Healdsburg has been on the global food circuit for a long time. A charming Sonoma County town of 11,000 curving along the eastern edge of the Dry Creek Valley, it has cred as a food destination going back to the early 2000s, when celebrity chef Charlie Palmer decamped with his family from New York and opened Dry Creek Kitchen.
Its stature has only grown in the decades since, bolstered by Dustin Valette’s Valette (and, more recently, his multi-level destination The Matheson) and the SingleThread empire. But a slate of openings has made it a particularly exciting place to eat and drink right now.
Andys Beeline Rooftop at Appellation Healdsburg. | Source: Couretesy Dylan Patrick
“Healdsburg has evolved by leaning into its roots,” Palmer says. “What was once a quiet agricultural town has become a globally recognized food and wine destination, shaped by seasonality, local sourcing, and a deep respect for the people.”
But it’s more than just fresh, local ingredients that sets Healdsburg apart.
“It’s a small town, but it has just as much energy as a big city,” says Melissa McGaughey, co-owner and baker behind Healdsburg’s famed Quail & Condor bakery. “That’s the secret sauce — everyone here is just buzzing with energy and getting things done.”
I’ve had plenty of delicious experiences in the area — snacking on crispy pig ears with cocktails at Bravas (opens in new tab), sipping Chenin Blanc with an anchovy and fermented black-garlic pizza on the rooftop patio at The Matheson (opens in new tab), and enjoying a once-in-a-lifetime meal at SingleThread (opens in new tab). But the recent arrivals, including the opening of Palmer’s Appellation hotel in September, Quail & Condor’s expansion, and a new restaurant from a renowned Portland chef, had me eager to explore. (Spoiler: I wasn’t disappointed.)
Welcome to Charlie’s house
Palmer, who earned accolades in New York in the 1990s before moving to the area more than 25 years ago, is kind of a big deal in Healdsburg. He’s also as enthusiastic about his home as ever.
His affection is made manifest via Appellation, the hotel group he developed with Christopher Hunsberger, formerly an exec at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. Appellation Healdsburg is the company’s first new build, designed to celebrate the region — from the warm, natural palette of guest rooms (which boast outdoor space and a pour-over coffee setup) to the surrounding hillsides covered with young grape vines.
Source: Courtesy Dylan Patrick
Source: Courtesy Kailey Priest
Source: Courtesy Kailey Priest
Source: Courtesy Dylan Patrick
It’s also meant to have a culinary focus. Walking into reception feels like entering a restaurant’s open kitchen, and guests register around a butcher block where they’re offered wine and canapes. (When I arrived, it was a glass of Bob Cabral Cuvee Anne Rose Chardonnay and lobster salad on crostini.) This, according to Reed Palmer, Charlie’s son and chef de cuisine of the hotel’s restaurant, Folia, is more or less what it’s like walking into the family’s home. “You’re going to end up in the kitchen and almost immediately be offered a glass of something cold,” he says.
In keeping with the theme, Folia looks like a professional version of an open-plan kitchen/dining room — and has the informed-yet-friendly service to match. Fine-dining accouterments like house-made charcuterie and a stunning wine list abound. But the real hits on the three-course prix fixe menu ($85) are comforting classics, levelled up: a crunchy, bright iceberg lettuce salad resembling a lacy-edged anemone, doused in house-made buttermilk ranch; an addictive clam pasta loaded with lardons and buttery breadcrumbs; and a platter-size pork schnitzel topped exuberantly with capers and anchovies. You may be too full for more than a few bites of a delightfully jiggly lemon meringue tart, but you’d be remiss to skip a cocktail at Andys Beeline Rooftop, the hotel’s bar.
Appellation Healdsburg (opens in new tab), 101 Dovetail Lane
The SingleThread ripple effect
If Palmer put Healdsburg on the foodie map, it was Kyle and Katina Connaughton who etched the town’s culinary status in stone with the 2016 opening of SingleThread. The hotel and three-Michelin-star restaurant is a splurge and a half, and well worth it if you can swing it. But there are other ways to experience the couple’s influence around town.
One opportunity comes at Little Saint, the vegan restaurant and cafe the couple opened in 2018. You can also stay at The Cottages at Little Saint, four funky, cozy accommodations designed by Ken Fulk, which sit directly behind the restaurant and right in the center of town, making them walkable to just about everything.
Kyle and Katina Connaughton of SingleThread. | Source: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images
While Appellation is refined-yet-warm Wine Country chic, the cottages are all about maximalism — including wall-to-ceiling wallpaper covered in pomegranates, eccentric knickknacks, and Crosley record players with Emmylou Harris and Cher on vinyl. For the culinarily inclined: The rooms are stocked with Saint Frank coffee, Land + Local tea blends, and seasonal shrubs, plus handmade soaps and lotions from Herb Nerd.
The Cottages at Little Saint (opens in new tab), 425 Foss St.
Sourdough, spicy eggs, and a salted duck-egg custard
Yet another way to experience the SingleThread influence is to seek out its talented alums. Foremost among them are husband-and-wife team Melissa and Sean McGaughey. Before launching Quail & Condor during the pandemic as a way for Melissa to get back into the kitchen after having a baby, they were both at SingleThread — she as hotel pastry chef and he as executive chef and, later, head chef. After the bakery took off at local farmers markets, they put down roots in a small space that drew lines (and gained national acclaim) of customers hungry for crusty loaves and stunning pastries.
