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Meinungen SINGLETHREAD Healdsburg
Meinungen der Mitglieder zu SINGLETHREAD
4.1/5
23 meinung
Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis
Qualität der Küche
Originalität
Rahmen/Ambitionen
Dienst
Die nachstehenden Bewertungen und Meinungen geben die subjektiven Meinungen der Mitglieder wieder und nicht die Meinung von Le Petit Futé.
The most disappointing dish, the "Wagyu" whose name is an insult to actual Wagyu, lacked any of the juiciness found in the real deal, and was instead incredibly tough and had to be sawed at with a knife. The small sliver of beef was surrounded by distracting small side dishes, culminating in a panoply of ephemera whose minuteness loses any ability to savor or appreciate the flavors of the meat, the presumed center of the dish (spoiler: it was bland and TOUGH). This dish exemplified my main issue with the menu, that most of the dishes felt like a proof of concept, rather than a part of a meal. A flourish that wanted to be loved for its alleged technical expertise, but nothing that would sit on the palate of memory. Status, rather than substance.
But perhaps wanting more of the food isn't really an insult. After all, most of the dishes were quite good and quite well done, and the initial "Summer in Sonoma" course was certainly dazzling in presentation. Unfortunately, a "dining experience" must be defined by more than the food, and here I found two main failings.
First, the menu wasn't provided and the litany of ingredients in each dish required a sense of mental acuity far more than what I was capable of. Having the menu at the outset would have allowed me to understand and appreciate the flavors, rather than being distracted by the task of identification, like trying to figure out who an actor is in a movie rather than paying attention to the movie.
Second, the price. Simply put, it's not worth the $600+/head (with tax and tip). For that price, I could have had ~10-15 meals at other restaurants that are no less thoughtful and perhaps with a bit less of an ego towards itself. At least one of those restaurants probably knows how to cook a steak, too! If this were half the cost, I'd maybe look back and say it was a fun experience, but as its price, I just have major buyer's remorse.
The gentleness of yuba (silky tofu skin), the quiet ocean tales by the savory and lingering flavors of dashi (seaweed), the salty and cold Tomales Bay breeze from the oyster, the bitterness of crisp gai lan, and the explosion of excitements from this pastry/tart.
Paced like a traditional kaiseki meal, you get your appetizers (10 of them in fact served on a tiny tabletop mountain), sashimi, steam dish (chawamushi), fried dish (shirako, fried sperms that I usually avoid in Japan but enjoyed here), simmered dish (even the cabbage on the side in daikon bone broth was heavenly), veggie dish (what I can only describe as a sculpture/3-d salad hidden with surprises including duck pate cream at the base that you eat with every bite, and candied coins looking things that are dehydrated sparkle of flavors), fish dish (where the skin was fried like pork rind yet the meat melted in your mouth; it’s accompanied by mochi made by pumpkin yet the best mochi I ever had; it’s the same dish as the simmer dish btw so also the cabbage and soup), meat dish (the steak was flawless; the wine pairing was a comparison of two Pinot varietals; one from new world one from old world) , and finished with a rice dish (porridge of local mushroom; I ate the entire bowl!).
Lastly, the wine pairing was generous, and the take home menu was something I have never seen before… just look at the photo I post.
The price was steep but ultimately worth it.
On the positive side, the restaurant dining room is well designed and appointed. The servers are attentive and knowledgeable, and each course of food was complicated and beautiful presented.
However, for all the effort the food tasted quite bland. There’s not a single course that was particularly memorable of the whole meal. As a matter of fact, there are multiple dishes that I can name another restaurant that had tasted better. Of course I probably missed the highlight of the entire meal - the last dessert course. As there’re so much food, we were visibly full towards the end. Before introducing the last course, the server kindly suggested packing our last desert course for us to take home, except he totally forgot about it as we were leaving. Even upon my reminder, he seemed confused and only gave us the petit fours as a take home token.
Lastly, the drink pairing was a hit and miss. In summary, we’ve had dinner the same week at one Michelin restaurant close by in Geyserville that’s of higher quality.
Food was okay nothing special but presentation was 10/10.