Keeping Healdsburg Caffeinated

Healdsburg’s newest coffee shop doesn’t just serve up delicious java and lattes—it’s also the fiefdom of an award-winning, classically trained chef who is serving as general manager.

That chef, a man named Beryl Adler, came to Healdsburg after an illustrious hotel career that took him all over the world. He spent two years as the executive chef at the W Hotel in Bali before setting down roots in our community toward the end of 2020.

This connection explains why Black Oak offers delicious menu items such as bahn mi and CB&J (caramelized banana, cashew butter, jam, and honey) sandwiches, and drinks with flourishes such as the purple Butterfly Pea Lemonade and crème brulee lattes. It also guarantees that guests of the coffee shop on Center Street will experience top-quality service.

“Coffee, food and people,” said Beryl, 33. “Those are my passions and the passions we’re serving here.”

Beryl, who grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona, certainly has had varied life experiences to inform that perspective. Over 12 years in the hotel industry, he has lived in Half Moon Bay, California; Colorado Springs, Colorado; New York City; Amelia Island, Florida; Los Angeles; the Grand Caymans; and Bali.

He was in Bali up until the summer of 2020, when the hotel shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic. Then he moved back to Ukiah, where his wife Ally grew up.

Black Oak’s flagship location is in Ukiah and Beryl sought a barista job there to keep busy. Within weeks, he had been drafted to plan, start, and run the Healdsburg shop, which opened to a limited schedule in April 2021.

(Coincidentally, Beryl’s wife gave birth to their first child on the same day the coffee shop opened.)

Now that the Healdsburg shop is fully staffed and open seven days a week, Beryl is looking to the future. At some point later this winter the shop will roll out new menu items, including a rosemary and Nutella mocha, and a s’mores latte. The shop also is rolling out a new app for online ordering, and a QR code program that enables guests to order from their tables when they arrive.

As of mid-Jan, Beryl also was hoping to hire a muralist to paint a mural on one of the walls in the alley north of the shop. “We’re constantly working to make the experience of coming here more inviting,” he said. “The coffee shop is one of the hearts of a community. That’s a role we enjoy playing here in Healdsburg, and one we take really seriously.”