I was torn. Should I go with Flash Fried Whole N.C. Black Bass ("soba noodle and tomato confit salad, ginger soy glazed green beans and spicy sambal butter sauce")? Or Grilled N.C. Wild Cobia ("Brinkley Farms pumpkin rice pirlau, Benton's country ham and four citrus salsa and herb salad")? Both offerings showcased the strong relationships with local purveyors that owner/chef Alex Gallis developed during his five-year tenure as chef de cuisine at Magnolia Grill before opening Cypress on the Hill in February. Both promised to exhibit a wide range of culinary techniques, and appealed equally to my mood for culinary adventure.
I asked the waiter, whose wine recommendations for our first course demonstrated a thorough familiarity with the offering, for his opinion. He assured me that I wouldn't go wrong with either choice. "If it helps you decide," he added, "the cobia might not be on the menu next time you're here. But the bass will." The menu evolves seasonally, he explained, but rave reviews from customers (including a number of area chefs) have earned the bass presentation permanent status as a signature dish.
That settled it. I ordered the cobia, and was rewarded with an inspired composition of earthy pirlau (a stewlike Low Country variant of rice pilaf), sun-bright salad and irreproachably fresh, expertly grilled fish. If this is just one of many dishes in Gallis' rotating repertoire, I wondered, what could possibly merit signature status?
I found out the next time I visited, when I ordered the bass. The presentation - the fish upright on the plate as if still swimming in a black bean-flecked tide pool of sauce, its graceful form curled around a nest of green beans and trailing a flotsam skein of noodles - caused envious jaws to drop at a neighboring table. For all its visual drama, though, it is the exquisite realization of the dish on the palate that marks it as truly memorable.
As I learned over the course of those two visits, Gallis' genius is hardly limited to seafood presentations. His wild and exotic mushroom risotto is an alchemy of silken texture and the flavor of rich soil. In another appetizer offering, grilled Georgia quail is supremely succulent atop a jambalaya of red rice, andouille sausage and roasted poultry cider jus.
An entree offering pairing grilled lamb loin with a raisin- and caper-studded caponata, arugula, olive and red pepper tapenade and a Syrah lamb reduction is capable of conjuring up Mediterranean sunshine on a cold, rainy fall night. Pan roasted duck breast with cornbread stuffing, apple-sweet potato puree, green beans and sun-dried cherry sauce evokes doubts about the wisdom of turkey as the bird of choice for Thanksgiving. Or it would, if the skin were just a bit crisper.
You'll have to resort to that level of nitpicking to find fault with a dish, though, and even then you'll rarely find any. Deep-fried Gulf oysters may be a tad chewy, say. Or a composition of duck confit and sweet potato hash, bacon, cremini mushrooms and chili béarnaise aioli topped with a sunnyside up egg that could arguably have done without the aioli. Still, whatever you order, it's highly unlikely that you'll regret it.
The same goes for pastry chef Stephen Kennedy's dessert offering. Banana pot de crème, carrot cake with candied pecans and ginger caramel sauce, mocha cheesecake, bourbon ice cream - take your pick. You can't go wrong.
The thoughtfully chosen wine list is as eclectic as the menu, and as full of pleasant surprises. Fifteen wines are poured by the glass. Specialty cocktails such as Old Dog, New Trick (Hendrick's gin, fresh squeezed grapefruit and Thai basil) set an adventurous mood for the meal to follow.
The dining room decor strikes a harmonious balance between disparate elements. Expansive windows framed in brushed metal, exposed ductwork and a frosty mesh panel suspended from the ceiling are balanced by the warm tones of chocolate brown leather and burlap-textured upholstery, hardwood floors and cherry woodwork, creating a space that is at once sleek and seductive.
Hanging over the window to the open kitchen is a small sign bearing a quote from Julia Child: "Above all, have a good time." Clearly, the people on both sides of that window are doing just that .
