Healdsburg Chef Lets The Harvest Write Menu

HEALDSBURG, CA — Chef Mateo Granados has taken his cooking out of the traditional restaurant kitchen and into Healdsburg’s gardens, farms, and winery spaces, where the day’s harvest helps determine what he serves.

His kitchen has no walls. Instead, he cooks beneath trees, tarps, and tents, surrounded by orchards and gardens, and turns ingredients from his own garden and farm into an ever-changing lineup of dishes.

This summer, Granados has brought that open-air approach to Dry Creek Peach Farm and 52 Front St., home now to Thumbprint Cellars.

On July 26, he hosted a dinner at Dry Creek Peach Farm, bringing his cooking directly into the orchards.

In August, he will be back at Front Street, where he will prepare specials under a tent.

This time last year, a handwritten “Tacos Today” sign at the sidewalk entrance offered one of the few clues that Granados was cooking nearby.

Since then, he has opened a small farm stand. Some of the same ingredients that make their way onto his plates will also be available for customers to buy there, beside his open-air kitchen.

The chef, whose career includes work in some of the country’s acclaimed, Michelin-starred kitchens, now lets the season and the harvest guide his cooking.

Depending on what is available, his specials can range from pork belly and filet mignon to Goa-inspired dishes and seasonal vegetarian fare.

Diners should not expect a fixed menu. Granados changes the lineup according to what is growing, what he has harvested, and what is available that day.

For Granados, the changing harvest does more than supply the kitchen. It writes the menu.

An open air dinner prepared by Mateo Granados on July 26, 2026 at the Dry Creek Peach Farm.

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