April 21, 2022 By Jess Lander San Francisco Chronicle
Little Saint opens Friday in Healdsburg with a half dozen food, beverage and entertainment concepts under one roof. The biggest draw at the 10,000-square-foot complex is a casual meatless restaurant from the owners of the three-Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant SingleThread.
Expect creative dishes highlighting ingredients sourced from SingleThread’s farm, including a smoky split pea porridge ($26), made with fermented green garlic and served with toasted almonds and a garlic salsa verde, and brightly-colored carrots topped with shaved red cabbage, crunchy rice and XO sauce ($16).
Fans of the building’s previous farm-driven incarnation, Shed, which closed at the end of 2018, will find plenty of similarities with Little Saint. From the outside, the towering prefab building looks unchanged. Inside, the light-filled layout is undeniably familiar, including the massive open kitchen at the center, the coffee station at the entrance, the bar and restaurant in the back, and the produce shop near the front. Most notably, the SingleThread owners Kyle and Katina Connaughton hired former Shed chef and Bay Area native Bryan Oliver to reclaim his post in the kitchen.
“There was so much we loved about Shed, that it really wasn’t a matter of something broken that needed fixing,” said Kyle Connaughton.
Here’s what to know about this multifaceted space:
The biggest change is a full commitment to a plant-based menu
While the shift from a multi-course tasting menu to casual, family-style service is significant for the Connaughtons, the move to meatless cuisine feels seamless and natural — especially after a recent farm expansion that enabled them to grow exponentially more produce across 30 acres.
“We’re excited about the ability to have an outlet for that much more produce, something that both local people and visitors can come to more frequently, easily and less expensively,” said Kyle Connaughton.
The restaurant will serve dinner — and soon lunch and weekend brunch — at 22 tables, including some outside on a terrace. There’s also 16 seats at a bar.
Oliver built the concise menu around small, shareable plates, like flatbread ($5) with a trio of dips and spreads ($14): red lentil hummus; a smooth, Yucatán-style pumpkin seed dip with chile oil; and an onion dip-esque cultured cashew spread.
Raw vegetable dishes such as the Saintly Greens salad ($12), a simple mix of fresh greens, herbs and flowers with a red wine vinaigrette, are meant to showcase the SingleThread and Little Saint farms.
What customers won’t find on the menu is Impossible Burger. Little Saint isn’t interested in offering high-tech meat alternatives.
“We’re in Sonoma County and we’re trying to show off what is here,” said Oliver. “It’s really about the vegetables.”
The closest mimic of a meat dish is stuffed collard greens ($24) baked in a wood oven, which Oliver said is a plant-based play on a spicy merguez sausage. He created similar flavors utilizing brown rice, quinoa, dehydrated beets and harissa spices.
The sustainability-focused bar program doesn’t skimp on non-alcoholic options
The kitchen and bar at Little Saint are connected. The two teams work closely together to minimize waste, often by finding creative uses for byproducts. “Things that are traditionally thought of as waste or leftovers or don’t quite make it on the plate, those ingredients we can then still repurpose into something that’s really delicious in a liquid form,” said Matt Siegel, the executive bar director at both Little Saint and SingleThread.
Poaching liquid that kitchen staff would typically toss after cooking beets is reused in the Beet the Heat non-alcoholic cocktail, for example, adding a purple color and smoky beet flavors to cinnamon, plum vinegar and sparkling water. On the flipside, the bar uses serrano peppers two ways — first, to ferment and then use the brine in the What Grows Together spicy margarita and second to infuse tequila — before sending them on to the kitchen for a third life.
The kitchen’s commitment to plant-based recipes extends to the beverages as well, and Siegel said at least 80% of the bar’s spirits come from sustainably-minded sources. Six non-alcoholic beverages, meanwhile, incorporate medicinal plants and herbs like reishi and juniper.
A small cafe greets people at the entrance
Little Saint partnered with San Francisco’s Saint Frank Coffee to develop an exclusive roast sourced from a small Central American farm. It’s designed to integrate well with the restaurant’s plant-based milks, including a housemade macadamia-almond milk.
The cafe also serves pastries made by SingleThread’s pastry chef Baruch Ellsworth, like flowered brioche with strawberry and chocolate babka ($4.50 each). It opens at an unusually early 6 a.m. in order to serve the town’s large population of agricultural workers, according to Little Saint general manager Akeel Shah.
Retail and entertainment round out the offerings
A farm and flower stand will sell fresh produce and floral arrangements from the SingleThread and Little Saint farms. Next to the kitchen, a wall of grab-and-go offerings like chilled wine are available.
There’s also a wine shop where customers can take bottles to-go, enjoy wine by the glass or order a flight. Twice a month on Tuesdays, guest winemakers will come and pour.
Wine director Alexandria Sarovich, who worked as a sommelier for the past three years at SingleThread, wanted the bottle selection to go far beyond Sonoma County – a decision fueled by Healdsburg’s many wine industry employees who are often seeking something different. In addition to a $25-and-under section, wines are categorized by regions in places like France, Italy, Germany, the Balkans and Australia.
Like the bar’s spirits, all of the wines are sustainably sourced — Sarovich said she “checked every single producer” to ensure they’re not using pesticides, herbicides or Roundup in their farming.
The dining room includes a small stage where Bay Area musicians will perform on Thursdays, and in June, a second bar and lounge will open on the second floor. Little Saint doubles as an arts and events space for renowned designer Ken Fulk’s nonprofit Saint Joseph Arts Foundation, and the lounge will host musical performances, cookbook signings and documentary screenings.
Colorful, eclectic design courtesy of Ken Fulk
Like Shed, Little Saint’s interior is mostly bright, white and industrial, but Fulk added warmth and pops of color to make it feel considerably less sterile. Each concept within the space is designed to feel like its own entity; the coffee bar features rich-toned tiling while the restaurant’s grand horseshoe bar looks like a contemporary Western saloon with brass-trimmed, plush stools the shade of pine.
Behind the kitchen, a large black-and-white mural pays homage to Sonoma County, depicting a valley oak tree, rolling hills and flora and fauna.
Little Saint. Opening Friday. 6 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday, 6 a.m.-11 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. 25 North St., Healdsburg. littlesainthealdsburg.com