Editor’s note: Nosh covers food and restaurant news across the East Bay, and each week we publish one article covering all the restaurant openings and one article covering closings. Have a tip for Nosh? Submit it here.
The team at Bartavelle surprised and saddened its devoted customers in Berkeley and beyond with a closing announcement posted to Instagram on Sunday, Sept. 8. Nosh stopped by that day to find crowds and long lines gathered to show support during what is slated to be the cafe’s final week before a Sept. 15 closure.
Suzanne Drexhage’s cafe has been a Berkeley keystone since she and her son Samuel Sobolewski first took over the former Cafe Fanny space in 2012. In 2018, the duo and their team launched Bar Sardine, a sort of Bartavelle after dark, with wine and seasonal nibbles befitting West Berkeley’s artisanal-minded diners. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the cafe slimmed operations to a small annex take-out window. In 2023, it reopened in beautiful new digs a block away, Bar Sardine relaunched, and it won the Nosh Award for best new bar.
“We expect this may come as a big shock to many of you,” Sobolewski wrote in the Instagram notice. “But the fact is that even a seemingly busy restaurant is operating on razor thin margins, and it’s gotten exponentially harder since the pandemic.”
Mourning already has begun online. Marykate McGoldrick, owner of Sesame, A Tiny Bakery and a Bartavelle alum, posted on Instagram: “Bartavelle is very dear to me, and maybe it’s dear to you. It has been a home for me at so many times on my baking journey, and Suzanne and Samuel generously always kept the kitchen open for me.”
Drexhage and Sobolewski have started a GoFundMe campaign to help Bartavelle pay staff and local vendors, with the whisper-thin hope that the fundraiser or some additional donation helps it stay open. According to the post, the restaurant owes its vendors $50,000 and has struggled to meet payroll recently, with the total goal of the campaign set at $85,000.
“Okay, I’m just going to put this out there, as we do believe that miracles can happen,” the GoFundMe announcement reads. “If someone is interested in investing in the business in a big way, knowing full well that restaurants do not make money even if they’re run perfectly, we are open to conversations about how to keep the place going.”
Barring an unforeseen windfall, Bartavelle, at 1621 San Pablo Ave. in Berkeley, will close its doors after service on Sunday, Sept. 15.
