It’s been a rough week for Michelin-noted restaurants in Sonoma County as both Healdsburg’s Molti Amici and Sonoma’s Folktable suddenly announced their closures. Both left goodbye posts on social media, prompting questions about the challenges many local restaurants are facing after a slow summer and challenging winter ahead.
Folktable, which closes Sunday, is connected to controversial Sonoma developer Ken Mattson, who is currently under federal investigation and facing several lawsuits for investment fraud.
The restaurant, along with other Sonoma businesses like The Depot restaurant and The General’s Daughter event space, is part of Mattson’s Sonoma’s Best Hospitality Group. It was one of a few businesses that had remained in Mattson’s once substantial portfolio, which has dwindled in the wake of bankruptcies and lawsuits.
Mattson also owns Cornerstone marketplace, where Folktable is located. Since the developer purchased Cornerstone from Darius Anderson (managing partner of Sonoma Media Investments, owner of The Press Democrat) in 2019, the once dynamic retail marketplace, restaurant hub and test garden for Sunset magazine has languished with high vacancies and a decline in foot traffic, according to businesses located there.
Mattson and his attorneys did not respond to a request for comments.
Folktable garnered a Michelin Bib Gourmand, given to notable restaurants with “good food at a moderate price,” in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The closure of the Sonoma restaurant hit consulting executive chef Casey Thompson especially hard.
Thompson, who competed on three seasons of “Top Chef,” was hired as the executive chef of Sonoma’s Best Hospitality Group in 2019. She recently appeared on Guy Fieri’s Tournament of Champions culinary showdown with chefs from around the country.
“While this is not the ending I had envisioned, I am filled with gratitude for the support, warmth and love we’ve received from our community and beyond over the years,” she wrote in an email.
“I remain hopeful that this is not a goodbye, but a step toward new beginnings,” she continued. “I would love to continue to cook good food for the community of Sonoma which has been our home for five years … I hope Sonoma will welcome us all with open arms after these tumultuous years.”
Meanwhile, Molti Amici, a Healdsburg restaurant founded by three SingleThread alums, closed unexpectedly Sunday.
The restaurant, which replaced Campo Fina, opened to critical acclaim in July 2023 and received a Bib Gourmand award in August of this year. In June, however, the restaurant was involved in an allegation of embezzlement.
The Press Democrat reported that the allegation, outlined in a brief entry in a Healdsburg police log, surfaced when someone claiming to hold ownership in Molti Amici called the police and told a Healdsburg officer that a “co-owner/business partner” had “failed to make deposits into the business account for several months,” from September 2023 to February 2024. The accusation was later recanted but the investigation remains open.
General manager Jonny Barr, who was the public face of the restaurant and listed as an owner on the restaurant’s website, has since moved out of state.
Molti Amici CEO Jason Cutrer told The Press Democrat that “the restaurant was just not in a good financial position to continue. We are all bummed and wish the staff and everyone who visited us, and loved us, the best.”
Chefs Sean McGaughey and Melissa Yanc, who worked together with Barr at SingleThread restaurant and helped him open Molti Amici and create its menu, said they had left the restaurant last summer to focus on their own business ventures, including Quail and Condor bakery, Troubadour Bread & Bistro and its evening alter ego, Le Diner, a multicourse dinner experience.
You can reach Dining Editor Heather Irwin at heather.irwin@pressdemocrat.com. Follow Heather on Instagram @biteclubeats.