Sebastopol's New Kitchens Moved Into Rooms the Town Already Knew

Martin Maigaard spent about six months with welding torches and saws inside the former Woodfour Brewing space at The Barlow. He worked without a general contractor, the same way he had built out his first cafe on Bodega Highway, and the project took longer than planned. Sonoma Magazine reported that the savings made the extra effort worth it. The room he built now holds Wild Poppy Cafe & Market, and it was full for brunch and lunch within weeks of opening this fall.

The same thing happened across Sebastopol this year. A brewery, a pasta bar, the old Cock Robin, a catering kitchen and a Georgian restaurant all have new kitchens now. Nearly every one of them belongs to someone already cooking in West County. Over the past year, the town added places to eat by refilling empty rooms, and the operators who moved in already had followings to bring along.

A Brewery Becomes a Brunch Room

Wild Poppy shows how this works. Martin and Danielle Maigaard spent 22 years wanting a restaurant with a big kitchen, room to bake, plenty of parking and a marketplace "bigger than a closet," according to Sonoma Magazine. In 2024 they took a small roadhouse at 9890 Bodega Highway that had none of those things. It did well, and that earned them the bigger room.

"You walk in and it feels like home. We wanted it to feel like we were hosting, like a backyard gathering or a dinner party."

Martin told Sonoma Magazine that this was the feeling they were after at the new location. Danielle added that "everyone we hire has to be nice."

The Barlow location covers 3,500 square feet at 6780 McKinley St., Suite 160. It's open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Monday and closed Tuesday. The Creekside original keeps its own hours, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. The Baja fish tacos and Cosmic Queso nachos came over from Bodega Highway. New dishes include fancy toasts, salads, a salmon burger and rice bowls. A marketplace sells pottery, spices, blankets and towels, and a deli case is being stocked with grab-and-go soups, dips and salads.

Wild Poppy also adds a kind of place The Barlow didn't have. The complex already had Sarmentine for pastries, Taylor Lane for coffee, and Acre Pizza, Sushi Kosho and Genero's for meals. Sonoma Magazine describes Wild Poppy as somewhere to linger over brunch: Wednesday morning meetups, or work-from-home days spent away from home.

The Same Move, Four More Times

The same move repeats down the rest of the list. A Sebastopol Times column titled "New life in old spaces" followed the same thread in September. In each case below, an empty room went to an operator who already had a business running nearby.

Chippy opened softly in mid-June in the former Acre Pasta space. Steve DeCosse runs it, and his Acre Pizza still operates at The Barlow, so a dining room the town had closed went back to the same owner with a new menu. Sonoma Magazine's opening report listed fish and chips, a burger, chowder, chicken katsu, a fish sandwich, a shrimp po'boy, salads and a mushroom sandwich.

Iggy's Organic Burger opened in the old Cock Robin on Sebastopol Avenue in January 2026, according to the Sebastopol Times. The Barlow's directory now lists the burgers alongside Angela's Organic Ice Cream. The two businesses are one family. The Sebastopol Times traces both to Angela Pryor and her son Ignacio "Iggy" Garat, who took over Lala's Creamery in Petaluma in 2017. Since then Angela's has opened in Forestville, Healdsburg, Mill Valley, two Petaluma parlors and several San Francisco shops. Iggy's lists its Sebastopol hours as 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

The Porch Kitchen is the oldest of the group, and it turns a year old this month. Lisa and Kevin Boisset, the caterers behind The Cook & The Drummer, opened it on Nov. 19, 2025, as a daytime grab-and-go counter in the old Goatlandia catering kitchen at 6811 Laguna Park Way. That spot sits just behind the Rialto, at the edge of The Barlow. The Sebastopol Times reported that customers wanted to sit and stay longer than the counter format allowed. So this summer the Boissets added full dinner service, with French bistro cooking from a Cordon Bleu-trained chef: dry-aged beef sliders, pan-seared wild salmon and salade lyonnaise. Sonoma Magazine gives dinner as Wednesday through Saturday, 5:30 to 8 p.m., with happy hour from 3 to 5:30 p.m. The Porch's own site lists Tuesday lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Retail did the same thing this spring. On April 1, Rust Boutique expanded into a former warehouse behind its original Barlow shop and grew from 500 square feet to more than 1,300. The Press Democrat reported that co-owner Hayley Kaslar planned private shopping events, wine pairings and fashion shows for the bigger space.

The Room on Healdsburg Avenue

Alesta Modern Mediterranean is the one opening on the list that isn't in The Barlow's orbit, and it follows the same pattern. Ugur Akkaya and chef Kadir Senel opened it in mid-April at 7233 Healdsburg Ave. The space previously held Piala, a Georgian restaurant and wine bar that ran for three years. The Sebastopol Times describes Alesta's menu as Turkish, Greek and Eastern Mediterranean cooking with French technique. It leans on meze, grilled meats and seafood, and it serves complimentary Turkish black tea. Sonoma Magazine reported that the kitchen later cut back the menu so the small room could run more smoothly. The restaurant's site carries current seasonal hours.

Rooms also emptied out this year, and those are what the next round of openings will fill. The same Sebastopol Times column reported that Campanella, the Italian-American restaurant on Healdsburg Avenue, closed this spring. Coffee & Moore at Gravenstein Station on Sebastopol Avenue closed as well.

Six Quiet Weeks for Downtown's Newest Rooms

The City of Sebastopol suspends non-emergency construction in the downtown corridor from Nov. 19, 2026, through Jan. 4, 2027. The city's notice says the goal is to keep construction from interfering with holiday sales and activities at downtown businesses. For Wild Poppy, Chippy, Iggy's and Alesta, that means their first holiday season runs without downtown construction under city rules. For The Porch, it's the first holiday season with dinner on the menu.

Here are the dates on the downtown calendar during that window:

1. Thursday, Dec. 3, 5 to 8 p.m. The annual tree lighting at Town Plaza, with local performances, Santa arriving by firetruck, and free refreshments and children's activities, according to the Sebastopol Chamber. Iggy's is open until 8 p.m. that Thursday, and The Porch serves dinner until 8.
2. Sunday, Dec. 20. Head West Marketplace at The Barlow, listed on the complex's event calendar and on Head West's own page. Market hours vary between those two listings, so check before you go. Dec. 20 falls on a Sunday, and Wild Poppy serves brunch and lunch that day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Most of these openings sit within a short walk of each other: Wild Poppy and Chippy on McKinley Street, Iggy's on Sebastopol Avenue, and The Porch behind the Rialto. Alesta is a short drive up Healdsburg Avenue.

Every one of these openings started with an existing room, and that's how Jeff & Casey Bounsall approach West County property too. We read a parcel for what its buildings, rights and history already allow before anyone starts planning around it. If you own a Sonoma County property and want to know what its existing structures could support, or what the right buyer would pay for them, Work With Us.