Deborah Mullin oversees a complex operation at Little Saint, the plant-based restaurant in Healdsburg, California.

“Food was very central to my life growing up,” Deborah Mullin, director of culinary at Little Saint, a plant-based restaurant in Healdsburg, California, says. 

Mullin’s paternal grandfather owned and operated a restaurant in a small town in the Hudson Valley in New York. Her maternal grandparents were first-generation Americans with Italian heritage; her grandmother often prepared meals authentic to central Italy. And Mullin’s parents, now in their 80s, are avid gardeners to this day. 

Throughout college, Mullin worked in restaurants, both in front-of and back-of-house capacities, to supplement her income. 

“ From the very beginning, I’ve kind of been tapped as the team leader, the manager,” Mullin says. “So learning how to operate food businesses has been, from very early on, a part of my career.”

Mullin graduated with a communications degree, but mid-career, she enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park — the last piece of formal training she felt she needed to round out her skill set. The experience helped her translate what she already knew about food to shape menus on another level, she says.

Over the past decade of her career, during which she most recently served as the executive chef at The Culinary Institute of America at Copia in Napa, Mullin became increasingly interested in plant-based options and sustainable initiatives. The role at Little Saint offered a rare chance to focus on both.

“ This part of California is already known for its long growing seasons, lots of produce and the farm-to-table mentality,” Mullin explains.

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