SingleThread - Healdsburg
Japanese flair in Sonoma
Rating: 18/20
Where: Healdsburg, California
When: Dinner for 3 on 15 August 2023
Cost: Tasting menu $425, Wine pairing $300-$1500
Accolades: 3 Michelin Stars, #68 on Top 50 Restaurants list (2023)
Why: Produce-driven California cuisine meets Japanese ingredients and techniques
SingleThread is a restaurant located in downtown Healdsburg, about 1 1/2 hours north of San Francisco. Upstairs from the restaurant is a small hotel run by the same owners, who also have a farm nearby that provides much of the produce used in the restaurant.
I have been to SingleThread several times, first when it debuted with two stars, and now for the third time after receiving its third star. The menu is Californian cuisine with Japanese influences, which makes sense given the chef's pedigree: he worked in California, at The Fat Duck in the UK, on the Modernist Cuisine “cookbook”, and several years in Japan. Given my affinity for Japanese food, I had initially expected to love the restaurant, but ended up leaving a bit disappointed on previous visits. While I appreciated the dishes served, there were few true showstoppers.
June 2021
On our previous visit in June 2021, we spent two nights at the SingleThread hotel. This led me to an unexpected realization: SingleThread might actually be a better hotel than a restaurant. The hotel experience was among the best I've encountered anywhere. The rooms were beautiful and modern, the minibar (with beers, wine, etc) was included in the price, there were even some chocolates infused with marijuana hidden in a cupboard. Welcome to California! :)
But even more impressive were the meals served during our hotel stay. Room service provided snacks for free. On the night that we didn't dine at the restaurant, a “hot pot” dish was served on the roof-top terrace. We opted for a “Roasted Black Cod and Vegetable Fukkura-san”, a wonderful dish of fish on top of vegetables (see pictures above). This meal hands down beat the tasting menu that we had on the following day, even though (or maybe because) it was much more rustic. In the mornings, a full Japanese breakfast, or a more traditional Western breakfast were on offer, both delicious.
I've never seen such a tight integration between a restaurant and the hotel that it's located in. That in and of itself is worth a visit, ideally for two nights to explore both dining options.
August 2023
So what brought us back to SingleThread about two years later? Well, admittedly mostly to write a review for this blog, since I didn’t take detailed notes on prior visits. And also to give the restaurant another chance - many people (including a very good friend) think it’s the best restaurant in the Bay Area, so maybe I had been missing something all along.
Not much had changed since our last visit. Diners were greeted with a non-alcoholic drink in the lobby, where a large window looked right into the kitchen. In our case, the welcome drink was a cucumber ginger mint refresher. Slightly sparkly, it was nice enough 13.
After that, we were led into the dining room whose design is a fusion of Japanese and Californian sensibilities. Wood is featured prominently, and clean lines abound - no unnecessary ornamentation here. A view of the open kitchen can be enjoyed from most tables.
The restaurant served a single ten course tasting menu, and, as usual in California, dietary restrictions are taken into account. Three wine pairings were on offer, at price points of $300, $500 and $1500, respectively. We tried the two “cheaper” options. The wines were generally pretty good, with several bottles retailing at over $100 or even $200. Then again, there was no notable synergy between the wines and their paired dishes, so ordering one or two good bottles of wine might be a more sensible use of monetary resources. Also a bit odd - my wife's request to avoid sake and sweet wines was initially rebuffed with an “oh no, that would change 25% of the pairing”. Only after some back-and-forth was is possible to replace two out of the eight glasses in the pairing - one would think a minor change.
Back to the food. The nature of the first course hasn't changed much over the years, but it remains as impressive as the first time. Before our arrival, a miniature garden had been set up on the table, full of flowers, moss, little plants and lots of green. In this garden, many small dishes had been placed that together made up our first course. Since all of this gets set up before the guests arrive, it's somewhat important to be punctual - the food probably won't taste as good an hour later. Full disclosure: we were ten minutes late, so keep that in mind with the following ratings.
There is no pre-described sequence in which to eat the different bites of this course, so we followed the order in which they were described to us. That is, except for the three warm dishes that were served later on - those we ate right away.
