Mark Ladner has left Babbo less than a year after taking over the kitchen. The restaurant has not given a reason, and Ladner has not announced his next move. His appointment was meant to give the post-Batali Babbo a credible culinary reset; mixed reviews and an abrupt departure leave ownership with the harder task of defining what the restaurant is for now. Direct report
This is restaurant-business news, not a cue to book. A famous room can reopen faster than it can recover a governing idea.