Dry Creek Kitchen

Dry Creek Kitchen Restaurant Review:

Dry Creek Kitchen helped guide Healdsburg’s maturation into a restaurant destination. While it’s just one outpost in chef Charlie Palmer’s nationwide collection, it has a special mission --- to celebrate Sonoma County’s culinary richness. Progressive American seasonal menus ebb and flow with what’s at the farmers market behind the restaurant and stay as lovingly local as possible. Potato-crusted king salmon is paired with ratatouille of summer squash, heirloom tomatoes and roasted eggplant. Other dishes include butternut squash-kale tortellini with chanterelle mushrooms, pancetta and roasted red pepper, drizzled in sage brown butter, and curry-spiced lamb sirloin served with lentil-sprout salad and tomato-mint relish. There’s a daily five-course tasting menu, too. If dining on a weeknight, take advantage of the reasonably-priced, three-course “neighbors menu,” that woos locals and lucky weekday tourists. The wine list includes 500-plus offerings with a generous nod to Sonoma County, including rare and large format groups. In summertime, the sidewalk patio becomes the “it” place to dine, although tall glass doors fronting the entire room offer a colorful plaza view year-round.