Healdsburg Restaurant Named One of the World’s Best. Again

A three Michelin-starred Healdsburg restaurant soars back into the prestigious 50 Best Restaurants list.


By Heather Irwin

Healdsburg’s SingleThread restaurant has once again made the annual World’s 50 Best Restaurant’s list, joining only one other American restaurant, New York City’s Atomix (No. 6). The presitious awards were announced yesterday at a ceremony in Las Vegas.

Sonoma County’s only three Michelin-starred restaurant rose to No. 46 on the list in 2024, rebounding from a fall to the extended part of the list (No. 68) last year.

Owners Kyle and Katina Connaughton have broken into the coveted top 50 list twice before, squeaking by at No. 50 in 2022 after soaring to No. 37 in 2021. The awards were canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

“SingleThread is a destination restaurant and boutique hotel in the picturesque Californian town of Healdsburg in the wine-famous Sonoma Valley. Chef Kyle oversees the kitchen, presenting an exquisite tasting menu with a strong Japanese influence. Katina runs the couple’s nearby 24-acre farm, from which most of the restaurant’s produce is sourced,” read a statement on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants website.

Chef Kyle Connaughton uses a Japanese donabe from his collection, at back on the wall, to cook his Tilefish, Blue Foot, and Chantrelle “Fukkura-San” with Leeks, Brassicas From the Farm, Sansho, and Chamomile Dashi Broth at Single Thread Farms Restaurant in Healdsburg. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
Chef Kyle Connaughton uses a Japanese donabe from his collection, at back on the wall, to cook his Tilefish, Blue Foot, and Chanterelle Fukkura-San with Leeks, Brassicas From the Farm, Sansho, and Chamomile Dashi Broth at SingleThread Restaurant in Healdsburg. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
SingleThread Healdsburg
An elegantly presented dish at the three-Michelin star SingleThread in Healdsburg. (John Troxell/Sonoma County Tourism)

The annual list of the world’s finest restaurants, published since 2002, is a snapshot of some of the best destinations for unique culinary experiences and a barometer for global gastronomic trends, according to the organizers. (The World’s 50 Best Restaurants is part of the 50 Best brand, published by UK-based media group William Reed.)

Encompassing five continents, the World’s 50 Best list also showcases lesser-known dining destinations, including Slovenia, South Africa, Mexico City and South America. (Michelin stars, also highly coveted, are primarily focused on Europe and North America.) The guide expanded to cover Japan in 2007, as well as Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok and Malaysia in subsequent years.

A panel of more than 1,000 international restaurant industry experts — food writers and critics, chefs, restaurateurs and well-traveled gourmets — selects the restaurants for each year’s list.

The top five restaurants on the 2024 Worlds 50 Best Restaurants list are:
No. 5: Maido (Lima, Peru)
No. 4: Diverxo (Madrid, Spain)
No. 3: Table by Bruno Verjus (Paris, France)
No. 2: Asador Etxebarri (Atxondo, Spain)
No. 1: Disfrutar (Barcelona, Spain)

To see the complete list of winners, visit theworlds50best.com.