Cosmico
A Healdsburg food and wine guide, from the cabin above Mill Creek
This is the list we send friends. It is not a survey of Sonoma County — it is the places we actually go when we are up at the cabin, written down so you do not have to start from scratch.
Healdsburg is small enough that most of a weekend can happen within a few blocks of the plaza, and rural enough that a twenty-minute drive changes the food entirely. Both are worth doing.
How we do it
Chris and Anne's approach to eating and drinking here
We tend to cook at the cabin more than we expect to. The kitchen opens onto the deck, there is a grill, and the drive back up the canyon after a long dinner is dark and narrow. So the pattern that works for us is one real dinner out, one long lunch, and the rest assembled from the market.
One real dinner out, one long lunch, and the rest from the market.
For wine, we skip the large estates and go to the small producers whose work we already drink. Most of them pour by appointment, in a working space rather than a hospitality building, and the visit is better for it. Book ahead — usually a week or more on a weekend.
Everything below is simply what we like. It is a personal recommendation, not an endorsement or an arrangement of any kind, and none of these places know we are writing about them.
In town
Healdsburg, grouped by the kind of day you are having
Almost everything here is walkable from the plaza, which is the argument for leaving the car parked once you are down the hill.
Morning coffee and bakery
- Flying Goat Coffee — Two Healdsburg cafés; our default first stop.
- Plank Coffee — Healdsburg location; easy, unfussy morning coffee.
- Quail & Condor — Bakery at 44 Mill Street, Healdsburg. Their own site currently lists daily 7am–3pm.
- Troubadour Bread & Bistro — Bread and pastry by day; the Le Dîner evening service is a separate seating.
Relaxed lunch
- Little Saint — Entirely plant-based, with a café, market and bar under one roof.
- Bravas — Spanish small plates in a bungalow with a back patio.
- Bollywood Kitchen — Indian, quick, and a relief after several days of wine-country menus.
- Agave — Mexican, downtown, dependable.
Dinner
- Lo & Behold — Bar and dining room; the one we most often end up at.
- Barndiva / Studio Barndiva — Garden dining with the gallery next door.
- Troubadour — Le Dîner — The bakery's evening service; a small, set-feeling dinner.
Special occasion
- SingleThread — Tasting menu with its own farm. Book far ahead.
- The Madrona — Dining at the hillside hotel; good for a long, unhurried evening.
Dessert
- Noble Folk Ice Cream & Pie Bar — Ice cream and pie by the plaza; the standard end to a walk after dinner.
Worth the drive
Nearby tables in Geyserville, Forestville, Sebastopol and Windsor
Each of these is a short drive from Healdsburg and each is a different evening. We usually pick one per stay and build the day around it.
Geyserville
- Diavola Pizzeria & Salumeria — Open daily. Pizza and house salumi on the main street.
- Geyserville Gun Club Bar & Lounge — Open seven days from 5pm. 21 and over only — no one under 21, at any hour.
- Catelli's — Open Wednesday through Sunday. Long-running family Italian.
Forestville
- Sonoma Pizza Co. — Open daily; the easiest stop on a Russian River day.
Sebastopol
- Ramen Gaijin — Ramen and izakaya plates; a good reason to head south.
Windsor
- PizzaLeah — Open Tuesday through Sunday. Worth the detour on the way back from the airport.
Small production
The wineries we actually visit
These are small producers, and most pour by appointment only — sometimes in a downtown tasting room, sometimes in a working winery space. Book before you arrive, and confirm the address when you do, since several share facilities and move.
Downtown Healdsburg and around town
Dry Creek Valley
- Unti Vineyards — Estate on Dry Creek Road; Mediterranean varieties.
- BloodRoot Wines — Small production; check where they are pouring when you book.
Forestville
- Arnot-Roberts — Appointment only, and worth arranging in advance.
For the cabin
Provisioning before you come up the hill
The cabin cooks well, and the grill does most of the work. We stop on the way in rather than driving back down for one thing.
Groceries and market
- Big John's Market — The full shop; the one stop that covers a whole weekend.
- Shelton's Natural Foods Market — Smaller, downtown, good for produce and pantry gaps.
- Oliver's Market — Larger regional grocer, south of town.
Meat and Saturday morning
- Journeyman Meat Co. — Butcher and salumi downtown; the reason the grill gets used.
- Healdsburg Farmers' Market — Saturday morning market — check the current season, day and location on their site before you plan around it.
A shape for it
A three-day food and wine weekend
Friday. Land, stop at Big John's and Journeyman on the way through town, and get up to the cabin before dark. Grill, open something you brought, and let the creek be the evening. If you would rather not cook on arrival, Diavola in Geyserville is the easy version.
Saturday. Coffee at Flying Goat, then the farmers' market if it is running. Two winery appointments — one downtown, one out in Dry Creek — with a long lunch at Bravas or Little Saint between them. Back up the hill for the plunge pool, then down again for dinner at Lo & Behold, and pie at Noble Folk on the walk back to the car.
Sunday. Pastry at Quail & Condor or Troubadour, one last appointment if anyone still wants wine, and lunch somewhere unhurried before the drive. If you have the evening, this is the night for The Madrona or, booked months ago, SingleThread.
Practical
What to sort out before you travel
None of this is complicated, but wine country runs on reservations more than visitors expect, and a weekend can be lost to closed doors.
The cabin this list is written from
Cosmico is a secluded cabin in a redwood grove above Mill Creek, sleeping four across the main cabin and the Bure, seven minutes from Healdsburg and entirely apart from it.