Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen opened its doors mid-October 2001, about a month after 9/11. Think of that. The world felt so unmoored and yet, big things were right around the corner in northern Sonoma County.

At the time, The San Francisco Chronicle described it as, “renowned chef Charlie Palmer has completed his westward expansion with Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg.”

A native of tiny Smyrna, New York – where there were more cows than people – and a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, Palmer was at the time best known for his Aureole restaurant in New York, opened in 1988 (the first restaurant in NYC to carry Williams Selyem), along with a second location in Las Vegas, opened in 1999.

Dry Creek Kitchen’s opening chef was Mark Purdy, who had worked at Aureole in New York and was tapped by Palmer to be executive sous chef at Aureole in Vegas before coming to Sonoma County. He was named one of the SF Chronicle’s Rising Stars in 2002.

“The menu features Sonoma products almost exclusively,” the SF Chronicle wrote. For the time, this wasn’t necessarily common for a Sonoma County restaurant. But what was truly revolutionary was Dry Creek Kitchen’s commitment to serving only Sonoma County wines, a true showcase for the region’s diversity of producers, appellations, and varieties.

This was unheard of. But over the last 25 years Palmer and his team have remained steadfast, building its wine list to now more than 600 selections, the rarest and most expansive collection of Sonoma County wines in the world.

This includes half bottles and large-format, including a recently unveiled Iron Horse Dry Creek Kitchen 25th Anniversary Cuvée Blanc de Noirs from Green Valley. There are also plenty of rarities, like a 2015 Chasseur Sanctuary Chardonnay, 2021 Solo Nostro by Ted Seghesio Raga Grenache Blanc from Dry Creek Valley, or 2012 Soliste Forest Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir.

Palmer recognized that in setting down roots in Healdsburg, he was surrounded by farmers, ranchers, winemakers, and other food artisans, from cheesemakers to bakers. He has said the idea was “to create a restaurant that belonged to this place… with that connection to Sonoma County at the heart of everything we do.”

Through that vision, Dry Creek Kitchen became Sonoma County’s first Michelin-star restaurant. It has since been joined in town by SingleThread, Troubadour, Valette, and Barndiva, as well as Cyrus and Diavola in nearby Geyserville.

Along the way, Palmer launched a wine brand, Charlie Clay Pinot Noir, with Clay Mauritson, with whom he also hosts the annual fundraiser, Project Zin. He also teamed up with Wine Spectator in 2020 to produce a video series called “American Artisan,” which featured the chef with such folks as Bruce Aidells, Tom Rochioli, Kathleen Inman, and David Duncan of Silver Oak.

In 2023, Dry Creek Kitchen unveiled a renovated dining room with the wine cellar relocated as a glass-encased showpiece next to the kitchen. An eight-person Terroir Table was added. Shane McAnelly was named executive chef that same year after stints at Brass Rabbit and Chalkboard down the street, as well as a time leading Bricoleur Vineyards’ culinary program.

In 2025, Palmer and hotelier Charlie Hunsberger opened Appellation, a culinary-first hotel north of downtown Healdsburg. Its signature restaurant is Folia Bar & Kitchen.

Earlier this year, Palmer published “Wineland: Celebrating the Heart of Sonoma,” working with local writer Matt Villano. In the intro, Palmer acknowledges Sonoma County’s long agricultural history, saying, “Wineland is an ideal, a philosophy, a way of life. People in Wineland make and grow and build and create. They ideate. They innovate. Here, hard work is second nature.

He also recalls how he and wife Lisa began coming to Sonoma County in the early 1990s, and how “the authenticity spoke to us… there were few places in the world that have a bounty as good as Sonoma County’s.”

The book includes profiles of and recipes from local farmers, chefs, vintners, and such, with Vanessa Wong of Peay Vineyards talking about the “winemaker’s dance,” and Adam and Andrew Mariani of Scribe Winery “embracing less-is-more.”

Beyond Dry Creek Kitchen’s focus on Sonoma County wines and frequent spotlights on wineries through winemaker dinners, Palmer’s properties also host Pigs & Pinot, an annual wine-and-food weekend that gathers chefs and winemakers from around the world to enjoy Pinot Noir and all that goes with it. Proceeds benefit the Palmer Family Education Foundation. The next event is planned for March 19-20, 2027.