When did you last walk into the old Woodfour Brewing room at The Barlow? It sat empty for a long stretch. Since early fall it has been full at brunch. Wild Poppy runs it now, from the same couple who built a following at a small creekside roadhouse out on Bodega Highway.
That room shows how Sebastopol's dining scene grew this year. Most of the new places come from people already cooking in town or nearby. They moved into buildings locals have been walking past for years. As a result, there are hardly any new names to learn. What changed is the weekly schedule: who is open on Tuesday, where dinner happens midweek, and which Wild Poppy to drive to on a Monday.
Five Rooms You Know, and Who's in Them Now
The Sebastopol Times ran its September business column under the headline "New life in old spaces," and that's an accurate summary. Here's the list:
- Former Woodfour Brewing, The Barlow is now Wild Poppy Cafe & Market, a second location for chef-owners Martin and Danielle Maigaard.
- Former Acre Pasta, The Barlow is now Chippy, a fish-and-chips counter from Acre Pizza's Steve DeCosse.
- Former Goatlandia catering kitchen, behind the Rialto is now The Porch Kitchen, from Lisa and Kevin Boisset, the caterers behind The Cook & The Drummer.
- Former Cock Robin, Sebastopol Avenue is now Iggy's Organic Burger, paired with Angela's Organic Ice Cream.
- Former Piala, 7233 Healdsburg Avenue is now Alesta Modern Mediterranean.
Four of those five operators were already known around here before they signed a lease. That's why this year's openings feel familiar so quickly, and it's also why the details of each schedule matter more than the menus.
The Woodfour Room Is the Biggest Change
Wild Poppy started in 2024 at 9890 Bodega Highway. Sonoma Magazine describes that cafe as small, a little out of the way, and short on kitchen space and parking. The Barlow location fixes both problems. It's a 3,500-square-foot former brewery with a sunny patio. Martin Maigaard did much of the buildout himself, without a contractor, over about six months.
The menu brings over the Baja fish tacos and Cosmic Queso nachos from Bodega Highway. It adds fancy toast, salads, a salmon burger and rice bowls. There's a marketplace with pottery, spices, blankets and Wild Poppy merchandise, and a deli case that is being stocked with grab-and-go soups, dips and salads. Coffee shares the menu with beer, wine and a house turmeric lemonade.
"You walk in and it feels like home," Martin Maigaard told Sonoma Magazine. "We wanted it to feel like we were hosting, like a backyard gathering or a dinner party."
The original cafe didn't close. It's now called Wild Poppy Creekside, and the two locations keep different days:
Wild Poppy Cafe & Market, 6780 McKinley St., Suite 160: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesday through Monday, closed Tuesday. Wild Poppy Creekside, 9890 Bodega Highway: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Thursday through Sunday.
If you want the creekside patio, you need to go Thursday through Sunday. For a Monday or Wednesday brunch, the Barlow location is the only one open.
Behind the Rialto, a Lunch Counter Now Serves Dinner
The Porch Kitchen is the clearest example of a place outgrowing its first plan. The Boissets opened it late last year as a daytime grab-and-go counter in the old Goatlandia catering kitchen. Customers wanted to sit and stay, so this summer they added full dinner service. The menu is scratch-made French bistro food: dry-aged beef sliders, pan-seared wild salmon, salade lyonnaise and house-baked focaccia from a Cordon Bleu–trained chef.
It's at 6811 Laguna Park Way. Sonoma Magazine lists lunch Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner Wednesday through Saturday from 5:30 to 8 p.m. It's closed Sunday and Monday. The restaurant's own site lists a Wednesday-through-Saturday happy hour from 3 to 6 p.m., which fills the gap between lunch and dinner.
Since this summer, the stretch between the Rialto and The Barlow has had a sit-down dinner that wasn't there a year ago. That's a real addition to evenings near the theater.
Sebastopol Avenue and Healdsburg Avenue
Away from the McKinley Street buildings, the same pattern holds.
Iggy's Organic Burger opened in the former Cock Robin space at 6700 Sebastopol Ave. in January 2026. The two brands are run by one family. Angela Pryor and her son Ignacio "Iggy" Garat started them after taking over Lala's Creamery in Petaluma in 2017, and Angela's now scoops in Forestville, Healdsburg, Mill Valley, Petaluma and San Francisco. The Barlow's current listing for Iggy's pairs the burger menu with Angela's Organic Ice Cream. Iggy's posted hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Alesta Modern Mediterranean opened this spring at 7233 Healdsburg Ave., in the room that held Piala, the Georgian restaurant and wine bar that closed last year after three years. Founders Ugur Akkaya and chef Kadir Senel draw on Turkish, Greek and Eastern Mediterranean cooking with French technique. The menu is built around meze, with grilled meats, seafood and complimentary Turkish black tea. The restaurant has moved to fall hours that add lunch on some days, so check Alesta's site before you plan a midday visit.
A couple of places closed this year too. Campanella, the Italian-American restaurant on Healdsburg Avenue, closed this spring, and Coffee & Moore at Gravenstein Station on Sebastopol Avenue has also closed.
Back at The Barlow, Chippy opened in mid-June, according to Sonoma Magazine. The menu is chowder, a burger and fish and chips. Its website doesn't post hours right now, so call or stop by before you build a dinner around it.
How the Week Lays Out Now
Put the posted schedules side by side and each day looks a little different:
- Monday: Wild Poppy at The Barlow serves 10 to 3, and Iggy's is open into the evening. The Porch and Wild Poppy Creekside are closed.
- Tuesday: This is the thinnest day. Wild Poppy at The Barlow is closed and so is Creekside. The Porch is open for lunch only, and Iggy's is open all day.
- Wednesday: The Barlow Wild Poppy reopens, and The Porch serves its first dinner of the week starting at 5:30.
- Thursday through Saturday: Every place here with posted hours is open. Both Wild Poppy locations serve 10 to 3, The Porch runs lunch, happy hour and dinner, and Iggy's stays open until 9 on Friday and Saturday.
- Sunday: Both Wild Poppys are open for brunch, and Iggy's is open until 8. The Porch is closed.
Midweek brunch happens on McKinley Street, the creekside patio is a long-weekend plan, and Wednesday is now the first night of the week for a sit-down bistro dinner near the Rialto.
Two Barlow Dates and a Plaza Night Before the Year Ends
The new rooms also make it easier to fill an afternoon on the coming event dates. The Barlow's calendar lists the Head West Marketplace on November 15 and December 20, both from 2 to 8 p.m. Wild Poppy closes at 3 on those days, so an early start lets you get lunch there before walking the market. Iggy's is open until 8, the same time the market ends.
The Sebastopol Chamber lists the free annual Tree Lighting at Sebastopol Town Plaza on Thursday, December 3, from 5 to 8 p.m. The evening includes performances, Santa arriving on a firetruck, refreshments and kids' crafts. It falls on a Thursday, one of The Porch's dinner nights.
Kris Lepore follows what moves in and out of West County buildings like these, from the old Woodfour room to the storefronts on Healdsburg Avenue. If you'd like to talk about how changes around The Barlow fit into your own plans in Sebastopol, reach out to Kris Lepore - KJL Coastal. Let's Connect.