A small oyster served with melon and Thai basil was a bit too warm for my taste (but admittedly that might have been due to our tardiness). A light taste of the sea along with some fruitiness made for a pleasant start 17. An herb panna cotta was topped with salmon roe. The latter was among the best salmon roe I've ever had, flavorful and with a distinctive pop. The panna cotta was lovely as well, creamy and herbal 18. Poached carrots were served with a “pesto” made from the carrot tops. This unique pesto was flavorful, and quite good. The addition of raisins was the only thing that seemed a bit off in an otherwise mostly savory dish 18. A piece of salmon cooked with shio koji and tomatillos was amazing. The fish melted in one's mouth, there was a nice sense of fattiness and an explosion of salmon flavor. Hard to see how one could improve on this dish 20. Shima aji (striped jack) sashimi was served as two slices with a bit of avocado in-between them. The fish was of good quality with a light flavor, and the avocado added a welcome bit of creaminess 18. Kampachi (yellowtail) was served with a nice cucumber broth, but the fish itself was a bit plain 17. Isaki, a fish apparently called “chicken grunt” in English - doing itself no favors in the marketing department -, had been bruleed. Smoky, a bit sweet, and with a nice texture apart from some chewiness 17. A sushi roll filled with halibut and pesto and wrapped in pickled kohlrabi was excellent. It was surprisingly spicy, with a nice crunch thanks to the kohlrabi on the outside. The fish and the pesto complemented each other quite well 19. Beef tartare was served with some lettuce and shiso leaves, which enabled us to make little tacos. The meat was nicely seasoned and quite light 18. The pescatarian alternative was a halibut tartare with egg yolk and dried shallots. The latter added some sweetness to the creamy tartare 17. The final cold dish was a duck liver parfait served on a crumbly cookie. The cookie was fine, the liver creamy, and there was a hint of acidity to lighten up the dish 18. The pescatarian alternative had cashew parfait instead of liver, which made it sweeter and (unsurprisingly) nuttier. Also quite good 18.
Three warm bites arrived while we were busy nibbling on the cold ones. Braised anago (sea eel) was served on top of a toasted piece of seaweed. It was meant to be eaten as a roll after adding caramelized barley, tiny tomatoes, and/or a dollop of wasabi. Altogether this made for a really nice combination with an excellent eel. Unfortunately, the amount of wasabi was too little to have any meaningful effect on the dish 18. A potato mousse was served with lobster mushrooms and white sturgeon caviar. This dish was barely lukewarm, serving it a tad warmer might have been better. The caviar and mushrooms were both full of flavor, but the potato mousse seemed a bit weak in comparison. Still quite tasty overall 18. Finally, a grilled baby corn was topped with something sweet (whose description I unfortunately didn't catch). Fine, but seeming simple compared to the other dishes here 16.
Our second course was an ode to tomatoes, which were in season during our visit. The red and gold mini tomatoes from the previous eel dish, roma tomatoes, and a few other varieties were served with a smoked tomato ponzu. Also found in the dish were compressed cucumbers, yuzu, ice plant, and cubes of blanched and torched kinmedai. The tomato flavor of this dish was off the charts, with acidity and saltiness in perfect balance, and the fish being a very nice complement to the tomatoes 20. My usually more generous wife thought that this dish was too salty and served too cold; she would have rated it an 18.
Next, three slices of Monterey abalone were served over a chawanmushi with shiso brown butter. Interestingly, this dish also contained basil and tomatoes, which gave it more of an Italian rather than Japanese flavor profile. The chawanmushi was not particularly custardy, it was quite liquid, and while the abalone by itself was nice, it got a bit lost in a dish that tasted of “pizza toppings”, as my wife put it. Tasty overall, but neither the abalone nor the chawanmushi were standouts here 17. Served along with this dish was a nori cracker topped with sabayon, abalone and tofu. The cracker was a bit soft by the time we ate it. Otherwise, this was a (maybe too) creamy, slightly seafoody bite that was pleasant enough but not amazing 15.
SingleThread's take on the “journey through the garden” dish came next. The backbone of this presentation were two eggplant purees, one white, and one dark, layered in stripes onto the plate. Covering them, we found more eggplants, plums, avocados, radishes, tofu, green beans, multiple herbs, yuba, fried tofu and puffed forbidden rice that looked a bit like dirt. A pretty presentation and a nice combination of multiple flavors and textures: crunchy and salty, with nice dips, lovely avocados, plums, herbs, ... Overall, very good for this kind of dish, tasty and varied 19. The bread served with this course was less successful; it was a popover filled with kinako (roasted soybean flour) and miso butter. A bit plain especially when compared to the more flavorful garden dish 15.
