Atlanta couple to start breaking bread with locals



New owners Lindsay and Stephanie Haigh, from left, with Village Hearth founders Andrea and Doriana Carella in front of the bakery’s wood stove. The Haighs have traded in their corporate bigcity lives for small-town cooking.

New owners Lindsay and Stephanie Haigh, from left, with Village Hearth founders Andrea and Doriana Carella in front of the bakery’s wood stove. The Haighs have traded in their corporate bigcity lives for small-town cooking.

After nearly two decades in business, the Village Hearth at the corner of North Road and Watson Avenue is changing ownership.

The business, founded as an intimate artisan bakery in 2001 by Doriana Carella and her husband, Andrea, has been purchased by a couple uprooting from Atlanta, Stephanie and Lindsay Haigh.

“Andrea and I sought to preserve the spirit and tradition of scratch cooking, baking and growing food for our children and for our community,” Doriana Carella said. “Over these years our vision of bringing simple, real food to Jamestown has been fantastically realized. Andrea and I will be forever grateful to the people of Jamestown and beyond for helping us sustain our dream. Your support has mutually contributed to the nurturing of our children while helping us to feed yours.”

Carella has assured her loyal customers the Haighs share her family’s “passion for good food,” and believes they are the perfect couple to continue the Village Hearth tradition.

“We welcome them to Jamestown,” Carrella said, “where they will establish their new home, as well as their new business venture. Andrea and I have no doubts that the Haighs will be met with the same kindness and respect that has been generously shown to our family by the people of Jamestown.”

Stephanie is leaving a 25-year career in talent acquisition to manage the front of house, and she also will take over social media duties of the bakery’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. Lindsay is departing a private law firm she has led since 2007 to take over the kitchen. Both women felt “burnt out of the corporate world” and wanted to chase their dream of owning an artisanal bakery or cafe. They saw the listing online for the Village Hearth, and their dream “all fell into place” after meeting the Carellas.

“We really made a connection to them and their business philosophy,” Lindsay said.

After 10 years in Atlanta, the Haighs are relocating to Rhode Island to be closer to family in Massachusetts, especially their nieces. When Lindsay lived in Providence before making the move to Georgia, she met a chef from Johnson & Wales who could “cook up a delicious meal from whatever she could find in the fridge.” She was inspired by the woman and began learning the art of cooking.

“I don’t have some story about cooking with my grandmother and learning how to make her biscuits,” she quipped. “I owe it all to the Food Network.”

As a self-taught chef, Lindsay was able to start a side business in catering, filling custom cake orders and hosting private events with prix-fixe dinners. In 2018, she appeared on season nine of Gordon Ramsay’s television show, MasterChef, and in 2019 she competed in the World Food Championships in Dallas. She qualified for the competition again in 2020, but the event was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

While Lindsay is excited to put her own spin on the menu at Village Hearth, she promises that spinning the popular Sunday night pizzas will still be a core part of the business. As for the award-winning bread, Andrea said he shared some of his secrets, although recipes only are as good as their makers.

“Bread is made with flour, yeast, salt and water,” he said, “yet give those same four ingredients to seven bakers and you will get seven varied loaves of bread. While sharing some of our recipes with the new owners, Lindsay and Stephanie will surely have their own spin on the products they will offer. We all look forward to seeing what’s in store for Jamestown.”

When adding to the menu, Lindsay said she is hoping to partner with local vendors for the freshest ingredients available. She also plans to introduce a “supper club” concept to the bakery with fine dining events each month, and these prix-fixe menus will include local wine pairings by Stephanie. Lindsay also wants to start offering kids’ meals in a bento-box style with a sandwich, side order, dessert and juice.

The Haighs said they plan to keep the restaurant’s traditional hours from Friday through Sunday when they open in March, but plan on expanding to five days a week after Memorial Day.

Lindsay has an arsenal of “tried-and-true” recipes to bring to Jamestown, including her famous brown butter Bourbon chocolate chip and toffee cookies. Since the move, she’s already had requests from friends and neighbors to ship a few batches back down South.