SingleThread Farms (*) – Healdsburg, CA 04/2025

I've been to a number of brilliant restaurants before, including my old favorite Providence (**) in LA, but Singlethread rocketed the standard into the stratosphere. It's an expensive menu but well worth a special visit. The meal is generous, interesting and beautiful at every turn.

You step inside and are escorted to a pass-through window where you sip on hot tea and observe the kitchen as they set up…

1. … "Early Spring in Sonoma." ST is famous for its maximalist first course but holy sh-t I was grinning like an idiot when I sat down to it. Pristine fish everywhere, really nice seasoning (check out the white kombu crust on the snapper). Only got better with the arrival of three warm courses: Grilled fish with greens, potato mousse with winter truffle, tempura artichoke. Amazing.

2. Shima ahi with citrus: Horse mackerel is my favorite but it was a little overpowered by the fruit and citrus granita. Really refreshing regardless — I asked for a spoon to drink up the remaining "dressing."

3. Whey-poached kinmedai with translucent little circles of celtuce and a super-savory celtuce broth. Maybe my favorite course of the night. Zero notes.

4. Black sesame "goma tofu" with perfect farm greens. Great execution in technique but the intense flavor from that little brick of soft black sesame, fried in a sesame crust, dominated everything else. I would revise this dish to be a little more balanced in each bite.

5. Dungeness crab: Leg, chawanmushi with "head meat," and dumpling. Great flavors here. The dumpling wrapper is a little thicker than I expected. Ceramic bowls were so gorgeous.

6. Palate cleanser, tasted of citrus and cream with some jellies. Didn't catch the exact components.

7. Duclair duck with morels, almonds, jus: Damn, this was perfect. Lovely crisp on the skin, lots of umami, an intense sauce, and a cute lil morel stuffed with duck. A great main savory in a meal defined mostly by seafood and veg.

8. Finishing off with ST's famous rice course, here served with bamboo shoots and a side of tempura fava bean leaf (!) with duck liver puree and fresh favas. So, so good. The tempura work from this kitchen is so airy and crisp.

9. "Sonoma milk and honey," starting with a bowl of cream with a barley crust, a lil frozen beeswax treat, and warm bee-pollen madeleines. Enjoyed the mix of textures and temperatures in this dessert, it disappeared quick.

10. Petit fours: "Eggs" filled with verjus and meyer lemon, a hojicha-and-bergamot panna cotta, little tubes filled with huckleberry and pink peppercorn, and a miso mochi.

OVERALL: The food alone was staggering. I walked out of there stuffed, and I'm a big eater. I'm also a ridiculous nerd about fine-dining cookery, and this meal was three hours of finesse and sharp flavors, delivered by a very generous staff.

Massive shout out to sommelier Jordan Culler. Two of us split the $300 pairing ($75 fee for separate glasses) and it was perfect, just a few sips per course of some excellent wines. Jordan was a ton of fun, telling us stories of how he became a self-taught wine expert and educating us about every pour. And when I asked him for a final favor — ending our meal with a few extra sips of 2015 Dom — he nodded and then proceeded to pour us two full splits of the stuff.

"We don't do splashes here. It's not a waterpark," he said with a smile.

More massive shout outs to the main staff who served us: Mikhail (sp?) and Dan. The service staff here is great at mirroring energy — everyone was elegant and demure until we started asking questions and making conversation. Then it got jokey and friendly without ever seeming fake. (As I chuckled to my dining partner: Are all these MFs personality hires?? Clearly, yes!)

Best meal ever, with all my expectations met for a first 3-star experience.