Interesting replies.

Here is my read (with a little inside knowledge).
First - I think Rafael died (sadly, because I really loved them) due to a flawed business model, not because of the costs of kosher or lack of kosher community wanting to support. They assumed they would attract a second turnover at dinner, which kosher families were not providing and which is hard to achieve in early closing Berkeley. Second, they were too high end and high priced. Though they deserved their prices, it was too much for families to eat there regularly.

A better alternative would be a more mid-scale existing veggie or dairy place like Udupi Palace, or the veggie Thai place on Shattuck, or Maoz if they were still around, though I think the kosher market is saturated right now with middle eastern food. Or if someone wanted to open a vegetarian Chinese place that was good and didn't serve non-kosher fish. Shangri La in SF has been kosher for some time, and gets lots of community support. It is reasonably good and well-priced.

I have also heard from reputable sources that there may be orthodox rabbis around outside the Vaad, who are not always easy to work with, who would be willing to provide free to inexpensive supervision. However, the restaurants would still have to pay whatever costs may be associated with kashering and purchasing new utensils.

I wish Halal meant the same as kosher, but it doesn't. Halal is less strict, hence more Halal restaurants.

It's too bad they never decided to go kosher like some of their other locations. They would have had a steady stream of faithful customers outside of the student set. Word to Berkeley Restaurants, especially vegetarian or dairy restaurants, there is no kosher restaurant in berkeley. If you want a faithful, reliable batch of customers, many with families that need take out, etc. think about going kosher.