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 2021Host 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
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