Singlethread

As MsFlamingo's main birthday gift, she wanted to try Singlethread or TFL and we decided whichever we could get tickets/reservations to first, we'd do. In the end, Singlethread won, which is also great because it's a new experience and one of the up and coming hottest restaurants in the world.

Singlethread is a fairly recently opened farm, inn and restaurant concept started by husband-wife team of Kyle and Katina Connaughton. It's a heavily Japanese inspired experience and it's clear their focus on the guest experience is number one.

From across the street, the restaurant, hotel and rooftop is in one of the bigger buildings in Healdsburg with a classy, almost southern in style.

The immaculate entrance, it definitely does a great job of imputing the experience to come.

Upon entering, we were greeted by the friendly hostess and we knew this would be an amazing experience that was warm and welcoming rather than stuffy and pretentious.

A beautiful origami tree in the entryway.

While we waited before going to the rooftop lounge, there was an opening to get a glimpse into the kitchen.

As we walked up, we were greeted with a strawberry, vinegar and citrus drink, almost kombucha-like - it was the perfect palate cleanser. Watching the intense, yet calm kitchen in action.

Check out the roasting ducks in the background.

Then up to the rooftop lounge, with amazing weather as we were approaching sunset.

Every detail was thought of including sunglasses for guests!

The lounge drinks list, really fantastic offerings, even P2!

We went with the Ruinart Rose to start, one of our favorites!

Pictures don't do this justice how serene this is, I'd love to hang out here all the time.

A hummingbird came to visit!

The garden area giving guests a view into the Singlethread Farm nearby.

Trying to get cute with portrait mode.

Look at those strawberries!

The rooftop bathroom itself was amazing and shows the sheer thought and quality of the place, I loved the proper Toto toilets.

With sunset it kicked the beauty up a notch.

Finally it was time and we were escorted downstairs, just as the sun was setting to begin the journey.

Through the doors into the dining rooms, the entire place was decorated absolutely immaculately.

We walked past the open kitchen with Chef Connaughton at the helm.

Our dining room wing of the restaurant.

What a visually stunning place setting with all the amuse bites. It was frankly almost overwhelming to take in so much precision.

On the left side was a type of plum I forgot the name of, but was absolutely amazingly tasty and fresh. Next was a cured root, full of umami. Below that was an amberjack, next to it a hamachi, below uni, to the left of the uni was a foie gras with gelee, and to the right of the uni was another hamachi-like fish that was melt in your mouth great. The oyster up top was hands down the best oyster we've ever tried, I wish I asked what type it was.

The right side had a cured clam up top, and to the bottom another root vegetable that was cured and very fresh.

To go along with the start of the meal was 2007 Egly-Ouriet Brut Millesime, an absolutely wonderful and delicate champagne. It was definitely more toasty, fuller bodied, small bubbles, with a little bit of pear and a really long finish - incredible to accompany the starters.

Next up was a trio of warm items, starting with the right was an absolutely stunning custard/sabayon that was rich, creamy and umami laden. Next was crab with what I think was a miso-sesame sauce, incredibly sweet, tender and everything worked in harmony. The egg was a custard with a foam and Osetra caviar, really tasty.

The king crab was perfectly sweet and the miso helped enhance the flavors.

The warm foam above the custard with perfectly golden caviar was fantastic.

For the next and first official course was the Pur Sang from Didier Dagueneau. It had a strong mineral, almost flint/gun powder nose and body. It was fuller bodied for a Sauv blanc based wine, but with a slight grapefruit and acidity that added freshness and paired great with the next course.

As our first official course, we had Inada (a type of amberjack) with gravenstein apple, radish and puree. The bitterness of the radish worked well off the apple to add depth to the fish. Really nice way to open up the meal.

The next wine was the 2016 Domaine Georges Vernay Condrieu Les Chaillees de L'Enfer. A fascinating northern Rhone Viognier that wasn't sweet, but extremely floral, great acid, minerality and some apple. A great wine that paired perfectly with the next course.

The next course was amazing partially cooked aji with a squash relish and zucchini puree, all finished with a herb dashi. The partially cooked fish provided a fantastic contrast in textures with the squash and zucchini components adding texture and flavor. The dashi was incredibly umami rich. The wine helped enhance the aromas and was a lovely dish.

To accompany the fish were lightly fried squash blossoms with ricotta, easily the best fried squash blossoms I've ever had.

Next up on the wine train, the Champagne Mouzon Leroux Brut Rose was really fascinating having a very smooth and robust body, with strawberry character while remaining dry.

The next course were tomatoes with homemade tofu.

Stunningly gorgeous vegetables.

