english pea puree. It was nice to have a light dish to clean the palate between heavier foods.

Back onto the tasting menu course again: A veal loin and breast with red wine risotto, chanterelle mushrooms, and sage. Although Water Grill is known in L.A. for their seafood, I have to say that the chef cooks veal equally as well.

Finally nearing the end of the meal! Apologies for the bad quality of this photo; we were served a cardamom and cinnamon carrot cake with candied walnuts, and ice cream - the flavor was orange soursop and cream cheese. A whimsical presentation also.

The last dish of the tasting menu was a chocolate broiche pudding with coconut cream and marshmallows, candied pecans and maple brown butter ice cream.


But we weren't done yet; Since I am a dessert glutton, I ordered another dessert off the menu that I was very intrigued by: a chocolate and peanut butter coulant, served warm with cracker johns, vanilla marshmallows, and banana. Loved the presentation and flavor of this dessert - especially the reinterpretation of "Cracker Jacks", a childhood favorite of mine at baseball games, as "Cracker Johns" (renamed by Pastry Chef John Park).

And finally we are at the end of our meal at Water Grill...a couple of small desserts to finish with. My experience at Water Grill from beginning to end was one of the more consistently delicious and beautifully presented meals I've had so far. And not only was the food excellent, the service was top-notch; with our own dishes added on, we basically had a eleven-course meal that night, and it was under two hours. They were paying attention to our eating pace that night very closely...Jen and I do eat very fast, and we never had to wait very long in between dishes, which means that the timing by the waiter and chef was impeccable. An all-around wonderful experience!