After 28 years as the face of Sonoma’s Cafe La Haye (140 East Napa St.), owner Saul Gropman has announced his retirement and that he will be selling the restaurant to a longtime employee.
On Monday, Gropman wrote on social media that he would be “passing the torch” to Jose Lopez, who has worked at the restaurant for 22 years, and Lopez’s wife, Marta.
Reached by phone, Gropman said that in the wake of his 70th birthday, it was time to move on.
“A couple years ago, Jose asked if I ever wanted to sell, he wanted to be the first in line,” said Gropman. “The team is super solid, and Jose wants to keep running it as is, with the whole staff staying. I didn’t want to bring in someone new who would bring in their own team.”
Gropman added that he kept the restaurant running through the COVID-19 pandemic so that he wouldn’t have to lay off any of the eight staff members.
“They’ve been with me so many years, and they are like family,” he said.
Cafe La Haye opened in 1997, with Gropman working the front of house and business partner/chef John McReynolds leading the kitchen. Though the 34-seat bistro began serving only breakfast and lunch, Gropman realized that the only way to keep the business afloat was to drop the breakfast and lunch service and only serve dinner.
“John and I opened Cafe La Haye for a song, which you could do in those days. We were pretty much giving (breakfast) away,” he said.
During Cafe La Haye’s first decade, Gropman split his time between the restaurant and as head of the classical guitar program at San Francisco State University.
McReynolds, who died in July, left the restaurant in 2007 and became the founding chef of Stone Edge Farms and the author of the “Stone Edge Farm” cookbook.
In 2009, Jeffrey Lloyd became the executive chef at Cafe La Haye after stints at Michael Mina and Aqua Restaurants in San Francisco.
Cafe La Haye was a darling of San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauer, frequently appearing on his Top 100 restaurants list. In 1998, Bauer called the restaurant one of the best finds of the year, and from that point, Gropman said, things never slowed down at the restaurant.
In 2018, the Michelin Guide noted Cafe La Haye for “fresh ingredients, carefully prepared in a good meal” and praised the restaurant for 18 years, though it never won a star or Bib Gourmand.
“I never wanted a star and I felt like we’re not a Michelin-star restaurant. We’re a bistro,” said Gropman. “I’ve seen too many people get a star or a Bib Gourmand and lose it, and that’s harder.”
Chef Lloyd left the restaurant this summer. Chef Marco Echeverria, the current executive chef, has worked at Cafe La Haye since 1998.
Gropman said he plans to remain at the restaurant through early January and is looking forward to spending more time playing his guitar. “I’ve got plenty of things I want to do,” he said.
You can reach Dining Editor Heather Irwin at heather.irwin@pressdemocrat.com. Follow Heather on Instagram @biteclubeats.