![\"Le](\"https:\/\/www.sonomamag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/troubadour-emma-k-morris.jpeg\")
The concept is simple: a five-course dinner for $125 per person, preordered through exploretock.com. On Tuesday through Saturday, McGaughey and his small team cook a dinner of seasonal, locally sourced dishes such as duck a l\u2019orange with crisp salty skin, Wagyu steak tartare with a cured egg yolk, petite escargot served in a Limoges tea cup with creamy veloute and roasted garlic and a thick tomato slice with tart sauce vierge and caviar.<\/p>\n
Much of the produce comes from the Single Thread farm in Alexander Valley. It\u2019s stunning stuff, especially in a boulangerie with just 20 seats, all stools pulled up to counter seating. Much of the cooking is done in simmer baths and low-temperature ovens, to take advantage of every bit of space in the tiny kitchen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have a lot of refrigeration either, so it forces us to be creative and constantly change,\u201d McGaughey said.<\/p>\n
The restaurant is refreshingly single-minded in its vision of elevated French bistro cuisine. The menu isn\u2019t Cal-Ital or Mediterranean-French or another fusion. It\u2019s just French, with all the unpronounceable but delicious sauces that have been perfected over centuries.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always liked cooking French food. It\u2019s always been in my repertoire. These are the techniques you learn (in school). Even Single Thread is very much of the French tradition,\u201d McGaughey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also love the mix of grand French cuisine, the copper pots stuff. But, on the flip side, I like bistro favorites and want to elevate those,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The four best seats in the house are at the counter facing Healdsburg Avenue. There, you can watch people go by (and be watched, eating) in the evening hours. More private seats at the bakery counter are better for intimate dining, and groups of up to four can sit at a communal table. The vibe is a mix of irreverence (don\u2019t miss the Andre the Giant homage in the bathroom) and old-school French, with antique mix-and-match Limoges plates and a clubby San Francisco cafe atmosphere.<\/p>\n McGaughey has teamed up with Single Thread alum Tiffany Spurgeon as the restaurant’s host. Spurgeon, McGaughey and his wife are all part of an ever-growing cohort of Single Thread alums creating new food businesses with the support of their former bosses.<\/p>\n \u201cWe weren\u2019t really sure what this was going to be, but it\u2019s turned into a secret date-night restaurant,\u201d McGaughey said. \u201cWe\u2019re untraditional but fun, and we\u2019re not going to take up your whole evening.\u201d<\/p>\n Troubadour Bread and Bistro dinner service runs Wednesday through Sunday by reservation<\/a>. The shop is located at 381 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. Visit troubadourhbg.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Single Thread restaurant alum cooks up French-inspired dishes with produce from the Single Thread farm. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":99236,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2288,5,749],"tags":[3532,1978,24948],"layout":[5591],"class_list":["post-99228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biteclub","category-things-to-do","category-whats-new-sonoma-county","tag-healdsburg-restaurant","tag-sonoma-restaurants","tag-where-to-eat-in-healdsburg"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Sandwich](\"https:\/\/www.sonomamag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/vmijToE1mSHUQfiEdbVQzgk9kRk-scaled.jpg\")