Chef Mark Schmidt Returns to Rainbow Lodge

The Rainbow Lodge, a true Houston original, has announced the return of Mark Schmidt as executive chef. Schmidt previously held the title from 2009 to 2011 after which he moved to Austin where he launched and ran Blackbird & Henry. Sadly, the restaurant closed and Schmidt is back to his old stomping grounds.

"It is tough to close a restaurant that you put your heart and soul into, but it is comforting to have a soft place to land, and Rainbow Lodge is definitely that place for me," says Schmidt. "There is a sense of comfort and security here. I was missing Houston, and the opportunity to rejoin the Lodge came available at just the right time."

Schmidt says he understands the food philosophy of the 30-year-old restaurant and its owner, Hansen, and that the style of food and cooking at Rainbow Lodge runs parallel to his own - "my food just fits here," he says. He is looking forward to continuing the restaurant's tradition of serving an abundance of wild game, quality seafood and produce, and to working with ingredients from the restaurant's garden and citrus grove, which have expanded and matured since he was last in the Lodge's kitchen. "We even have our own honey bees now, which is a wonderful thing," says the chef.