SingleThread

SingleThread is best understood not as a restaurant but as an ecosystem. Long before guests arrive in the dining room, much of the experience begins in the fields, where vegetables, flowers, herbs and fruit are cultivated specifically for the kitchen. Farming is not an adjunct to the restaurant but the foundation upon which the entire project is built.

The vision belongs to husband-and-wife team Kyle and Katina Connaughton. After years spent working and studying abroad — particularly in Japan, whose traditions continue to influence the project — the pair settled in Sonoma County with an ambitious goal: to create a place where agriculture, hospitality and cooking could operate as a unified whole. They established the farm before opening the restaurant, allowing the land itself to shape what would eventually appear on the table.

This philosophy is evident throughout the experience. Seasonal ingredients determine the rhythm of the menu, while the service draws inspiration from Japanese concepts of hospitality, emphasising attentiveness, precision and care. The result is highly refined without becoming detached from its agricultural origins.

SingleThread also belongs to a broader story about Sonoma County. Located in Healdsburg, at the centre of one of California's most productive agricultural regions, it demonstrates how contemporary dining can remain connected to the realities of farming rather than treating ingredients as anonymous commodities.

For NOTES, SingleThread matters because it represents a complete expression of place. The farm, inn and restaurant are inseparable, each helping explain the other. Together they form one of the clearest examples of land-driven hospitality in contemporary California.