The Michelin-Starred Team Behind SingleThread Debuts New Sonoma Hotspot

Now open in Healdsburg, Little Saint is a one-stop shop for farm-fresh food, wine, music, and community fun.

Little Saint Healdsburg
Photo by Emma Morris, courtesy of Little Saint
Photo by Emma Morris, courtesy of Little Saint

This week brings with it the opening of Little Saint, the second restaurant from the Michelin-starred team behind SingleThread, transforming the former SHED space into an expansive, one-stop shop for food, music, and community hangouts in the heart of Healdsburg.

The opening represents a collaboration between SingleThread partners Kyle and Katina Connaughton and Tony Greenberg, in addition to building owners Jeff and Laurie Ubben, building director Jenny Hess, and designer and partner Ken Fulk. Fulk is also the founder of Saint Joseph's Arts Society, a San Francisco-based nonprofit with a mission to promote the importance of arts and culture in the Bay Area and beyond.

St. Joseph’s serves as the benefactor of Little Saint, as well as its core inspiration—as avid supporters of St. Joseph’s cause, the Ubben family was compelled to create a Sonoma County branch of the foundation to bring music, arts, food and wine to the community under one roof. Together with Fulk, they found that home within the walls that formerly housed SHED, a 10,000-square-foot space that features a sprawling open-floor plan across two levels.

Little Saint Healdsburg
Photo courtesy of Little Saint

That layout will prove rather perfect as programming revs up—a tasting event with Darling Wines is slated for Tuesday, May 3, with more events ranging from live music to panel discussions to film screenings on the horizon. Further outfitting the space is a café offering coffee from San Francisco-based Saint Frank, and made-to-order, picnic-ready dishes (think dips and flatbreads, soups, salads, and grain bowls). An adjacent wine shop features bottles from winemakers dedicated to responsible, sustainable farming, with a heavy emphasis on bottles from local producers.

At the center of everything is the full-service restaurant and bar, where the team serves a plant-based menu spotlighting produce from the SingleThread farms, as well as the restaurant’s own five-acre farm that’s situated right in town. Chef Bryan Oliver helms the menu, which features items like Potato and Green Garlic Soup with lovage and caraway oil, Mokum Carrots and Shaved Red Cabbage with crunchy rice, and Cauliflower Biryani for two, with basmati rice, golden raisins, and dried rose petals. Save room for dessert—pastry chef Baruch Ellsworth whips up ethereal takes on favorites like Carrot Cake, with walnuts and vanilla, and Chocolate Torte, with hazelnut praline and miso caramel. The bar program, led by executive bar director Matt Siegel, represents another collaboration with the farms, and offers creative craft cocktails as well as non-alcoholic options.

Little Saint Healdsburg
Photo courtesy of Little Saint

Though more casual in its approach, Little Saint maintains the same produce-forward philosophies as SingleThread, its three-Michelin-starred sister restaurant located just blocks away in downtown Healdsburg. When the Connaughtons first opened the restaurant in 2016, they were intent on creating a multi-course menu sourced from their dedicated farm and its many workings—the greenhouse, chicken coops, olive trees, heirloom fruit orchard, and beyond—and will equip Little Saint with much of that yield, as well. With those plant-to-plate practices in play, it’s only fitting for the Little Saint opening to land on Earth Day—and all the more exciting to see the reopening of SingleThread (temporarily closed due to a kitchen fire) arriving just a few weeks later, on May 1.

The double reveal proves to be particularly meaningful for the Connaughtons—especially in light of recent times. “After a difficult two years of needing to distance, it's a wonderful time to gather and enjoy food, music, and community again,” says Kyle Connaughton, who, with his team, created Little Saint with the goal of supporting local food systems and showcasing the full potential of Sonoma’s seasons. “We’re really excited to share with others how special this place is that we call home.”

Little Saint restaurant is open Thursday-Monday, from 4 pm to 10 pm. Reservations can be made via Tock. The cafe and provisions shop is open daily from 11 am to 6 pm, the coffee bar is open daily from 6 am to 4 pm, and the wine shop is open daily from 11 am to 6pm.

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Nicole Schnitzler is a Thrillist contributor. Follow her on Twitter at @write_to_eat and Instagram at @WriteToEat.