Bistro Lagniappe
Restaurant · Healdsburg
330 Healdsburg Ave, Healdsburg, CA 95448
Highlights
French-inspired farmhouse cuisine featuring seasonal bounty
French-inspired farmhouse cuisine featuring seasonal bounty
"Chef Jacob Harth debuts his new bistro on Thursday, May 29, taking over the Molti Amici and Campo Fina space on Healdsburg Avenue and keeping the wood-fired oven that powered the previous restaurants. He is returning to the seafood cooking that first earned him praise in Portland — which will later translate into a new restaurant dubbed Winnie’s — while emphasizing careful use of local produce and meat in a bistro setting. Harth visited farms, ranches, and the harbor at Bodega Bay to form connections for the restaurant under his ethos of sustainability and organic products, and as he puts it, “It’s a produce-driven restaurant. It’s the best product that’s available right now, from our farmers, and also our ranchers and fishermen.” Dishes may look “pretty simple,” he admits, but have “a lot going on behind it”; for example, a starter called “Plate of early summer vegetables” could feature vegetables roasted in the wood-fired oven, marinated and chilled, pickled, raw, or even dried in the fireplace because, as Harth says, “There’s going to be a plethora of techniques used to showcase the best of the season.” One dish inspired by a New York restaurant and Rintaro chef Sylvan Mishima Brackett will replace artichokes with bamboo shoots for a barigole treatment, braising the shoots for a spring-into-summer plate, and a green salad will feature produce from Russian River Organics dressed with local olive oil, Meyer lemon, and tamari that Harth and his team will make themselves from white beans. For beef, Harth is working with Oak Ridge Angus and Knights Valley Wagyu, both smaller producers, which lets the menu offer different steak cuts at various price points — for instance, steak frites will come with an entry-level option Harth aims to offer at $30, a mid-level option, and a high-end version depending on what the ranches supply; “Part of working with these producers is that you need to be flexible enough to be able to change what cuts you work with, [to] be able to learn how to work with different cuts,” Harth says. He takes pride in his burger, eschewing the smash trend for a “beefy bistro burger” that is, he warns, “not dainty”: a 7-ounce patty ground from brisket, chuck, and beef cheeks from Oak Ridge Angus, served with a griddled onion, a 50-50 mix of local white cheddar and Comté from France, on a brioche bun made by the team. The bread program includes baking brioche loaves, burger buns, and flatbread from the wood oven. Seafood plans include fire-roasted oysters with smoked garlic butter and McFarland Springs trout from TwoXSea in San Francisco served with asparagus; other wood-oven items will include a cassoulet duck confit and a spring onion gratin. For desserts, the mille feuille will highlight passion fruit from Brokaw Ranch paired with creme diplomat and fermented honey; a chocolate and benne seed cookie will bake in the wood oven to pick up smokiness and be served with vanilla ice cream; and a cheese tartlet will showcase cheese made by Vellain Sonoma with a custard made with dry jack cheese piped into a tartlet crust, topped with rhubarb jam and rhubarb pieces poached in elderflower syrup, finished with more grated dry jack and elderflowers. Cocktails will skew “no frills,” toward classics like a Last Word, Boulevardiers, martinis, daiquiris, and more, while the wine list will be split between local and French producers; nonalcoholic options include house cordials and syrups for sparkling water, elderflower and lemon verbena kombuchas, and some nonalcoholic wines from local producers. In conversations about the restaurant, Harth emphasizes using local ingredients and catering more to residents than tourists and avoiding the trap of offering only one high-end steak that leaves many feeling priced out; “We’re trying to be really value-driven,” Harth says. “I think nowadays it’s hard to say that it’s going to be cheap, but what you get for what you pay is going to be impressive.” The restaurant debuts Thursday, May 29, and will be open 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday to Thursday, 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday; reservations are available via OpenTable." - Dianne de Guzman
"Celebrated Oregon chef Jacob Harth—who first earned attention for his 20-seat sustainable seafood tasting menu restaurant Erizo (which made Eater’s national Best New Restaurants list in 2019 and earned him Eater Young Gun recognition that same year), who starred in Eater’s Deep Dive video series, and who worked at one-Michelin-starred Oxalis and Michelin-listed Place des Fêtes—has opened a wood fire–driven California‑French bistro taking over the former Molti Amici/Campo Fina space at 333 Healdsburg Avenue; it debuts in late May 2025 while his sustainable‑seafood project Winnie’s continues its buildout. The team designed the concept for locals: "We’re trying to be aware of what it means to be a part of this community and be in Sonoma County," Harth says. "This restaurant really starts with our local community, and we’re making it an experience that’s for the locals." The menu is focused on local sourcing and straightforward preparations—"ingredient-driven, it’s high-quality product, [and] it’s minimalist preparation"—with nearly all ingredients coming from Sonoma County farms, ranches, and fishers. Harth emphasizes sourcing: "We’re exclusively sourcing from regenerative farms, [and cooking with] pasture-raised meats, grass-fed meats, line-caught fish from the Sonoma coast," Harth says. "So expect to see a lot of seafood that I’m kind of known for, but also everything else," he adds, name-checking a burger, steak frites, and roasted chicken as examples. The kitchen will reuse the wood-fired oven that anchored the previous pizza programs—Harth plans to use it to roast meats, fish, oysters, vegetables, cassoulets, and gratins—and an early menu lists mussels on the half shell straight from that oven dressed in sungold tomatoes and fig leaf; grilled trout in browned butter and summer squash; and clay pot rabbit with chanterelles and creme fraiche. The team has redecorated the space (bocce courts filled in to create more patio, now fortified with awnings to keep the area comfortable in 100-degree summers and rainy winters, plus new paint, fixtures, and furniture) to establish a distinct identity from the prior restaurants. The Molti Amici investor group remains involved as a limited partner and will not handle day-to-day operations; a high-profile February 2025 lawsuit in which co-owner Jason Cutrer accused Molti Amici founder Jonny Barr of fraud and embezzlement was dismissed, with Cutrer and Barr saying in a joint statement their issues are now "amicably resolved." - Dianne de Guzman
Karl Hucke
Henrik Gutt
Diana Henrioulle
Scott
Valerie Favrebonvin
Mari 3226
Ali Nassiri
becky carranza
Victor W.
Michel A.
Allie N.
Steve S.
Truk K.
Dominique C.
Robert G.
Kelly L.
mick j.
Stephen B.
Simona S.
Marguerite H.
Ravi B.
