The small village of Healdsburg is located approximately an hour north of San Francisco in Sonoma County. It’s ideally nestled between three notable wine regions: Russian River, Dry Creek, and Alexander Valley. The enviable location makes it amenable to local agriculture and fresh produce. The hip new restaurant, Shed, which recently launched, gives new meaning to farm to fork with its locally sourced and sustainable fare. It’s part market, part café, and has evolved into a community gathering place that offers unique food pairings, quality provisions, a fermentation bar, tried and true kitchen tools,classes, and workshops.
The fermentation bar features wines, beers, kombuchas, natural sodas, and hard ciders that honor the craft. Chef Niki Ford and her staff offer a menu that changes daily with seasonal foods that are locally sourced. For breakfast, I chose Doug’s poached eggs served on thick levain toast with dried oregano and home farm balsamic vinegar. I was curious to try this version of eggs benedict (sans the ham) with balsamic – and was not disappointed. Their white tea was also steeped to perfection inside an individual glass teapot with rose petals. I also sampled the Persian Breakfast; sheep’s milk feta with walnuts, fig jam and a pile of herbs on crusty bread. Both were filling and a hearty start to a long day of wine-tasting.
My first thought on the décor and design of Shed was that it’s what Ikea wishes to be. Everything in the place had a purpose and a unique design. The building itself is a piece of art with clean lines and functional mobility. With home décor, housewares, plus farm and garden tools – one could practically live here. Since farming is a core principle of Shed, they offer a wide array of harvesting tools for gardeners, including knives, seeds, organic soil, trugs, and even beekeeping equipment.
