Trading Post restaurant in Cloverdale set to close

After eight years in Cloverdale, Trading Post has announced it will close at the end of October. It’s the latest high-profile, independent Sonoma County restaurant to shutter due to financial hits from the pandemic and increasing inflation.

“Sadly, we are joining the growing list of community-focused restaurants, like Campo Fina in Healdsburg, that have recently had to close their doors,” Executive Chef-owner Aaron Arabian posted on his website. “After barely surviving the strains of the COVID pandemic, we have not been able to rebound given the ongoing economic uncertainty, including rapidly rising costs.”

When Trading Post opened in late 2017, it was a significant addition to the previously sleepy Cloverdale dining scene. The business had initially debuted in 2015 as a boutique bakery, run by artisan baker Aaron Arabian and owned by the Mercer Restaurant Group (behind Mid-Market San Francisco former hot spots TBD, Bon Marché and AQ).

Mercer then turned the reins over to Executive Chef-owner Erik Johnson and his wife and business partner, Marissa Alden, who opened a full-service restaurant (they have since moved to Idaho, giving the Trading Post Kitchen back to Arabian).

Trading Post quickly evolved into a premier destination for the town of less than 9,000 residents, beckoning with dishes like spiced fried chicken thighs atop greens with house-made pickles; and crispy, confit fried Liberty Farms duck arranged with Thumbelina carrots, Tokyo turnips and farro pilaf; and Johnson’s signature duck fat potato tots. The fancy breads remained a draw, tempting with signatures such as jalapeño-cheddar-bacon focaccia, pumpkin rye, and brandied onion rolls.

In 2019, the restaurant was awarded a Slow Food’s Snail of Approval award, with the Slow Food Sonoma County North convivium noting that “Managing partner, Erik Johnson, head chef Aaron Arabian and gardener Ron Ferrato make a winning trifecta. They create and serve up dishes that capture the local bounty of Sonoma County in its many facets.”

Already, there has been an outpouring of customer sadness and support flooding the restaurant’s Facebook page, with comments like “Another loss to another beloved community”; “This is a big loss. You elevated the dinner experience in Cloverdale”; and “So sorry to see another go down. We love and appreciate all you have done and given the community through very tough time!”

Through the rest of October, the restaurant will be open for dinner on Friday and Saturday, and brunch on Sunday. The final day of operation will be Sunday, Oct. 30, when the dining room will not be open for brunch, but will host one last supper.

“We hope you will join us as often as you can over the next month,” the website reads. “And (we) especially hope that you will join us for what we know will be a bittersweet celebration, but a celebration nonetheless, on Oct. 30.”

Another recent high-profile closure, Campo Fina, occurred in Healdsburg on Oct. 1 after owners Ari and Dawnelise Rosen posted on their website the challenges of “the doubling of our rent this year, a national labor shortage, rampant growth in our town, inflation, and the lack of housing for our staff.”

Rosen also owned nearby Scopa, which closed in 2017.

That followed the closing of another prominent Healdsburg restaurant, Mateo’s Cocina Latina, which went dark last July. At the time, owner Mateo Granados cited the ceaseless challenges from the region’s wildfires, floods, power outages, COVID-19 shutdowns, and finally, a drastic rent increase on his restaurant space.

Both Campo Fina and Mateo’s had been in business for a decade, and, like Trading Post, were considered anchor businesses in their communities.

Trading Post is at 102 S. Cloverdale Blvd., Cloverdale, 707-894-6483, thepostcloverdale.com.