Source: Courtesy Emma Kruch
Source: Courtesy Emma Kruch
That success allowed Melissa to move into her dream space in November, when Quail & Condor graduated to a larger location in Healdsburg’s Mill District. You’ll still find those highly sought-after breads and pastries — plus indoor seating, breakfast items, and toasts. The best move is to over-order, and I was particularly taken with the baked eggs swimming in tangy yogurt and liberally drizzled with chile oil. A flaky-rich biscuit laced with red miso and caramelized onions was also excellent, as was an almost comically large morning bun loaded with salted duck-yolk custard. Be sure to get a loaf of bread for later … or now.
Quail & Condor (opens in new tab), 44 Mill St.
Tartare tartlets and Mos Def
Quail & Condor quickly led to the opening of a second project: Troubadour. It started as a place to house the bakery’s bread program and eventually became a canvas for Sean to exercise his fine-dining chops. The result is Le Dîner, a $195, seven-course prix fixe experience housed Thursday to Sunday evenings at Troubadour. It boasts the technique and refinement of the most exceptional fine-dining experiences but with a decided dose of relaxed playfulness.
Practically, that manifests in a small dining room filled with a mix of locals and out-of-towners, a bumping soundtrack of ‘’90s and ’00s hip-hop, and stunningly plated, technique-heavy dishes. A beef tartare tartlet showcased 14-day dry-aged beef, grated tallow, and citrus oil encased in a whisper-thin shell, while brassicas came poached in agedashi and adorned with kohlrabi flowers dotted with cured egg-yolk jam. Jewel-toned trout was slowly poached in allium-infused oil and served atop creamy Normande sauce, which, one of the chefs gleefully told us, reminded him of Cool Ranch Doritos.
It’s also well worth stopping by during the day, when the place flips into a counter-service sandwich shop. I tried a beyond-good chicken salad on springy sliced sourdough, packed with hearty, juicy morsels of chicken and rich with tarragon-laced mayonnaise.
Troubadour Bread & Bistro (opens in new tab), 381 Healdsburg Ave.
A road trip-worthy onion
Source: Courtesy Jesse Cudworth
Source: Courtesy Jesse Cudworth
For a sample of the newest and most exciting food Healdsburg has to offer, you’ll want to seek out Bistro Lagniappe. It’s ode to local purveyors and wood-fired cooking in the form of hearty, French-inflected fare from chef Jacob Harth, who earned accolades at Erizo in Portland and also did stints at Saison in San Francisco, Oxalis in Brooklyn, and Sarde in Mexico City.
Lagniappe (which is pronounced “lan-yap” and means “a little something extra”) threads the needle between fine dining and casual. The menu is meant to be humble, satisfying, and elegant — steak frites, a half roasted chicken, a loaded lamb cassoulet. It’s meant to be a proper bistro where you can dine every week, and the Sunday Supper, a $55 three-course feast, was designed with the local community in mind.
I’m no local, but I’m tempted to make a regular road trip up there for dinner, particularly on Sundays. The spread featured a ridiculously flavorful onion gratin topped with melted Comté and Parmesan foam. The classic mains included boeuf bourguignon en croûte, served atop a creamy celery-root puree in a personal Dutch oven and topped with a dome of golden-brown puff pastry — pure comfort, with a dash of drama. Dessert, a dreamy passion-fruit mille feuille, was a highlight of the weekend. And mark your calendar: Harth plans on launching Sunday brunch next month.
Bistro Lagniappe (opens in new tab), 330 Healdsburg Ave.
A word about wine
Of course, you can’t talk about Healdsburg without talking about its dozens of wineries and tasting rooms. All the restaurants I visited had standout wine lists with an emphasis on local producers. But there’s also a density of tasting rooms in town, all within walking distance from one another. The newest is Martha Stoumen Wines, which opened in October.
Stoumen made a name for herself with flavorful, balanced vintages that champion lesser-known grapes and low-intervention techniques. Her label was acquired last year by the Overshine Collective, a group of like-minded Sonoma winemakers that includes Idlewild, BloodRoot, and Reeve, along with David Drummond’s Overshine and Communità. Drummond, formerly the chief legal officer of Alphabet, is the founding partner and majority investor of the conglomerate. In addition to relieving a degree of financial pressure from these small producers, the collective lets them pursue shared goals, collaborate creatively, and solve problems together.
Martha Stoumen Wines. | Source: Courtesy Martha Stoumen Wine
Stoumen, who grew up in Sebastopol, made the move to Healdsburg to be closer to her fellow collective members and to benefit from the town’s tourist draw. Still, she hopes to bring “a little west county” energy with her, creating a space where visitors feel relaxed and transported. “We want people to come in and have a good time, maybe experience something new,” she says. “I want it to feel like a beautiful experience overall.”
The tasting room delivers, feeling not unlike a French bar à vins. Instead of a bar with glasses lined up for quick turnarounds, there are tables and cozy corners where you can taste through a flight, sample a glass, or linger over a bottle. Look out for collaborations with collective members in the coming months.
Martha Stoumen Wines (opens in new tab), 325 Center St.
A nightcap
Source: George Rose/Getty Images
Stepping out onto the main drag on a chilly Saturday night, I was struck by how quiet Healdsburg managed to be — until I was lured by the clarion call of the John & Zeke neon sign. There are, of course, cocktails aplenty around town — the aforementioned Andy’s Beeline, Bistro Lagniappe, and Duke’s Spirited Cocktails and Lo & Behold. But sometimes, you just need a shot and a beer. That’s the vibe and John & Zeke’s, a dive packed with locals playing pool and shuffleboard and dancing to country music on the jukebox. A cold Henhouse IPA in hand, I couldn’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.
John & Zeke’s, 420 Healdsburg Ave.
Dining and Cooking