A few months ago I wrote a Restaurant Review on Mudd's Restaurant in San Ramon. Mudd's has been a San Ramon landmark for 27 years but I was sorry to note that it closed for business last month.

As sad as that is for owner, John Ebert, I, and no doubt many other people, assumed that the retaurant would be acquired by some other restaurateur but alas this was not to be. I read in yesterdays San Ramon Valley Times that the 2.2 acre parcel on which the restaurant stands is to be bought by the San Ramon Redevelopment Agency at a cost of $2 million.

Saddest of all, they don't even know what they are going to do with the restaurant. The parcel was bought so that they could expand the nighboring Crow Canyon Gardens, the city's community garden.

Now I have no problem with expanding the gardens. In fact I think it is great to see the produce that is grown there. My big gripe is that here we have an exceptionally characterful building with a unique ambience that will in all probability never see the light of day again as restaurant premises. Sure, restaurants come and go but Mudd's was different. Certainly it had its ups and downs and, particularly in recent years, John Ebert had difficulty in keeping chefs so the food (and the support by locals) definitely suffered. Nevertheless it seems a shame that such premises wil go to waste.

One suggestion is that the restaurant can be turned into a Nature Center. Yes, it would probably make a very good Nature Center but not as good as it was a restaurant.