Healdsburg, get ready: Chef Jacob Harth debuts Bistro Lagniappe (pronounced: /lanˈyap/) on Thursday, May 29, taking over the Molti Amici and Campo Fina space on Healdsburg Avenue and shaping it into a restaurant all his own. Harth is keeping the wood-fired oven that powered the menus at the previous restaurants, but under his stewardship, diners will get a taste of the seafood cooking that first earned Harth praise in Portland, which will later translate into a new restaurant dubbed Winnie’s, and his careful use of local produce and meat in a bistro setting.
Harth will work with a who’s who of California producers on the menu, and in the lead-up to the opening, Harth visited farms, ranches, and the harbor at Bodega Bay to form connections for Lagniappe under his ethos of sustainability and organic products. “It’s a produce-driven restaurant,” Harth says. “It’s the best product that’s available right now, from our farmers, and also our ranchers and fishermen.”
What that means is dishes that even Harth admits may look “pretty simple,” but have “a lot going on behind it.” Pointing to a starter simply dubbed “Plate of early summer vegetables,” Harth says this isn’t the typical crudite platter; instead, the vegetables could be roasted in the wood-fired oven, marinated and chilled, pickled, raw, or even dried in the fireplace. “There’s going to be a plethora of techniques used to showcase the best of the season,” he says. In one such dish inspired by a New York restaurant and Rintaro chef Sylvan Mishima Brackett, Harth will replace artichokes with bamboo shoots for a barigole treatment, braising the shoots for a spring-into-summer dish. Meanwhile, the green salad will feature produce sourced from Russian River Organics, dressed with local olive oil, Meyer lemon, and tamari that Harth and his team will make themselves from white beans, another example of the work beneath the surface.
Jesse Cudworth
“The vegetable plates can be a star and visually stunning, so that’s something we’re leaning into, like, ‘Hey, this is a glimpse of everything that’s happening right now in our county with our producers, in our markets, and this is a snapshot of the season.’”
That’s not to say the meatier dishes won’t be as compelling. Harth is working with Oak Ridge Angus and Knights Valley Wagyu for the restaurant’s beef products. The ranches are both smaller producers, but what that translates to at Bistro Lagniappe is different steak cuts at various price points, letting the customer choose. For instance, the steak frites on the menu will come with an entry-level option that Harth is aiming to offer at $30, a mid-level option, and a high-end version for those who feel like splurging, all dependent on what the restaurant has from the ranch. “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.
Harth takes pride in his burger, doing away with the smash burger trend and leaning into a “beefy bistro burger” that he warns is “not dainty.” The team will grind brisket, chuck, and beef cheeks from Oak Ridge Angus to form a 7-ounce patty, served with a griddled onion, a 50-50 mix of local white cheddar and Comté cheese from France, served on a brioche bun made by the Lagniappe team. The group will also bake brioche loaves as part of the bread program, the aforementioned burger buns, plus flatbread from the wood oven. Of course, Harth also has plans for some seafood on the menu, including fire-roasted oysters with smoked garlic butter, and McFarland Springs trout from TwoXSea in San Francisco served with asparagus. A cassoulet duck confit dish will also get some time in the wood-fired oven, as will a spring onion gratin.
Jesse Cudworth
Jesse Cudworth
Jesse Cudworth
For the dessert menu’s debut, 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 that wood oven, imparting a smokiness to it, Harth says, served with vanilla ice cream. A cheese tartlet highlights cheese made by Vella in Sonoma, and the team will pipe a custard made with dry jack cheese into a cheese tartlet crust, topped with rhubarb jam and rhubarb pieces poached in elderflower syrup, and further showered in more grated dry jack cheese and elderflowers. For drinks, cocktails will skew “no frills,” Harth says, leaning toward the classics like a Last Word, Boulevardiers, martinis, daiquiris, and more, while the wine list will be a split between local and French wine producers. There will also be a selection of nonalcoholic beverages, as the kitchen will produce cordials and syrups to add to sparkling water, plus elderflower and lemon verbena kombuchas, preserving ingredients for use elsewhere. There will also be some nonalcoholic wine options from local producers, too.
In conversations about the restaurant, Harth is serious about both using local ingredients and creating a restaurant that caters more to the residents rather than tourists. One mistake he feels other restaurants fall into, for instance, is only offering one, high-end steak option, which leaves everyone feeling priced out. Instead, he’s aiming for a diverse menu that feels approachable and won’t force anyone into spending too much money. “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.”
Bistro Lagniappe (330 Healdsburg Avenue, Healdsburg) debuts Thursday, May 29, and is 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.
From left, Bistro Lagniappe sous chef Justin Purzycki and Jacob Harth.
Jesse Cudworth
Jesse Cudworth
Jesse Cudworth
Jesse Cudworth
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