Another East Bay restaurant closes, in a blow to brunching

For 14 years, and three different locations, Babette has obliged Berkeley diners with its creative-yet-comforting farm-to-table cuisine.

But that’s coming to an end on Oct. 31, when the restaurant intends to shut down for good. “Like so many of our friends and fellow small-business owners, we just could not make the numbers work,” Babette’s staff write on their website.

The restaurant’s final location on San Pablo Avenue — which followed its older stead at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive — is a delight. Its sunny, gardened patio with a full-grown redwood tree stood out from the neighborhood’s rougher bits and attracted a hearty brunch crowd. In 2023, The Mercury News named it one of the Bay’s best alfresco restaurants, saying that husband-and-wife showrunners Joan Ellis