Healdsburg Vegan Restaurant ‘Second Story’ Closing at Little Saint

Little Saint, the 10,000-square-foot food and event space at 25 North St., will be closing its fancy upstairs vegan restaurant on June 14 — just shy of one year after opening it. The offshoot restaurant is called Second Story, and it occupies the same part of the building (you guessed it: the second story) where Little Saint runs its popular weekly singer-songwriter concerts. Which was partly the issue. “Our team recognized that we couldn’t sustain a high level of performance in each of our upstairs experiences simultaneously,” says spokesperson Sara Beckstead. Little Saint’s owners elaborates in a statement: “Behind the scenes, our team does a weekly ‘dance’ upstairs to transition from a community event to live music to the restaurant and onto a private party. While we love the dynamic use of our space, we want to focus our team’s energies on further building our community.” Little Saint opened two years ago in the footprint of the chic old SHED barn, with a similar business concept. They serve experimental vegan dishes—plus coffee, wine, beer and plant-based cocktails—out of the more casual ground-floor cafe and lounge, and host regular public events like farmer-led singalongs for kids; yoga sessions; author and winemaker talks; and a series of cocktail-making classes under the tagline “Your Drink Is Trash,” utilizing leftover farm-to-table ingredients from the vegan cafe operation. Second Story’s last day of service will be next Friday, June 14. Little Saint launched the restaurant last summer, with a 12-course experience costing $120, amid big hype about the chef at the helm: Stu Stalker from Copenhagen’s three-Michelin-starred Noma restaurant. In their closing statement this week, Second Story’s founders called it “an incredible year” during which they’ve been able to “open hearts and minds to what’s possible with plant-based cuisine.” Chef Stalker and his culinary team will remain on staff, according to spokesperson Beckstead. She stressed that Little Saint owners Laurie and Jeff Ubben are not downsizing — just phasing out one aspect of their multifaceted operation, while doubling down on events. She also said they’ll be “infusing some of the experiences and energy” from Second Story into the first story. “While you won’t see specific dishes from the Second Story restaurant in our cafe and lounge,” she said, “you can expect a more regularly evolving menu with fresh influences.” Beginning June 17, Little Saint will expand its opening hours to seven days a week — from 8am to 9pm on Sunday through Wednesday, and 8am to 10pm on Thursday through Saturday. You can check out their event schedule here. And pick up a print copy of the Trib tomorrow to learn more! (Source: Little Saint & Little Saint via Instagram)