42 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {due west} edly taking care of guests—and a reflection of Kyle’s many years in Japan, where he studied and cooked in restaurants. SingleThread’s intimate connection to the land, both through its nearby farm and its partnerships with local growers and artisans, is responsible for its ever-changing menu. The day’s harvest informs everything on your table, including the flower arrangements. Here, you’ll never eat exactly the same meal twice. We’ve driven up on an unusually warm spring day in Sonoma County, strolling around downtown Healdsburg before arriving, hot and tired, at our wonderfully airy room at the Inn. On the kitchenette counter, a flower-filled bowl containing a welcome snack of onigiri rice balls thwarts my resolution to save room for dinner. Exploring the suite, we discover both a coffee maker and a Cuzen Matcha machine for making freshly ground green tea. A deep soaking tub in the enormous bathroom beckons. Opposite the king-sized bed, a large flat-screen TV emits soothing, spa-like music while a documentary about SingleThread plays on a loop. Chef Kyle, when he drops in later to see how dinner is going, jokes that they need to update the film because his hair’s gotten a lot whiter since it was made. We could have chosen to eat on the sunny rooftop or in the cozy common room, but staying put in our well-appointed suite was irresistible. I had half-expected something like room service, where the food is dropped off, but that was far from the case. The attentive service during the thoughtfully paced meal is akin to having a private dinner in a top-flight restaurant. While the in-room donabe dining was envisioned from the start, SingleThread was open for about a year before launching it. “It’s one of my favorite things we do,” Akeel confides, calling it the perfect way to end a long day PHOTOGRAPHY: ANNIE BARNETT
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