Philippe Schmidt parts ways with Legacy Restaurants

When the Press last spoke with Philippe Schmidt, he was excited about all the plans he'd made with Legacy Restaurants, owners of Antone's and Ninfa's. He'd been working on the new Antone's Market on Westheimer, and expected to open Philippe, his own restaurant, as well. But things change.

Philippe and Legacy Restaurants have parted ways. "It doesn't really change anything at Antone's Market, since we developed the recipes together and the rest of the staff will carry on," says Chris Harter, president and CEO of Legacy Restaurants. "The timing was off for the signature Philippe restaurant...The space we needed for such a place will not be available inside the Loop for a couple of years." Asked if he knew what Philippe's doing now, Harter says, "No, but he's probably taking a very well-deserved vacation."

But Schmidt is not lounging around. In fact, he says, "This was not necessarily planned. We were trying to do too much, and it was taking too long to do things. Maybe we didn't know each other well enough...It's sad. I worked very hard for the last four months, but now I've turned the page; in fact, my head is spinning with all the ideas I have." Stay tuned.