Babar’s owners talk about new opportunities, the restaurant business, and their future on Somerset Street.
It’s no secret that the restaurant industry is notoriously difficult to survive and thrive in. The business chews up and spits out more than its fair share of hopeful would-be restaurateurs without much remorse. Anytime an owner gets to make a business decision of their own volition (rather than say, with the bank breathing down their neck,) that’s a small win. That’s how it was when St. Elsewhere’s trio of owners decided it was time to reinvent their Somerset Street haunt.
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- Deviled Eggs at Babar. Photo provided
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- Octopus at Babar. Photo provided
St. Elsewhere, est. early October, 2023, was a hip, trendy spot, where guests could enjoy chef Tyler DaSilva’s spin on vegetable-forward cuisine, a wine list curated by Ian Wilson, and hospitality led by the legendary Tam Auafua’s example. Sounds great, right? So, what happened?
“I feel it was like this,” says DaSilva. “We loved what we were doing at Elsewhere, but the concept just ran its course. We’re three very passionate people [about the restaurant industry] and we just have so many concepts that we want to try.”
“I don’t think it’s controversial to say that Elsewhere ended up becoming a destination spot,” adds Wilson. “You know, the guests play a huge part in deciding what your spot will be. The weekends were great, but things could be tough during the week.”
The interior at Babar. Photo provided
“We’d get out-of-towner vegans, birthdays and special occasions, and folks who searched ‘vegan’ on OpenTable,” says Auafua. “But the numbers during the week weren’t growing as we’d hoped. Add to that the challenge that finding parking in the area can sometimes be, and it became clear that if we wanted to better serve the neighbourhood, we’d have to broaden the concept.”
These three partners have no outside financial backers. Every dollar they invest in their restaurants comes from them. In a perfect world, St. Elsewhere could have stayed, and Babar would have opened, well, elsewhere. But making difficult decisions is what being a restaurant owner is all about. As such, Aug. 31, 2025 would be St. Elsewhere’s last service before re-opening as Babar on Sept. 20.
It wasn’t a decision that was made lightly. We did something with Elsewhere that was fun, and had its time and place, but external factors and the restaurant landscape right now are more conducive to Babar.
“If we’d had 15 less seats, maybe a small parking lot, St. Elsewhere could still be here,” says Wilson. “A lot of people understood what we were doing here. They may have been sad to see St. Elsewhere close, but at the same time, they understood why it had to change.”
“We also had to consider our employees, of course,” says DaSilva. The entire staff was kept in the loop throughout the decision-making process of converting St. Elsewhere into Babar, and the trio are proud to say that they retained 98 per cent of their employees through the rebrand.
So, that’s why things had to change, but exactly what is Babar? Well, in a sense, Babar (The Bar at Booth and Rochester, if you were wondering where the name came from) is a natural evolution of what St. Elsewhere was always meant to be.
“Babar continues to be an extension of my food — who I am, what I’d like to eat at a place,” says DaSilva. “The food pairs with our growing wine program. I always want to learn and challenge myself, make certain styles of food in my own way. I learned so much about making plant-based food, and vegan options will remain on our menu.”
“When it comes to our wine program, the wine list has grown with us, it’s stuff we enjoy and are excited about,” says Wilson. “We go all over the world, natural, traditional but it’s still fun and approachable. We get to have wine features all the time.”
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“We’re also in this fun neighbourhood,” continues Wilson. “We have a chance to highlight our bar a bit more, have some more events, hopefully stay open a bit later, and build a community around here.”
“We want Babar to be a place that can serve more of the local community,” adds Auafua. “We had a great clientele at St. Elsewhere, but many of them were once-a-year guests. Now, we’re hoping to see people multiple times a week.”
Is there a takeaway from this whole experience for these three hardworking entrepreneurs?
“I think it’s reinforced our partnership, the three of us,” says DaSilva. “We already had pretty thick skin from opening Three’s [Company] during the pandemic. The takeaway is knowing how strong the relationship with the people you go on this ownership journey is.”
Babar. Photo provided
“A lot of people may not understand, but we never looked at this as a negative,” says Auafua. “Many restaurants do quarterly menu changes or refreshes. This is just a bigger version of that. We get to apply every lesson we’ve learned along the way here. This is just another step of our growth and we’re excited to share it with all of our guests.”
“People have asked me what I’m looking forward to most with this change, and the answer is that we get to keep doing it!” says DaSilva. “That we continue to do what we love to do, and that we can hold our heads high and say that this was a decision made not out of a sense of failure, but a sense of growth.”
We loved St. Elsewhere, and if you loved it too, then we know you’ll love Babar just as much.
Babar Wine + Eats is located at 826 Somerset St West. You can make reservations online and follow them on Instagram @thebabar613.
