Experiencing the Depth of SingleThread with Audi
e-tron EVs enable new activities for guests of the legendary restaurant and inn
Experiencing tomato season in Healdsburg at SingleThread paints an enticing picture of their mission to build a more thoughtful and sustainable future that doesn’t compromise on the little details; details that aren’t always noticed, yet always felt. This culinary destination sews together the story of a biodynamic farm, luxurious five-room inn and award-winning restaurant to create a delicious, seasonally driven tapestry in Northern California. Now with Audi as the official automotive partner, the fully electric e-tron vehicles are a complimentary amenity for guests of the inn to explore the wine country of Sonoma County and experience the SingleThread mission connecting the land to their kitchen and dining room.
Behind the wheel of a 2024 Audi Q8 e-tron Sportback, our first stop was the 24-acre SingleThread Farm. Touring with the founding couple, executive chef Kyle Connaughton and head farmer Katina Connaughton offer a glimpse into their ethos. “Right now we are living in tomatoes and thinking about broccoli,” says Katina. “But we are never not thinking about tomatoes.” In summer tomatoes play a starring role. At the farm visitors can taste tiny champagne-bubble-sized tomatoes from the vine and buy baskets of cherry tomatoes to take home from the farm shop.
“The farmers are the first chefs,” says Kyle as we stroll among the carefully planted and thoughtfully maintained rows of fruits and vegetables. “Ultimately, we plan our menu and cook based on what’s coming in, so we make our requests and then ultimately it’s the farmers who say here’s what you have right now. We’re just cooking that day, and giving guests the best of whatever is coming from the farm at any moment.”
The kitchen starts here… it’s really a labor of love
Katina Connaughton
The farm experience sets the tone. “At SingleThread we tell the story of today, this moment, really through Katina’s eyes of what’s happening at the farm and the ingredients and what’s in season,” says Kyle. “And also all for her floral displays, and the way that we also incorporate flowers and things from the wild and the farm.”
“The kitchen starts here… it’s really a labor of love,” Katina says. “We are trying to build layers of habitat here and strengthen our fabric of biodiversity and ecology. We’ve been experiencing a lot of environmental shifts, and we have to learn how to adapt to an ever changing climate.”
In an area known for vineyards and wineries, SingleThread makes every effort to be mindful and sustainable. “We harvest every morning and we’re bringing it into the kitchen and serving it right there,” says Katina. “It’s just so beautiful. There’s so many thoughtful layers that go into it. Everything that we’re serving is so nutrient dense. So I want our guests to leave feeling invigorated, to feel alive and to feel nurtured. That all starts here.”
The single thread from the farm to the inn is as clear as it is to the restaurant itself. At the inn, which is one floor above the restaurant, meals can be enjoyed in-room or on the building rooftop. The gorgeous Japanese breakfast spread with grilled fish and California-grown Luna Koshihikari rice is one of the menu items only available to guests. Summer produce complements the dishes with cubes of delicate tofu topped with tiny tomatoes. Hot pot dinners pair a refreshing cool tomato salad with a donabe filled with seafood, chicken or wagyu beef. In the middle of summer, in the full fine-dining experience, a course charmingly named Tomato Picnic features small cups of gazpacho, bonito covered in tiny tomatoes and a bite sized fried green tomato. The flavors are local with global influences and a clear focus on the time the Connaughtons spent living and working in Japan. This along with a three Michelin key level pampering in one of their five guest rooms makes SingleThread one of most sought-after destinations in California.
SingleThread Inn sits just steps from the historic central square of Healdsburg in this small, walkable town. Enabled by their partnership with Audi, guests can explore local wineries, a tour of Hog Island Oyster farm, olive oil tasting at McEvoy Ranch and hikes in the Redwoods among the growing list of experiences designed to further connect visitors to this destination. SingleThread will even make a temaki bento picnic lunch presented in boxes handmade by Joey Morlock, a chef at SingleThread, to take on the journey. At the farm they offer workshops from floral arranging to chopstick carving. Through these experiences we gained deep context for the stunning three-Michelin-star meal the restaurant has become famous for. And it’s that context that the Connaughtons feel so strongly about offering.
Luxury is in the details and often more felt than seen at SingleThread. The dining room, like the inn suites, has an understated chic Japan-meets-California aesthetic. The Japanese hospitality practice of anticipating a guest’s needs before they do, Omotenoshi, runs deep at SingleThread. In the dining room a table captain communicates using hidden hand signals that alert another server, whether a guest requested sparkling water and the placement at the table of their seat. In the kitchen with Kyle, we hear him call “left hand.” He later explains that once they notice a guest is left-handed they begin to orient the dishes toward their dominant hand and will even plate the dish to optimize their experience.
The “Early Summer in Sonoma” tasting begins with a dizzying array of small bites featuring vibrant chilled produce and premium seafood. Where another restaurant might offer a tiny opening amuse-bouche bite, Connaughton and his team fill the table with a dramatic, elegant display of small dishes to wake up the palate presented on a sprawl of moss and flowers that ground the experience in the nature that enabled it. It’s a light, refreshing and opulent way to begin the meal.
Locally raised duck appears on the menu as duck liver with salad and later with morel mushrooms on rice. A wagyu beef course adds some richness. Dessert continues the thread of the Connaughtons’ experiences and influences in Japan with ume shiso, matcha wagashi. With or without the wine pairings it is an intoxicating experience. Especially with an idealized culinary approach to their non-alcoholic pairings where a team of four has conceived of thoughtful beverages to highlight the flavors in each course, using the seasonal ingredients available at the moment—arguably an even more appropriate beverage pairing than the wines sourced from the world’s finest wineries.
At the end of the evening each guest is presented a hand-tied menu as a memento of the meal with a handwritten note from the Connaughtons and an origami paper flower that opens to reveal a pack of seeds as a soulful suggestion to bring the thread of growing a meal into your home—in our case komatsuna, a leafy Japanese vegetable. It’s tempting to want to plant the seeds right away.
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