A new Japanese restaurant has opened its doors on Lincoln Avenue in downtown Calistoga, and its chef-owner carries a resume that includes years at Masaharu Morimoto's flagship Napa restaurant and stints at two Michelin-starred San Francisco kitchens. Five Senses, which opened a few weeks ago at 1227 Lincoln Ave., serves modern Japanese fare, including scratch-made ramen, sushi, and bento boxes, from a space built from the ground up by chef Spencer Conaty, who is 35 years old.
Conaty worked alongside Masaharu Morimoto and spent over four years at Morimoto's Napa restaurant, eventually rising to become the No. 2 sushi chef there, according to The Napa Valley Register. He first heard that Morimoto was opening a sushi restaurant in Napa back in 2010, and that opportunity became a turning point in a career that had already taken him through Michelin-starred dining rooms. Morimoto Napa itself opened on Main Street in 2010 as the chef's flagship West Coast restaurant and was widely credited with helping anchor downtown Napa's riverfront culinary redevelopment, according to SFist.
From a Hard Childhood to Michelin Kitchens
Conaty, who was raised in Placerville, California, told the Register that cooking saved his life. He became legally emancipated at age 14, a milestone tied to the loss of both his parents to illness, which led him into a structured high school Regional Occupational Program for culinary arts, per Calistoga Currents. At that same age, he reportedly wrote down a goal of one day owning his own restaurant, making Five Senses roughly a 20-year milestone.
He went on to attend Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Sacramento and learned sushi preparation while working as a cook at Kobe Sushi and Fusion in Cameron Park, where he stayed for five years. From there his path included Michelin-starred San Francisco kitchens Saison, which holds three Michelin stars, and Atelier Crenn. He also trained under other Japanese chefs working in Northern California, and once made 6,000 pieces of nigiri for a Toyota event in Texas. Conaty has said ethnicity does not determine whether someone can be a sushi chef.
Winery Roots Before a Downtown Storefront
Before opening Five Senses, Conaty built his reputation as a winery chef, holding executive posts at Sequoia Grove Winery in St. Helena and Brian Arden in Calistoga. At Sequoia Grove, he created unconventional tasting bites such as a honey mustard pretzel crunch made with estate-grown dried mustard flowers and estate honey, according to Napa Valley Life Magazine — pairing programs that the outlet notes challenged traditional rules against serving aggressive flavors alongside Cabernet Sauvignon.
Five Senses did not appear out of nowhere. Before securing its permanent home, the business operated as a private dining company and ran local pop-up events, including a September 2025 harvest wine-pairing dinner at Picayune Cellars, located just blocks away on Lincoln Avenue, according to Visit Calistoga. Chef Ben Cereghini, who co-leads the Five Senses kitchen, previously served as chef de cuisine for Conaty's private dining business and has worked alongside him for roughly six years, including during Conaty's tenure at Sequoia Grove, per the same Calistoga Currents account.
A Scratch-Built Space With a 25-Foot Sushi Bar
The restaurant occupies Suites C and D at 1227 Lincoln Avenue, a space that previously housed an antique and estate liquidation store, according to WhatNow. Conaty built the restaurant from scratch, a buildout that included a custom-designed kitchen and a 25-foot sushi bar constructed with help from local trades. Five Senses opens daily at 4 PM and prepares everything in-house, from its ramen — with broth and noodles both made from scratch — to its hand-made gyoza.
The menu ranges from a $28 homemade ramen and $30 bento boxes with thinly sliced prime ribeye to a $23 teriyaki bowl featuring miso-roasted broccolini, carrot yuzu and ginger puree, and prime New York steak sourced from Flannery Beef, the San Rafael-based dry-aged meat purveyor known for sourcing Holstein dairy beef for top Michelin-starred Bay Area kitchens, according to The Bold Italic. Other dishes include a $30 fish and chips plate with local cod, Old Bay-seasoned fries, and miso-based tartar sauce, a Korean-style chicken bowl sous vide for six hours, and sashimi made with roughly 20 types of fish. The drink list spans wine, beer, and sake bottles ranging from $8 to $500.
Betting on Locals Over Tourists
Five Senses joins Sushi Mambo as one of only two dedicated Japanese restaurants in a town historically dominated by wine country bistros and American dining, the Register reports. Calistoga's lone Michelin star belongs to Auro at the Four Seasons Resort Napa Valley, which earned the distinction in 2023 and retained it through 2026 under Executive Chef Evan Neumann, according to Four Seasons.
Conaty deliberately priced small plates at around $10 and sushi rolls at around $12, an approach the Register frames as a bet on local business rather than tourism, since Napa Valley's visitor traffic dips seasonally. So far, Conaty says a large share of the restaurant's business has come from locals — a sign, at least in these early weeks, that the strategy is paying off. Rota, Conaty's future wife and a Calistoga native, rounds out the personal story behind a restaurant built as much on family ties as on culinary pedigree.
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