Going to Market was part of a plan to explore two sides of Chef Douglas Keane in one day; he’s something of a rising star chef who has two wine country restaurants. We went to the casual Market in St. Helena for lunch and to the upscale Cyrus in Healdsburg for dinner. Keane opened Market in 2003, before opening Cyrus in 2005. From what I’ve read, Keane is still an owner of Market, but he cooks at Cyrus.

Coincidentally, we had a wonderful meal at Cyrus, and a disappointing meal at Market. Oh, the menu looks great at Market — full of American food with slight California twists at very reasonable prices (including a $15 3-course prix fixed lunch)– and it took us forever to decide what to get. But once the food arrived, I couldn’t remember what the big deal had been — the dishes tasted and looked a bit tired. The flavors generally didn’t come together well, and the textures were unappealing.

Chilled Cucumber and Avocado Soup with Lemon Sorbet and Mint. I really liked the way that the lemon sorbet brightened up the soup, but it melted very soon and the flavor was lost into the large amount of soup. The soup itself was okay — it tasted like its components — but it wasn’t anything special.

Chopped Market Salad with Blue Cheese and Hobb’s Bacon. Chad thought that this was okay, but it was too sloppy and viscous for me. You could taste each individual component, which is good especially in the case of the bacon, but it just didn’t feel like there was any attempt at balancing them.

Market Burger, 1/2 Pound Fresh Ground Beef, Fiscallini Cheddar, Grilled Sweet Onion, Housemade Pickles, Fries. Ugh. I love a good burger, and hate to see its good name besmirched. The bun was too big for the patty and was very dry, the cheese was shredded and not fully melted, and the meat was rare when I’d wanted medium rare and the meat wasn’t tasty enough to hold it up. At least the fries had a nice potato flavor so that they didn’t even need ketchup, and the pickles were good.

I did learn something cool, though. The roll had little white-ish bubbles on it, which usually indicates sourdough, but it didn’t taste like it. I asked the waiter, who confirmed that it wasn’t sourdough. He said that at the bakery up the street where it’s made, they briefly use some kind of flamethrower device on it while it bakes, and that causes the bubbles.

Fish n’ Chips, Champagne Battered Ling Cod and Fries, Two Sauces. These were eerily very moist… the fish itself and the batter was almost gooey inside the crisp exterior.

Butterscotch Pudding with Whipped Cream. This seemed more like a slightly thickened creme anglaise than a pudding. It was too slimy for me, and the butterscotch didn’t have a strong enough presence. On the other hand, Chad doesn’t usually like puddings because their thickness, but he liked this.

They have a wonderful drink menu — as does Cyrus. And fortunately, they lived up to their descriptions. On the left, the Market Cooler with Key Lime Charbay Vodka, Cock n’ Bull Ginger Beer, Fresh Lemon Juice & Mint. This was so refreshing, like a kicked up Mojito. On the right, the Cane You Dig it? with Charbay’s New Cane Juice Rums-Tahitian Vanilla and Clear, Grand Marnier, Lime Juice. I think I’ve deciphered that correctly to mean that there are two rums. Anyway, this was a lot bolder, hitting you with the lime and liqueur-y orange before the vanilla unexpectedly diffused the bitterness.

And you’ll notice the cool stone walls of the restaurant in the background. It’s a beautiful restaurant, with good drinks and also a wonderful wait staff; I just wish that the food matched.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 14th, 2006 at 9:20 am and is filed under Napa Valley, Restaurants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.