Here’s what to expect at SoNoMa inside the forthcoming Capella Kyoto.
For the last decade, husband-and-wife duo Kyle and Katina Connaughton have been bringing a bit of Japan to Northern California with their critically acclaimed, three-Michelin-starred SingleThread restaurant. In the heart of Healdsburg, the multi-course, multi-hour kaiseki-style menu showcases the best of the Bay Area’s bounty, with much of the produce procured from their own farm just a few minutes away. Come this spring, they’ll be flipping the script and bringing California to Kyoto with the opening of an intimate, 12-seat restaurant, lounge, and pastry shop in Japan.
Dubbed SoNoMa by SingleThread, the new concept will open on the ground floor of the forthcoming 89-room Capella hotel in Kyoto’s historic Miyagawa-cho district in early March. The name has a two-fold meaning: First, Healdsburg is literally located in Sonoma County, of course; and secondly, in Japanese so refers to “thought” or “idea” while ma refers to “pause” or “between,” and the concepts are connected by the possessive no. Stitched together the name could be interpreted as the “gap where imagination lives,” a creative space physically and metaphorically.
“At SingleThread we have so much inspiration from Japan — agriculture, hospitality, technique — we’ve applied that to Northern California, and now we have the opportunity to bring all this inspiration from hospitality, ingredients, techniques, and bring that back to Kyoto,” says chef Kyle Connaughton, who spent five years living, cooking, researching, and doing his apprenticeship in Japan. “These restaurants are a mirror to each other.”
Courtesy of J Public Relations Chef Kyle in SoNoMa |
Courtesy of J Public Relations Kyle and Katina meeting with a farmer |
Photo by John Troxell |
Courtesy of J Public Relations Chef Kyle and Katina meeting with an artisan partner |
To help run the SoNoMa kitchen, the Connaughtons have tapped the talented chef Keita Tominaga, who spent the last year cooking at SingleThread. The transition marks a return to Japan for the Sonoma born-and-raised chef, who spent time cooking at the modern Japanese Tenoshima in Tokyo and whose family hails from the Land of the Rising Sun…