Chef and restaurateur Chris Wadsworth stunned the local restaurant community with his announcement late Friday that he was closing his popular Mid City restaurant Goûter Saturday night and leaving the restaurant business altogether.
Goûter opened just 10 months ago at 3897 Government St. after an extensive renovation, and was doing well, according to Wadsworth.
“The business was paying its bills from day one, which is pretty impressive,” he says. “No one was getting rich, but no one in the restaurant business ever does.”
But Wadsworth says his decision wasn’t motivated by financial issues. Rather, after nearly 25 years as a chef and, later, a restaurant owner, he decided he wanted to spend more time with his family.
“At some point you realize the time you are missing from kids and wife and family isn’t worth it,” Wadsworth says. “It’s like you’ve been cheating on your wife and kids for years because the restaurant comes first.”
Wadsworth—who also founded and ran the nonprofit program Triumph Kitchen, which taught at-risk youth the skills needed to prepare for a career in the culinary field—says he started to think about walking away from Goûter during the holidays. Then, early this month, one of his Triumph Kitchen students died of a drug overdose. Wadsworth was very close to the student and was devastated by the death.
“That crystallized it for me,” he says. “Life is short and I’m only 38 years old. I started in this business at 14. It’s all I’ve ever done and I’ve got time to start a new career.”
Wadsworth, who left school at 15, plans to enroll in college and pursue a career in the juvenile justice system.
“That’s all I can say for sure right now,” he says. “But I will be involved in juvenile justice.”
As for the 3,000-square-foot space on Government Street, building’s owner and manager already are getting calls from prospective tenants.
“There’s been tremendous interest,” says Susannah Bing, whose firm, Louisiana Purchase Real Estate Services, manages the space. “At this point, it’s turnkey ready for another restaurant.”
—Stephanie Riegel