With the tofu spooned in and dashi poured around. The contrast of textures, flavors and temperatures worked amazingly well. We don't normally like tofu, but we'd also never had tofu like this, it was so incredibly smooth, delicately flavored and custard like, it went perfectly with the most stunning tomatoes and green beans I'd ever tried. The sparkling wine helped enhance the gentle acidity of the tomatoes and made this an incredibly precise and tasty dish.

Between courses on my way to bathrooms, a gorgeous flower display that I couldn't do justice on my phone camera.

Next pairing was a sake, Takeda Tobintori Daiginjo. It was the most elaborate presentation and apparently traditional (yes I really need to go to Japan), where the sake is poured into the pot and then poured into the glass.

Meanwhile MsFlamingo deviated from the pairing and went with a wine since she doesn't drink sake. She had the 2006 Hiedler Gruner Veltliner November and from my sip of it was great with a mineral backbone, tart fruit and good acidity adding almost an effervescence quality.

The next course was a softer tofu with cucumber, squash and was the most pure and fresh and intense (in a good way) vegetables you could want.

The next wine was the Domaine Laroche Chablis and really nice, medium bodied, green apple and nice acidity. A solid Chablis which I always appreciate.

The next course was the aka amadai with crispy scales and sweet corn foam with nori. It was so fantastic with the crunchy scales against the almost sweet and tender fish, accompanied by the salinity from the seaweed. The wine helped enhance the flavors and the tiny bit of iodine bitterness in the seaweed was enhanced in a good way to tie the dish together.

For the next course we were presented with knives we could select. Absolutely stunning craftsmanship and just went to make the meal that much more special.

Talk about reserve pairing worthy, the 2005 Verite La Muse is a nearly 100-point rated wine from Sonoma made in the merlot heavy style of the right bank like Pomerol or St Emilion. Ironically despite being opened the prior day, it started off in our glasses a bit closed off, but opened up with more time and as it came up to room temp. Once it opened up the wine was incredibly powerful, dark cherries, cassis, some minerality and fine tannins that are still powerful.

The Verite paired fantastically with the dry aged duck, especially with the deep dark fruit in the wine. The roasted beet along with crunchy beets underneath paired amazingly well and tied the dish together. I could have easily had a whole other piece of duck, it was one of the best I'd ever had with crunchy skin like Peking duck, but firm and not too gamey meat.

The 1986 Clos du Mont-Olivet from magnum was absolutely fantastic and my favorite wine of the night. It had a great nose of herbs and red berries, the body was medium and incredibly smooth, bright red berries, earthiness and well integrated tannins - truly gorgeous wine.

The final savory course was barley with wagyu beef tartare.

Now time to checkout the dessert drinks more for fun since there was another pairing.

After some good banter with our server, I ended up going a bit crazy with my love of Madeiras and went with the Blandy's Bual from 1920. It was stunning with a fantastic nutty and caramel nose, the body was rich with toasted hazelnuts, toffee, orange peel and great acidity to balance things out and kept it fresh. One of the best I've ever had.

With the official reserve pairing, the 1971 D'Oliveira's Terrantez was also fantastic and provided a really great nuanced difference to the 1920 Blandy's. It too had a fantastic nose that was a bit richer and the body had more of a fig component than just the orange peel of the Blandy's. Really nice and was a real privilege to try such a rare varietal.

Of course the fig notes in the body of the D'Olivera was accompanied perfectly in the next dessert of sesame, strawberry compote and fig. Everything was executed to perfection with the sesame cake/mousse being light with deep flavor and the fruits helping add balance and acidity.

Our usual tasting menu and wine pairing pic with MsFlamingo and the glasses!

The final dessert in a similar style to the opening were small bites of passion fruit mousse with tapioca on top, chocolate squares, and super fresh raspberries.

The menu was given at the end, I didn't take pictures of it at the restaurant, but did the next morning at our hotel. It was gorgeous with a small bouquet.

The details.

And when the "flower" origami was opened, some seeds to be planted.

The bill presented in a lovely thread box, I like how they make sure to remind you of their signature style throughout the experience.

A picture of the other side of the dining room with the diners having already left.

Singlethread was a stunning experience - and I emphasize experience. It's far more than a restaurant that starts from the second you arrive, then going up to the rooftop lounge, the ambiance, quality, precision and care of the food.

The team here is easily operating in the 3-star realm. Being incredibly nit-picky as the only things I could see making this absolutely perfect for our tastes would be having one more cooked course, a bit more substantial (aka chocolate) dessert course and a parting edible gift to go along with the beautiful menu.

What the team has done in such a short amount of time is truly stunning and would highly recommend Singlethread experience!