$398 dinner at Addison likely to sell out fast because demand is so high - Del Mar Times

For the first time since fall 2019, San Diego’s only Michelin-starred restaurant, Addison, has announced plans for a major dinner event: a pair of Relais & Châteaux collaboration dinners with Michelin three-star restaurant SingleThread.

The eight-course dinners on July 16 and 17 will feature a mix of dishes prepared by Addison’s chef/director William Bradley and Kyle and Katina Connaughton, the husband-and-wife team behind the SingleThread inn, farm and restaurant in Healdsburg. These dinners mark the first time that the Sonoma County couple have cooked in San Diego. Both Addison and SingleThread are members of the Paris-based Relais & Châteaux organization, which honors top luxury hotels and restaurants worldwide.

Kyle Connaughton, chef at Michelin three-star restaurant SingleThread in Healdsburg. He will be cooking collaboration meal sat Addison July 16 and 17.

(Eric Wolfinger)

If past collaboration dinners at Addison are any indication, the $398 tickets will sell out quickly. Bradley said interest is so high that he added a second night to accommodate demand. Since Addison reopened in February after the winter COVID surge, Bradley said business has been strong. Many of his recent Addison diners have come in just to celebrate being fully vaccinated.

“We’ve weathered the storm, and we’re now busier than we’ve ever been,” Bradley said of the nearly-15-year-old restaurant. “Our reservations are now booked up a month out, which is such a great show of our local support.”

This year, Addison introduced a new menu evolution, moving from contemporary French cuisine to California gastronomy, which replaced some of the heavy French sauces and preparations with lighter, brighter, more acid-forward dishes that spotlight the state’s produce and proteins. As a result of his new focus on California ingredients, Bradley said it seemed the perfect time to introduce SingleThread to San Diego diners. He decribes his own experience eating the farm-focused food at SingleThread as “one of the best meals I’ve ever had.”

A dish served on a leaf and moss at SingleThread, a Michelin three-star restaurant in Healdsburg, California.

(John Troxell )

“I like to look at the entire state as a restaurant destination,” Bradley said. “I’ve become good friends with Kyle over the years, and we’ve cooked together in the past. His approach is world-class — in terms of understanding the rhythm of the seasons and being creative in the sense of having his own voice. He and his wife are just great people. They’re inspiring, professional and very gracious and humble.”

SingleThread is named for its end-to-end hospitality ethos. Chef Kyle Connaughton prepares 11-course tasting menus made with items grown on the 5-acre farm run by his wife, Katina. The restaurant is located on the ground floor of their luxury inn. Kyle’s menu has a Japanese influence, inspired by the years he spent working in Japan for chef Michel Bras. SingleThread opened in fall 2016. In 2017, the first year the Michelin Guide issued an all-California book, SingleThread earned two stars. In 2018, it picked up another.

Kyle Connaughton said in an email that he was excited to be collaborating with Bradley at Addison because they’ve been talking about the project since before the pandemic.

“We, like all restaurants were deeply impacted by the long closure, however we were also very fortunate to have some creative opportunities,” he said. “We ran a really fun takeaway program for several months, prepared 1,000 donation meals a week for Sonoma Family Meal, started an online wine store, moved the SingleThread dining experience outdoors at Kistler Vineyards for four months, turned our rooftop gardens into a wine bar and built an outdoor Japanese forest themed dining space at SingleThread called Usu-Zan, which was an homage to our years living in Hokkaido.

The menu for the collaboration dinners has not been announced. Bradley said it will showcase summer produce, like white corn from Chino Farms, heirloom tomatoes and stone fruits and black truffles from Australia. Connaughton said he and his wife are studying SingleThread farm’s growing schedule to determine the dishes they’ll serve.

“We are working on our menu now and waiting to see what items from the farm will be at their peak readiness,” he said. “It’s the perfect time of year when we have so much bounty to choose from.”

The dinners are $398 per person with optional wine pairings created by Addison wine director Victoria O’Bryan. Reservations for the dinner can be made at opentable.com/addison-restaurant.

—Pam Kragen is a reporter for The San Diego Union-Tribune

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$398 dinner at Addison likely to sell out fast because demand is so high - Del Mar Times
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