Cypress, Charleston

7 December 2007

Oh Charleston, my Charleston! I’m told that there are 35 terrific restaurants in downtown Charleston, 32 of which are walking distance from the Vendue Inn in which we’re staying tonight and tomorrow. My new best friend at City Olive recommended five of them, and tonight, we ended up at Cypress, which was directly across the street from our hotel. (Note, their website doesn’t work in Safari and works marginally at best in Firefox, but we suspended our judgment and booked reservations anyway.)

I won’t say that it was the best meal I’ve ever had, but it was fairly wonderful. The oysters from New Brunswick were so fresh and juicy that I ordered a second round, and the tomatillo remoulade that accompanied it was so good and sweet-tart that I consumed the entire ramekin, even once the oysters were gone. And the lobster and short rib entree with the shiitake mushrooms, celery root and parsnip puree was the best short rib dish I’ve ever had. Turns out that they custom-cut the meat at the restaurant, braise, and then sous-vide the meat to serving temperature. (I don’t plan to try this dish at home, but I am proud to have had an intelligent conversation with the waiter about different cuts of meat and to know what sous-vide means.)

One entire wall of the restaurant is devoted to their wine—rack after rack and floor upon floor like an old-world library of spirits. And the ceiling lights change color from time to time (thankfully not pulsing to the sound of Christmas tunes). Yes, indeedy, we’d go again. And I bought their cookbook (actually, three copies, my two business partners will have a little something extra under their trees this year, yay!).

Book reservations for Cypress at opentable.com or find them at:
167 E Bay St # 200
Charleston, SC 29401
(843) 727-0111