French cuisine inspired by rural bistros delivers a lot of excitement and unexpected pleasures to the local dining scene.
In New Orleans, lagniappe (pronounced lan-yap) means “a little something extra“ — a small gift of appreciation often given with a purchase.
It’s also the perfect name for the new Bistro Lagniappe in downtown Healdsburg. In a town already brimming with great food, chef-owner Jacob Harth’s inspired California-French cuisine is indeed a special treat. His wood-fired cooking, inspired by France’s rural bistros, brings a refreshing, hearty approach to the local dining landscape.
Take Harth’s pâté ($15), made from a hog he purchased from local Future Farmers of America (FFA) students. The rustic, country-style dish features ground pork and pieces of sweetbread sourced from a family-owned Cloverdale cattle ranch. In an unexpected twist, he grills the pâté slabs for a smoky, savory finish — or “a pâté that’s like a nice backyard barbecue hot dog,” Harth quipped. Scoop it up with tangy green apricot to help balance the richness of the dish.
Other parts of the same hog starred in several dishes, including curls of ham carved from the legs and dotted with spicy mustard sabayon ($19), and hearty pork chops served with spinach and brassicas ($35).
From farm to table
Raised on a farm in Southern Oregon, Harth learned to hunt, forage and fish from an early age. His mother taught him to cook; his father how to barbecue oysters. His grandmother, who owned a restaurant, gave him his first job in the kitchen. After honing his skills in Portland, he moved to San Francisco to work as a chef at the three-Michelin-starred Saison.
In 2019, Harth returned to Portland to open his own restaurant, Erizo (Spanish for “sea urchin”), a fine-dining restaurant focused on “radical sustainability.” Though it earned acclaim for its elegant seafood platters featuring bycatch, Erizo — like many other restaurants — closed in mid-2020 due to the pandemic.
Harth then went on to helm the kitchen at Brooklyn’s Place des Fêtes, a restaurant and wine bar from the team behind the Michelin-starred Oxalis. Next, he opened a restaurant in Mexico City before family ties drew him to the Bay Area. He made his first appearance on the local restaurant scene with a summer 2024 pop-up at Healdsburg’s Maison Wine Bar.
It’s about the process
There’s so much to enjoy on the Lagniappe menu, it can be hard to choose. And there’s no point counting calories here — just dive in and savor the experience of eating well.
Daily selections depend on the day’s catch and what’s in the kitchen larder. That might be hook-and-line rockfish from Bodega Bay that Harth uses for his crudo. If that’s not available, he might opt for silky halibut, with beautifully salty bottarga (cured fish roe), juicy Sungold tomatoes and a kick of lime leaf ($20).
“The fish needs to be ‘ikijime,’” Harth explained, referring to the Japanese method of dispatching fish quickly (with a spike) to reduce lactic acid (produced from stress) and preserve quality.
During a recent morning visit, a large pan of beef bones was resting, waiting to be transformed into a sticky sauce for brushing on Wagyu steaks mid-grill during dinner service. Harth is one of a few local chefs who is able to secure prized Knights Valley Wagyu from rancher Adam Gordon, and the cuts change based on what is available. On one visit, the treasure was tri-tip, served with French fries ($50).
And those fries — oh my. One cook spends hours perfecting the Kennebec spuds, which are cut into thick planks, soaked in cold water all day, blanched in vinegar-spiked hot water, cooled, then fried in 400-degree beef fat for precisely one minute. Finally, they’re frozen, and when a guest orders them, they’re custom fried again for seven more minutes. The result is golden, crispy-on-the-outside, buttery-on-the inside beauties and a remarkable deal: $9 for a generous serving with sauce choron, a tart tomato-kissed Béarnaise.
Lagniappe’s beef tartare also gets the royal treatment. Harth combines premium rib-eye with fat and cap meat, which is usually discarded. He then grills it in the wood-fired oven, finely chops it and folds it into ground beef like precious diamonds.
The brick-lined wood oven, a holdover from the building’s days as Molti Amici Italian restaurant, is a workhorse. From its gaping maw emerge perfectly roasted oysters with smoky garlic butter ($6) and delicate chewy flatbreads ($9) topped with ultrarich, triple cream Mt. Tam cheese (add $12) and/or anchovies (add $14).
The flames also add extra flavor to the cassoulet ($38). It’s generously layered with a whole leg of duck confit and chunks of tender lamb — red beans (instead of the traditional white French Tarbais beans) from Santa Rosa’s Tierra Vegetables add a local touch. Pair the dish with a slightly unusual soft brioche ($9), made with whole wheat, sourdough starter and Tierra corn ground directly into the dough for extra flavor.
For dessert, the mille-feuille is an edible work of art, featuring layers of crisp, flaky pastry filled with Brokaw passion fruit, vanilla crème diplomat and a touch of fermented honey. Like everything else at Bistro Lagniappe, it’s something extra — extra marvelous.
Carey Sweet is a Sebastopol-based food and restaurant writer. Read her restaurant reviews every other week in Sonoma Life. Contact her at carey@careysweet.com.