The week Bonnie Bagels opened at 280 S. Main St., there was a line out the door. Sonoma Magazine said the bagels were "New York great." Plenty of people in that line had already eaten in that same room. Until midnight on New Year's Eve 2024 it was Hippizzazz, a family pizza shop that ran for eight years. Before that, it was a deli.
Most of the new places to eat in Sebastopol this year have a story like that. Almost every opening moved into a space another restaurant had left. And the people signing the leases are mostly residents or operators already cooking somewhere in West County, so the town's food map is getting refilled by its own people.
Four Rooms, Before and After
Here's how the main openings line up with what came before:
- 280 S. Main St. was a deli, then Hippizzazz from 2016 through the end of 2024. It's now Bonnie Bagels, open since mid-August 2026.
- 7233 Healdsburg Ave. was Piala, a Georgian restaurant and wine bar that closed last year after three years. It reopened this spring as Alesta Modern Mediterranean.
- The old Goatlandia catering kitchen behind the Rialto opened late last year as The Porch Kitchen, a daytime counter. It added dinner this summer.
- 6700 Sebastopol Ave. was Cock Robin, which closed less than a year after opening. Iggy's Organic Burger took over in January 2026.
The goodbyes follow the same pattern. Sebastopol Times reported that Campanella, the Italian-American spot on Healdsburg Avenue, closed this spring, and that Coffee & Moore at Gravenstein Station on Sebastopol Avenue has closed as well. Each of those closings leaves another room ready for whoever comes next.
South Main's Bagel Block
Bonnie Bagels shows how much a refill can change a block. The shop sits between the Post Office and Taquería El Favorito, a few doors from Grateful Bagel, which has been the town's bagel shop until now. Owner Michael Sousa has lived in Sebastopol for 20 years. Sebastopol Times reported that he picked the space mostly for its foot traffic, price and size. When asked about the shop down the street, he told the paper:
"We like Grateful Bagel! We're customers!"
Executive chef Greg Kalergis makes his bagels the slow East Coast way. They're hand-rolled, cold-fermented, boiled, then baked. A bagel you buy on a Wednesday was started on Sunday afternoon. The menu has plain, sesame, everything, salt and cinnamon-raisin, plus gluten-free and vegan options and open-face and closed-face bagel sandwiches. Hours reported in August were 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.
The big hand-painted sign out front tells you something about how the town treats these refills. The city's Design Review Board, which took up the Bonnie Bagels sign request on its agenda, approved it in July as an exception to the sign ordinance's size limits. The reasons given were that it is hand-painted, stylish and part of a locally owned business, not a chain. The broader update to the sign ordinance is still listed as underway on the city's work plan.
Turkish Tea on Healdsburg Avenue
North of downtown, the Healdsburg Avenue strip has had one room come back and another go dark in the same year. Alesta Modern Mediterranean took over the old Piala space at 7233 Healdsburg Ave. this spring, Sebastopol Times reported. Founders Ugur Akkaya and chef Kadir Senel draw on Turkish, Greek and Eastern Mediterranean cooking. The menu leans on meze, grilled meats and seafood, and every table gets complimentary Turkish black tea. Dumplings filled with seasoned beef and topped with garlic yogurt and brown butter are one of the dishes the restaurant features on its own Instagram. Alesta is open Tuesday through Sunday, with dinner from 5 p.m.
Campanella, a few doors along the same avenue, closed this spring. In one season, the corridor gained a Mediterranean room in an old Georgian space and lost an Italian one.
The Kitchen That Grew a Dining Room
The Porch Kitchen is the clearest case of local operators taking over an old space and growing into it. According to Sebastopol Times, chef Lisa Boisset and her husband Kevin, the caterers behind The Cook & The Drummer, opened The Porch late last year in the former Goatlandia catering kitchen. It started as a daytime grab-and-go counter, just behind the Rialto at the edge of The Barlow. More people wanted to sit and stay than the original plan allowed for, so this summer they added full dinner service.
Dinner is French bistro cooking from a Cordon Bleu-trained chef. Expect dry-aged beef sliders, pan-seared wild salmon, salade lyonnaise and house-baked focaccia. Sonoma Magazine lists dinner Wednesday through Saturday, 5:30 to 8 p.m.
Burgers, Buckets and a Scoop Still to Come
At 6700 Sebastopol Ave., the new tenant kept a piece of the old one. When Iggy's Organic Burger took over the Cock Robin space, Sonoma Magazine reported that the menu would bring back fried chicken buckets for Cock Robin fans, along with Iggy's smashburgers, fried chicken sandwich and nuggets. Owner Ignacio "Iggy" Garat had been running Iggy's in downtown Healdsburg since 2023.
Iggy's lists its hours as 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. An Angela's Organic Ice Cream counter is planned for the same building. Angela's is the brand Garat started with his mother, Angela Pryor, when they took over Lala's Creamery in Petaluma in 2017. In late September the counter was expected to open within the month. Angela's locations page is the quickest way to check whether it's scooping yet before you promise anyone dessert.
Who Keeps Signing These Leases
Put the openings side by side and you'll see who the new tenants are. Sousa is a 20-year Sebastopol resident. The Boissets were already catering locally. Iggy's and Angela's came from a family that built its business in Petaluma, Healdsburg and Forestville. Inside The Barlow, Chippy is a fish and chips counter from Acre Pizza's Steve DeCosse in the former Acre Pasta space. The Wild Poppy, a West County cafe from chef-owners Danielle and Martin Maigaard, opened its second location in the long-empty Woodfour Brewing space. Sonoma Magazine gives the address as 6780 McKinley St., Suite 160.
A Week of Eating Through the New Rooms
The schedules don't line up, and that matters if you're planning around them. Here's the most recently reported timing for each spot:
| Spot | Address | When It's Open |
|---|---|---|
| Bonnie Bagels | 280 S. Main St. | Wed–Sun, 7 a.m.–2 p.m. |
| Alesta Modern Mediterranean | 7233 Healdsburg Ave. | Tue–Sun, dinner from 5 p.m. |
| The Porch Kitchen | Behind the Rialto, edge of The Barlow | Dinner Wed–Sat, 5:30–8 p.m. |
| Iggy's Organic Burger | 6700 Sebastopol Ave. | Daily, from 11 a.m. |
On Mondays, Iggy's is the only one of the four open. Tuesday adds Alesta for dinner. Wednesday through Saturday is the only stretch when bagels in the morning and bistro dinner at The Porch are both possible on the same day. Restaurant hours change often, especially as the days get shorter, so check the Bonnie Bagels site and each restaurant's own pages before you head out.
At Cozza Team, we watch these rooms change hands because they shape what a Sebastopol street feels like day to day. If you're wondering how new life on Main Street or Healdsburg Avenue fits into your plans for your own home, schedule a free, no-obligation home consultation and we'll walk through it with you.
