Café 909 shuts doors in MFalls
The lights are off inside Café 909, the rustic gourmet restaurant that served Marble Falls for five years. Owners Chef Mark and Shelly Schmidt are relocating the eatery to Houston, with a projected spring 2009 opening.
MARBLE FALLS — Fans of gourmet dining have lost another restaurant with the closing this past weekend of the celebrated Café 909.
The restaurant, so named because it was located at 909 Second St., was shuttered Oct. 31 after five years in business.
Chef Mark Schmidt and his wife Shelly owned and operated the nationally renowned restaurant, which they plan to move to Houston.
“Mark was doing cutting-edge food in a small market, which gave him the opportunity to practice his unique food in an area where people could afford to buy it,” said Jeffery Yarbrough of Big Ink Public Relations. “Although a lot of people could afford it, the market never grew.”
Yarbrough said people started to spend their money in other ways, choosing to entertain at home instead of dining out.
The restaurant has received rave reviews from Bon Appetit, the Dallas Morning News, the Austin American-Statesman and the Austin Chronicle.
In December 2006, Food & Wine praised the eatery in an article about the country’s best restaurant dishes, citing the frozen pistachio parfait at Cafe 909.
According to the restaurant’s Web site, Schmidt has worked and taught in the restaurant industry for more than 25 years. At Café 909, he created a menu of seasonal, contemporary American cuisine that used native ingredients found in the Hill Country.
“He called his food rustic gourmet because he purchased his ingredients locally,” Yarbrough said.
Schmidt learned to cook as a young boy while living in Texas and traveling during the summers with his mother in England. He was also employed by many of Dallas’ most famous restaurants, according to the Web site.
“Though the Schmidts have enjoyed the small-town life, they are ready to embark on a new challenge in Houston,” said Yarbrough.
Mark Schmidt said Houston offers business opportunities in a larger market with more diners.
“Cafe 909 will benefit more in a larger city where customers have easier access to the restaurant,” he said. “With gas prices on the rise, it is important that our diners can enjoy our cuisine without adding to their already stressed budgets,” he said.
He also said he looks forward to working with top chefs in Houston, including Charles Clark of Ibiza, Cafe Annie’s Robert Del Grande and John Sheely at Mockingbird Bistro.
Schmidt hopes some of his former diners will journey to his new location, which he hopes to open in the spring.
“I have enjoyed my time in Marble Falls and really appreciate the support of the community,” Schmidt said.
Café 909 is just the latest Main Street-area restaurant to close in the last few months. Others include The Falls on the Bistro, Cecil & Co. Steaks & Seafood and a nightclub, the House of Blue Lights.
New owners are taking over the restaurant space that housed Cecil & Co., however.
catherine@thepicayune.com
Photo by Catherine Hosman