Bay Area’s SingleThread Named to World’s 50 Best Restaurants List

Only one Bay Area fine-dining restaurant makes this year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants: SingleThread in Healdsburg.

The idyllic restaurant run by couple Katina and Kyle Connaughton in Wine Country took home 50th place. This is the second time they have won the international honour. The 2022 World’s 50 Best Restaurants, which annually rank high-end restaurants around the world, were announced at a ceremony in London on Monday.

Two prominent Bay Area restaurants that ranked in the top 50 last year, Atelier Crenn and Benu in San Francisco, did not make the cut this year. They did the bottom tier of the top 100 restaurants, Atelier Crenn at no. 71 and Benu at no. 97.

Only three American restaurants were included in this year’s top 50: SingleThread and Atomix and Le Bernadin in New York.

Geranium in Copenhagen has been named the best restaurant in the world. The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, like many industry awards organizations, have faces criticism in recent years for restaurant choices and an internal voting panel that lacks diversity, as well as not requiring voters to pay for meals. About 1,000 international “expert and foodie travellers” restaurants voted for this year’s list, according to an announcement.

Kyle Connaughton, owner-chef of SingleThread, center, works alongside employees in the kitchen on Sunday, March 7, 2021.

Stephen Lam/The Chronicle 2021

Host and actor Stanley Tucci described SingleThread as an “exquisite restaurant” that “blends Japanese influence with produce grown on the couple’s own farm”. It has become a destination for seasonal portable tasting menus as well as its adjoining upscale five-room inn. Katina Connaughton oversees the 24-acre farm, while Kyle Connaughton runs the kitchen.

“After a year marked by a pandemic that challenged the entire restaurant community and a fire in our own kitchen, this is an absolutely amazing time to celebrate,” they wrote on instagram In Monday.

The Connuaghtons have expanded their footprint this year with Little Saint, a huge Healdsburg resort with a casual meatless restaurant, cafe and farm stand.

Thomas Keller’s French Laundry in Yountville has earned a permanent spot in the organization’s “Best of the Best” hall of fame, made up of former No. 1 restaurants that no longer qualify for the list. (The purpose of this change, made in 2019, was to diversify the top spots.) The French Laundry won the top spot in 2003 and 2004.

The complete 50 best restaurants in the world listing for 2022 is below:

1. Geranium, Copenhagen

2. Central, Lima

3. Disfrutar, Barcelona

4. Diverxo, Madrid

5. Pujol, Mexico City

6. Asador Exebarri, Atxondo

7. A Casa do Porco, Sao Paulo

8. Lido 84, Gardone Riviera

9. Quintonil, Mexico City

10. Le Calandre, Rubano

11. Maido, Lima

12. Uliassi, Senigallia

13. Steirereck, Vienna

14. Don Julio, Buenos Aires

15. Reale, Sangro Castle

16. Elkano, Getaria

17. Nobelhart & Schmutzig, Berlin

18. Alchemist, Copenhagen

19. Piazza Duomo, Alba

20. Lair, Tokyo

21. Mugaritz, San Sebastian

22. September, Paris

23.La Jane, Antwerp

24. The President, Hong Kong

25. Frantzen, Stockholm

26. Restaurant Tim Raue, Berlin

27. Hof Van Cleve, Kruishoutem

28. Le Clarence, Paris

29. St. Hubertus, San Cassiano

30. Florilegium, Tokyo

31. Arpege, Paris

32. Mayta, Lima

33. Atomix, New York

34. Hisa Franko, Kabarid

35. The Clove Club, London

36. Odette, Singapore

37. Fyn, Cape Town

38. Jordnaer, Copenhagen

39. Sorn, Bangkok

40. Schloss Schauenstein, Furstenau

41. The Peak, Osaka

42. Quique Dacosta, Denia

43. Borago, Santiago

44. Le Bernardin, New York

45. Narisawa, Tokyo

46. ​​Belcanto, Lisbon

47. Oteque, Rio de Janeiro

48. Leo, Bogotá

49. Ikoyi, London

50. SingleThread, Healdsburg

Elena Kadvany (her) is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected]: @ekadvany

Comments are closed.