Valette

Valette, Healdsburg: The Verdict

If you have been to Valette before and are wondering whether a return visit still holds up, the short answer is yes — and the reasons have quietly shifted. Chef Derek Mattern now leads the kitchen day-to-day, and while the Dustin Valette ownership imprint remains, the cooking has continued to evolve under Mattern's direction. Valette earned a Michelin Plate in 2024 and climbed to #576 on Opinionated About Dining's Casual North America list in 2025 (up from #593 in 2024), which signals genuine upward momentum rather than a venue coasting on early reputation. For a food and wine traveller working through Healdsburg's dining options, that trajectory matters.

Valette operates dinner only, every night of the week from 5 to 9:30 pm. There is no lunch service, which means the editorial angle of lunch-versus-dinner comparison resolves simply: this is a dinner-only destination. That narrows your planning decision but also focuses it. If you are building a Healdsburg day around winery visits and afternoon tastings, you have time to spend before you need to be here — see our full Healdsburg wineries guide for what to pair with your day.

What You Are Booking

The room occupies the former Zin space on Center Street in downtown Healdsburg, and the building carries family history: owner Dustin Valette's grandfather owned the structure in the 1940s. That context is interesting, but what matters for your booking decision is what the space actually feels like to sit in. Dandelion-style light fixtures, concrete walls, and horseshoe-shaped banquettes give the room a contemporary warmth without tipping into the overdesigned territory that some Healdsburg spots fall into. It is comfortable without being fussy.

The cooking is modern American with deliberate French technique. Documented dishes include scallops under squid ink puff pastry with caviar-flecked champagne beurre blanc served tableside, and Peking-spiced duck breast on forbidden rice with tamarind sauce. Chocolate mousse with a salted caramel centre closes the savory-to-sweet arc. These are not minimalist plates , there is layering and ambition here that puts Valette closer to special-occasion territory than a casual mid-week dinner stop, even though the price range sits at $$$, with cuisine pricing averaging $40–$65 for a typical two-course meal before drinks. That is a strong value proposition for the level of technique on the plate.

The Wine Program

Wine Director Harry Bryan manages a list of 155 selections with a 1,700-bottle inventory , a depth that goes well beyond what most $$$-range restaurants carry. California pricing is marked $$ on the OAD scale, meaning the list spans accessible bottles to serious options without being stacked entirely at the high end. Corkage is $25 if you want to bring something from a morning winery visit , a sensible policy for a Healdsburg restaurant surrounded by producers. For the wine-focused traveller, this is a list worth spending time with before you order rather than defaulting to a recommendation. Browse our Healdsburg wineries guide if you want to source a bottle beforehand.

Booking and Logistics

Google reviews sit at 4.7 across 677 ratings, which is a high score with enough volume to be meaningful rather than a small-sample outlier. Booking difficulty is moderate , not the weeks-in-advance sprint required for Single Thread Farm, but not a walk-in-friendly room either. Plan at least one to two weeks ahead for a weekend table, less for a mid-week slot. The restaurant is open seven nights a week, so flexibility on day helps.

No public phone number or website is listed in the current data, so use a third-party reservation platform directly. Dress code and group policies are not formally documented, but the room's banquette layout suggests it handles groups of four to six without difficulty.

How Valette Compares to Healdsburg's Other Options

For a fuller picture of what is available across the city, see our full Healdsburg restaurants guide. Locally, Valette sits in the middle of the market on price and above it on ambition. Single Thread Farm is the obvious reference point for splurge dining in Healdsburg , a multi-course progressive Japanese experience at $$$$ that requires advance planning and a different mindset entirely. If you want a special occasion at $$$ with strong technique and a proper wine list, Valette makes more sense than Single Thread for a first Healdsburg dinner. Barndiva occupies similar price and genre territory, with more emphasis on garden-to-table sourcing and a different room feel. Dry Creek Kitchen is another $$$-range American option worth comparing for groups or celebratory bookings. If you want something lower-commitment, Bravas Bar de Tapas offers a more casual, shareable format at a lower price point.

In the wider California context, Valette's approach to Californian-French technique shares DNA with what places like State Bird Provisions and The Progress do in San Francisco , California produce, technical ambition, and an accessible-to-serious wine program , but at a price point and booking difficulty that is considerably easier to access. If you have done Lazy Bear in San Francisco and want something in that register but with a Sonoma terroir focus and without the ticketing-system complexity, Valette fits.

Practical Snapshot

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