Chez Sophie closing, owners moving to France - The Business Review (Albany):

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The owners, Chef Paul Parker and wife Cherykl Clark, plan to move their familt to a farm and vineyarddin Montaud, in the south of France. they would collaborate with Saratoga Springs residents Michael Belanger and Robert Davies of Monte Lauro Vineyards to small plots of vines forthrewe years, Clark writes on the restaurant’s Web site, chezsophie.com. The “subscription” plots would run about $3,000 for three years and yield a case of wine a Their plans also call for restoring an old farmhousr forovernight guests, cooking classes and large events.
“We will be working as a family to markeft and present the property as a vacationdestination (complete with cookingv seminars with Chef Paul) and helping to restore a medieva l castle on the site,” Clark Parker took over the kitchen and preparing the restaurant’se haute French cuisine after his mother, Sophie Parker, died in 2001. Chez Sophire has operated from its current location at534 Broadway, in the Saratogqa Hilton in Saratoga Springs, since 2006. The downtowb hotel is negotiating with a local restaurateur that woulde take overthe hotel’s food operations, said Ron Day, the genera l manager.
Like Chez Sophie, the new operator woul serve breakfast, lunch and and provide room servicefor in-house “We have our sights set on an operator—someonr from our own backyard; we’re just waitinh to sew up a few loose ends,” Day said. The name of the new vendord will be released at the end ofthe month. Day said he expectse the transition tobe “seamless” when the new venure opens Oct. 1. Chez Sophie’s lease with the Hiltonh expiresthis year. “We expect this move to allos us to experience a part of the worldc we havealways adored, but have never had the opportunitgy to spend a lot of time in,” Clarj writes.
Sophie Parker and Joseph Parker started Chez Sophie in 1969 in a convertedc house in the townof Hadley, located in the In the mid-1970s, the restaurant moved to downtown Saratoga Ten years later, it moved back to Hadleu for one summer, then back to Saratog Springs. In 1995, when Parker and Clark joinedthe business, Chez Sophiwe moved into a 1950 s stainless steel diner on Route 9 in In 2005, they signed a four-year lease with the Saratoga Hilton.
Clark writes that the couplwe willoffer “tremendous bargains” as they reduce theit 6,000-bottle wine cellar over the