Among the most-loved restaurants are those whose customers believe that their goodness is known only to themselves. Secret restaurants, we might call them. The regular patrons are reluctant to talk about such restaurants, believing that the restaurant will become impenetrable if everybody in the world starts coming. In actual fact, that almost never happens, but the feeling is still comforting. All of the above applies to Cypress, whose location at the corner of two heavily-traveled arteries should make it better known than it is. But ssshhhh!
Tucked away in the back of a complex of small strip malls, Cypress comes across as a pleasant surprise to all who go there--particularly first-timers. Indeed, the ambitious cooking does seem to be a few notches above what the place leads you to believe is the standard reality. Metairie has fewer white-tablecloth restaurants with good food than the population would dictate, and that fact keeps this good little restaurant busy.
Owner-chef Stephen Huth worked for many years as the chef de cuisine at the original Vincent's. His father had a salon that backed up to Vincent's, and was ready to retire from the business. Father and son renovated the salon into a restaurant in 2003, pretty much entirely with their own hands. Stephen literally walked through a hole in Vincent's back fence, to open Cypress. Far from being upset by this, Vincent Catalanotto helped Huth cut the hole, and in other ways.
The rooms are small and reached through a mini-maze of hallways. The service staff and the chef's wife (who runs the dining room) could not be more hospitable. There's enough community among the locals that first-timers stick out a little.
Order one course fewer than you ordinarily would. Splitting appetizers and salads will not leave either of the sharers hungry.
| Attitude | 2 |
|---|---|
| Environment | 1 |
| Hipness | 1 |
| Local Color | 0 |
| Service | 2 |
| Value | 1 |
| Wine | 0 |
