Healdsburg punches well above its size for food. The combination of Sonoma County's agricultural wealth — excellent produce, local lamb, Dungeness crab, farm eggs — and a clientele that arrives having already spent money on wine keeps standards high. The restaurants around the central plaza are genuinely good, and a few are exceptional.
Barndiva is the most talked-about restaurant in town, with a farm-to-table menu that takes seasonality seriously and a garden setting unlike anything else in Sonoma wine country. Scopa is the go-to for Italian — small, informal, and consistently excellent. Valette brings French-Californian technique to local ingredients in a more formal dining room. Shed handles breakfast and lunch with an airy food-hall approach — good coffee, seasonal provisions, and a fermentation counter that is unlike anything in the area.
For a simpler lunch, the Healdsburg Bar & Grill on the plaza does solid sandwiches, burgers, and local wines by the glass.
Groceries and picnic supplies: the Healdsburg Farmers Market runs on Saturdays on the plaza from May through November, and year-round inside in winter.