Chef/Owner Mark Schmidt has worked and taught in the restaurant industry for more than 25 years.
At Café 909 in Marble Falls, Texas, he creates a menu of seasonal, contemporary American cuisine
utilizing many of the native ingredients found in the Hill Country of Central Texas.
Mark was introduced to cooking as a young boy while living in Texas and spending summers with his mother
in England. He worked his way through the ranks of many of Dallas's most beloved restaurants such as,
Deep Ellum Café, The Grape, Jennivine, City Café and Zizikis, learning from personal experience and
from those he was working with. Most recently, Mark was Chef de Cuisine at the nationally acclaimed
Compound Restaurant in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Prior to that, as Executive Chef of AquaKnox in Dallas
( named one of the Best New Restaurants of 1998 by Food & Wine magazine), he worked directly with
Chef/Owner Stephen Pyles on development of the menu as well as assisting Pyles with his PBS cooking
series, New Tastes from Texas.
While at AquaKnox, Mark received his first of three invitations to cook at the prestigious James Beard
Foundation in New York City. While serving as Executive Chef of Max's Oyster Bar in West Hartford,
Connecticut, he received his second invitation, as well as garnering exciting reviews from the New York
Times. Mark's most recent trip to the James Beard Foundation occurred in 2001 while at The Compound
Restaurant in Santa Fe. Also in 2002, Mark helped Chef Mark Kiffin host a James Beard out-of house
event, including such notable chefs as Nancy Oakes, Nancy Silverton, Grant MacPherson and George Morrone.
In addition to the James Beard Foundation, Mark has enjoyed teaching and cooking at food events around
the country including Share Our Strength in both Texas and New York City; Texas Hill Country Wine and
Food Festival; and The Santa Fe Wine and Chile Fiesta. Eager to return to his native Texas, Mark and
his wife Shelly moved to Marble Falls in the summer of 2003, to proudly open their restaurant, Café 909,
in the fall of that year.
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