Maligned Molti Amici Is Out. A French Bistro From a Hype Oregon Chef Is in.

Celebrated Oregon chef Jacob Harth is finally putting down restaurant roots in the North Bay. Just months after holding a pop-up series to introduce his upcoming sustainable seafood restaurant Winnie’s to the public, he and restaurant partner David Sisler have decided to surprise diners with another restaurant: Meet Bistro Lagniappe (pronounced: /lanˈyap/), a wood fire-driven California-French bistro taking over the infamous Molti Amici and Campo Fina space in Healdsburg that’s set to debut in late May.

It was always the plan to open multiple concepts under their hospitality company, Harth tells Eater. But while they hoped to open Winnie’s first, they couldn’t turn down the opportunity to take over the Molti Amici spot at 333 Healdsburg Avenue. So while Winnie’s continues its buildout, the duo turned their attention to this new project, a restaurant meant for the people of Healdsburg and the wider Sonoma County. Harth and Sisler recognized the need for a bistro that locals can walk into without a reservation, especially given that most of the restaurants in the area can skew either high-end or “very casual,” Harth says. Some restaurants tend to only cater to tourists, Harth says. “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.”

What that means is a restaurant and menu that really leans into Sonoma County, sourcing nearly all of its ingredients from local farms, ranches, and fishers. It’s a menu that is “ingredient-driven, it’s high-quality product, [and] it’s minimalist preparation.” Bistro Lagniappe will utilize the wood-fired oven that was the backbone of Campo Fina’s and Molti Amici’s pizza programs, but Harth plans to use it to roast meats, fish, oysters, vegetables, cassoulets, and gratins. An early menu boasts mussels on the half shell straight from that oven and dressed in sungold tomatoes and fig leaf; grilled trout in browned butter and summer squash; and clay pot rabbit with chanterelles and creme fraiche.

Bistro Lagniappe

Bistro Lagniappe

Bistro Lagniappe expands what diners know of Harth’s cooking. Harth first earned attention for his 20-seat sustainable seafood tasting menu restaurant Erizo, which earned a space on Eater’s national Best New Restaurants list in 2019, and an Eater Young Gun recognition that same year; he was also the star of an Eater video series, Deep Dive. Harth also worked at one-Michelin-starred Oxalis, which closed in 2023, and Michelin-listed Place des Fêtes. But now diners will get to experience more of Harth’s cooking applied to ingredients beyond seafood. “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.

Harth and the Langiappe team have redecorated the space to fit their ambitious new restaurant. All apologies to the bocce enthusiasts, but the courts have been filled in; in exchange, Lagniappe will get more patio space, this time fortified with awnings that keep the area comfortable in 100-degree summers and rainy winters. The paint, fixtures, and furniture have also been switched out — it’s a way for the group to forge its own path as a new entity, and to also step out from the shadows of those two restaurants.

All that being said, Harth says the investor group for Molti Amici is still involved, albeit as a limited partner group that won’t be involved in the day-to-day operations. But the complicated and attention-grabbing lawsuit of February 2025, where co-owner Jason Cutrer accused Molti Amici founder Jonny Barr of fraud and embezzlement, is now in its rearview mirror. The lawsuit was dismissed, the Press Democrat reports, with Cutrer and Barr saying in a joint statement that their issues are now “amicably resolved.”

Bistro Langiappe (333 Healdsburg Avenue, Healdsburg) debuts in late May 2025.

Valerie Durham Photography

Bistro Lagniappe