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!