SingleThread Farm - Restaurant - Inn Awards

SingleThread Farm - Restaurant - Inn Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant and décor: SingleThread is the farm/restaurant/inn hybrid showcasing the prodigious cooking and farming talents of Kyle and Katina Connaughton, respectively, and elegantly filling the carefully crafted building tipping the corner of North and Center Streets. One sees the commitment to nature before entering; planters of local and drought resistant grasses and plants form a miniature Hi-Line-like border along the windows through which one sees a flurry of carefully orchestrated activity until the doors open at 5:30 p.m. sharp for dinner. Japanese styled interiors of shoji screen inspired walls and leather wrapped columns blend with the bustle of the open kitchen.

About the food: In the vestibule, you're greeted with a short pour of tea flavored with honey from the establishment’s farm and taken to a table where the reason for all the preemptive action becomes clear. A slab of wood tufted with mosses and greenery is festooned with an array of ten distinct amuses, ranging from local butter clam with sorrel and wasabi to spot prawns, sardines in a delicate marinade, pickled oyster in the shell, Wagyu slices and produce, in our case roasted beets. All this comes before the 11-course tasting menu ($330). To follow is a trio of small hot starters, the highlight of which is a mid-soft boiled heritage egg topped with Alba truffle served in the shell. There is a consistent, well-integrated Japanese influence in most dishes, such as the addition of seasoning (wasabi) or individual elements (daikon, tofu) and the use of serving pieces of custom and handmade design sourced from Japan as well as an array of cutlery, from polished chopsticks to spoons and forks of horn, mother of pearl, wood and metal, which vary by course. Tofu presents like a rich custard with a touch of miso and Nardello pepper; king crab meat is amended with heirloom pumpkin, yuba and makrut lime; black cod is finished with broth from the grilled bones of the fish and Saikyo miso. Duclair duck is a standout, arriving as a thick strip, with both a crispy stripe of skin and the subcutaneous fat still attached.

About the drinks and desserts: While wine pairings are exceptional throughout, the premium pairings flight provides a number of special offerings, from bottle-aged wines to gems that either have limited allocations or are no longer available. There are even ancient Madeira and esoteric dessert wines in some flights. A non-alcoholic pairing flight delivers creative choices, among them kombucha and a 15-ingredient vegetarian libation fashioned to look and pour like wine yet drink like a vegetable garden. Desserts maintain the Japanese spirit of lightly sweet, with a red wine poached quince atop Gewürztraminer tapioca that proves enticing, addictive and refreshing. Completing the meal is a selection of mignardises: lightly pickled butternut squash, miso-stuffed prune and a fragile chocolate egg. A distinguished collection of teas is on hand.

About the service: Throughout your stay, servers are attentive but unobtrusive, giving detailed and soft-spoken tours of each item and then disappearing, returning merely to clear the minutiae of clay pots, wooden plates, natural shells and other vessels your food rests in or upon.

About reservations: Ticketed reservations for the tasting menu must be purchased in advance. For the full experience, book one of the inn's five guest rooms which also allows access to the guest only breakfast.