SingleThread has basically been on my wish list since I had moved back to the US. They opened the restaurant in 2016, and it quickly was recognized with two Michelin stars just two years later in 2018. The following year, the Michelin Guide bumped them up to a full three stars. I knew that I wanted to try it out, but just one year later, we were in the midst of a pandemic, so my plans of trying it out were dashed, at least temporarily. This year, I knew that dining at SingleThread was going to be my birthday wish, so I was very excited finally getting to go try it out. Healdsburg has turned into a fantastic location for restaurants, so my expectations were high.
It’s a gorgeous restaurant with a ton of space, which is nice in these days of sardining people into their seats where they sit closer to the person at the table next to them than at the table across from them. No worries here, which should be expected from such a high quality restaurant. We were greeted very friendly and given a berry tea to sip on while we waited for our table to be set up. It did seem like it was taking quite a while, but when we finally were shown to our seats, a plethora of small Japanese plates were already on the table ready for us to start digging into. We also opted for a wine pairing, so we got some fantastic Champagne to sip on while exploring the food in front of us. A few small hot small plates also came out while we were enjoying everything.
I’m not going to go into too much detail about all the courses, because well, there was a lot of them, and pretty much everything was prepared well and was technically superb. It was a lot of fun exploring the small plates, and it was nice to be able to take it as you wanted without a lot of direction. After the small plates, the courses started arriving at a really decent pace, and the wines chosen to accompany everything were definitely chosen for all the right reasons.
One of the best dishes of the night was a simple salad made of vegetables laid across the plate called a takiawase. We were told to start from the south and work our way north, and the veggies were beautifully prepared and just left a great flavor sensation on the palate. It was also served with some popovers filled with a mushroom cream to soak up any leftover sauces, and it was definitely my favorite dish of the night. Another interesting dish was a fish called amadai which has edible scales that puff up when they are cooked, definitely something different and unusual to be eating.
The wagyu A5 course was another great dish with fantastically cooked asparagus sides. The beef melted in the mouth. Prior to that we were served a palate cleanser of Verjus, Yogurt and Rye and it was also something we were raving about after we finished eating it.
The desserts were also great, and the presentation of the main dessert of kumquat with black sesame, chervil and saffron really was a work of art. It felt almost a shame to dig in, but the plate was absolutely delicious. Finally, all the tiny dessert bites at the end were also a great way to end the meal, and they wrapped up our menus nicely for us to take home, and mine was accompanied by the birthday card with all the employee’s signatures that they had left at the table when we arrived.
All in all it was a really wonderful dining experience, but it was also a bit rigid. It was as if the servers were told what to say when coming out, and any deviation off of the what they knew seemed to really be awkward or throw them off. If I had questions or tried to talk to one of them, it was met with a polite smile and nod, but the interaction was pretty non-existent. I’m not saying the service was bad, because it was stellar, just a bit distant. I’m really glad I finally go to go and experience it, and it was absolutely fantastic, but I’m not sure it was great enough that I would go back for the price. It’s definitely one of those once-in-a-lifetime places, and not a place requiring multiple return visits (even though everything they make is very seasonal and changes with what fresh produce is grown on the farm).
Score: 4.5/5
Recommendation: If you’re going to go, do it right by taking it to the max.
SingleThread
131 North St
Healdsburg, CA 95448
