Sunday, October 13, 2013
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Cypress
Last night I had the pleasure of dining at Cypress which is located on East Bay Street in downtown Charleston. The restaurant is housed in a historic two story building and the chef, Craig Deihl has been nominated twice for a James Beard award. We were seated promptly upon arrival and greeted almost simultaneously by our server. We were presented with a wine list for the table by way of a user friendly tablet to scroll through for our selections. Nice touch! The ambiance was very nice with ever changing ceiling lighting.
This was a gathering of old friends, one I had not seen in about 15 years so that was a nice treat. Marco, as our host, ordered a nice bottle of Chianti and a plate of house cured meats. This had a good variety of Italian meats along with some olives.
One of the more frustrating aspects of dining out with allergies is it can often make me feel like I am making a spectacle of myself. I was happy to see the words at the bottom of the menu to "alert your server of any food allergies". When I see this, my questions are usually handled with grace. I asked our server about three entrees (I usually try to have several in mind so that if 1 or 2 are eliminated I am ready with an alternative.) She was great in being knowledgeable of the menu ingredients. This makes the situation much more subtle for me. I selected a North Carolina Braised Chicken Breast. It was prepared with a light curry coconut milk sauce with peas, carrots and fingerling potatoes. My friend Marco ordered a Wasabi Crusted Tuna that looked delicious. David had a pan seared trout dish and Bob had a tenderloin with soft shell crab. I believe everyone enjoyed their food. It was really nice for me to have my special requests to seem like no problem. Our server was great. I would highly recommend Cypress for anyone with food allergies.
Normally, I post photos of the food but we were in the restaurant with Brooke Shields and she was gracious enough to talk to us and allow me to take some photos so I am posting a photo of her!
This was a gathering of old friends, one I had not seen in about 15 years so that was a nice treat. Marco, as our host, ordered a nice bottle of Chianti and a plate of house cured meats. This had a good variety of Italian meats along with some olives.
One of the more frustrating aspects of dining out with allergies is it can often make me feel like I am making a spectacle of myself. I was happy to see the words at the bottom of the menu to "alert your server of any food allergies". When I see this, my questions are usually handled with grace. I asked our server about three entrees (I usually try to have several in mind so that if 1 or 2 are eliminated I am ready with an alternative.) She was great in being knowledgeable of the menu ingredients. This makes the situation much more subtle for me. I selected a North Carolina Braised Chicken Breast. It was prepared with a light curry coconut milk sauce with peas, carrots and fingerling potatoes. My friend Marco ordered a Wasabi Crusted Tuna that looked delicious. David had a pan seared trout dish and Bob had a tenderloin with soft shell crab. I believe everyone enjoyed their food. It was really nice for me to have my special requests to seem like no problem. Our server was great. I would highly recommend Cypress for anyone with food allergies.
Normally, I post photos of the food but we were in the restaurant with Brooke Shields and she was gracious enough to talk to us and allow me to take some photos so I am posting a photo of her!
Thursday, January 31, 2013
The Alley
I recently met several of my lady friends at The Alley in downtown Charleston. It was a Friday night so it was quite busy and at the first of the night there were lots of children. We had a large table to accommodate all of us. We trickled in over about 20 minutes and our server was very prompt to check with the newcomers. As I looked over the menu, I thought I was going to have some difficulty in selecting something to eat without any dairy products and felt my choices would be very limited at best. I asked our server if she would check with the kitchen and ask them to make suggestions. She returned a few moments later and sat down next to me. The chef had gone over most of the menu with her and she went over them item by item with me. That was so nice and gave me confidence in ordering. The chef had even said he would alter the way he prepared several of the entrees to make them dairy-free. Relief! They even said I could have the shrimp or oyster po boy! She said they normally soak them in buttermilk before putting the breading on but he would not soak mine that way. I was excited because I have hardly had any fried seafood in 8 years. (Now I hardly ever ate fried seafood before but now that I usually cannot have it, I seem to crave it all the more!)
The restaurant/bar is a bowling alley/ adult style arcade with other games. It did prove quite difficult to chat with friends because the noise level is very high. I would recommend to visit this establishment if you want to play rather than dine. I think it would be great to take a group bowling or skee balling. With the alley, it is on a first come, first served basis. We arrived around 7 and all the alleys were booked until 10:30 that evening. But when you get an alley, you get it for one hour for up to 6 people.
Back to the food....our food arrived. I must say my shrimp po boy was like a little piece of heaven. It was wonderful. I couldn't eat it slow enough to savor every morsel! I had butter beans with it and they were equally delicious. All the ladies that ordered food said they enjoyed their food and they had a variety of items. So for good food and a fun, lively evening I will definitely go back to The Alley!
The restaurant/bar is a bowling alley/ adult style arcade with other games. It did prove quite difficult to chat with friends because the noise level is very high. I would recommend to visit this establishment if you want to play rather than dine. I think it would be great to take a group bowling or skee balling. With the alley, it is on a first come, first served basis. We arrived around 7 and all the alleys were booked until 10:30 that evening. But when you get an alley, you get it for one hour for up to 6 people.
Back to the food....our food arrived. I must say my shrimp po boy was like a little piece of heaven. It was wonderful. I couldn't eat it slow enough to savor every morsel! I had butter beans with it and they were equally delicious. All the ladies that ordered food said they enjoyed their food and they had a variety of items. So for good food and a fun, lively evening I will definitely go back to The Alley!
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