About Marla

Marla Adams

Owner/Chef Marla Adams

I’ll make this short. I began cooking on a lark in 1980 at a restaurant in Boston. I had graduated from The University of Virginia and was a little burned out. I took a bakery job for $3.50 an hour (in Boston, mind you) and have never left the restaurant business. I LOVE IT. I love the hours, the pace, the people, the food, the challenges and working with my hands and brain at the same time. Food is a craft. It’s real and it’s essential to everyone. Most of all, I love cooks: line cooks, prep cooks, chefs, sous chefs, all of them. They are a very unique group of people. After a few years I attended the Culinary Institute of American in Hyde Park and upon graduation, headed to Atlanta with a boyfriend. The boyfriend didn’t last, but I’m still in Atlanta. There was never a shortage of jobs, and I moved quickly up the ranks in several restaurants and even a hotel. Upon reaching a glass ceiling in one position, in 1992 I decided to open my own place, Babette’s Cafe.

I do have Kitchen managers and cooks that have been with me for many years. Honestly, they do the brunt of the cooking. I get to focus on menus, product, and even get a chance to pour a glass of wine for a guest. I tried to retire, but failed miserably at that, so have resolved to take more vacations, an extra day off now and then, but continue to feel most comfortable in my home at Babette’s.

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