Next, a dish in two parts based on zucchini. One plate held a zucchini blossom tempura filled with a whitefish mousseline. The “mousse”’s consistency was actually closer to a fishcake. Together with the very fatty deep-fried zucchini blossom, this made for a quite heavy dish. Admittedly tasty in the “everything deep-fried is yummy” sense, but probably not the healthiest dish of the night (16 by itself). Maybe for that reason, we were told to eat the zucchini blossom alternatingly with the other dish on the table. That dish was a dashi containing more zucchini and a fillet of nodoguro (blackthroat seaperch). The fish was excellent and the best part of the dish, and the broth lovely as well. The zucchini were nice enough, but a sesame mochi was a bit of an odd addition to the dish 18.
The next dish on the menu would have been duck, but we opted for a $90 upgrade to wagyu beef. The beef was served with chanterelle mushrooms, winter truffles, a red onion filled with a custard made from green onions, a cream of potato and shallots, and a mushroom jus. The sides were nicely done, the mushrooms flavorful, there were some crunchy bits, some pickles, the green onion cream was tasty. There weren’t that many truffles, and they unfortunately got lost in the dish. The beef itself was quite good, except that some bites had a bit of stringiness 18. The pescatarian replacement of this dish left all sides the same, and substituted the beef with poached lobster. The lobster was very nicely cooked, tender and flavorful 18. I feel that the paired pinot noir would have gone better with the original duck dish. It would have been nice if the $90 upgrade also came with a different paired wine.
We had expected the beef to be the last savory course, but following Japanese customs, a rice course was served as a conclusion to this part of the meal. Rice from the Sacramento valley was served with Brentwood corn prepared three ways (kernels, pudding, charred), smoked scallops and some pork cheeks hidden underneath. (Burdock replaced the pork cheeks in the pescatarian dish.) I quite liked this dish: the rice was creamy, the corn sweet, the pork savory, and the scallops were nice as well. On the side was a dashi flavored with corn, very good (19 by itself). Overall 18. On the other hand, my wife thought this dish was underseasoned, undersalted, and served too cold; she would have given it a 14.
Our main dessert was a blackberry sorbet served with a black sesame tuile, a fig leaf sauce, kasu mousse cake, and pain perdu soaked in caramel sauce. A pretty good dish: the sorbet was particularly nice, the sesame crunchy, the fig leaf sauce tasted of coconut, but several individually tasty components didn’t really add up to more their parts 16. Much better was the dish's accompaniment: a monaka wafer sandwich filled with a ganache of black tea and mulberry. The cracker was crunchy and its filling creamy, sweet and just plain tasty 18.
At this point, we were taken to the roof deck to enjoy the final bites of our dinner - and presumably to make room for the next party to be seated in the dining room. A mint begonia tea was light, and sadly served lukewarm. “Eggs” were sweet shells filled with uma juice - a filling that was a bit plain 15. Agar gummies served with cantaloupe were subtly fruity, and had a light flavor overall 15. A strawberry torte with chamomile and whipped cream on a whole grain cookie was the best of the offerings here. The flavors were also light, but it had a nice mealy crunch from the cookie 16. Finally, what looked like an opera cake was made from miso and kinako - it tasted like a mix of chocolate and light miso. A somewhat muddled result 14.
The service during our dinner was a mixed experience. Compared to similar restaurants, and even to previous visits, the service felt a bit impersonal and rote. Part of the reason was that everybody seemed to be in a hurry. Courses followed each other with barely any gap, and that gap was taken by the sommelier explaining the paired wines. Feeling rushed in what should be a leisurely experience is unfortunate, and made me wish for the European restaurants that only have a single seating each night and where no such speed-serving is necessary. The dish descriptions were similarly recited at a rapid pace, so there are probably errors and omissions in my write-up (even more than usual, that is). A bit annoying was the pervasive and exclusive use of Japanese names for ingredients (such as fish) and preparation methods. I don't know whether that was supposed to be impressive or just meant to make the diner feel inadequate for constantly having to ask for an explanation in English. I've been to dozens of fine-dining restaurants in Japan, and strangely never had that feeling there.
Overall: A very successful blend of Japanese techniques and seasonal California produce. With few exceptions, dishes were quite delicious and full of flavor. The outstanding ones concentrated on just a single ingredient, while others tended to be a bit busy. Food-wise, this was a slight improvement over our previous visits - not a mean feat for a restaurant that has been in business for several years. Unfortunately, the service had taken a step down, it felt a bit on auto-pilot and too rushed 18.
