Chef Matt McCallister’s Homewood to Close Feb. 19

D Magazine broke the news Friday that Homewood will close after serving its last meal on Feb. 19. Brian Reinhardt reported that much-lauded pastry chef Maggie Huff and chef de cuisine Kerry Moffett were terminated by ownership last fall and that ownership was seeking a simpler, perhaps more broadly appealing menu.

Chef Matt McCallister rose to local culinary stardom at the helm of FT33, which opened in 2012. For years it was one of the most sought-after reservations in the city. McCallister received James Beard semifinalist nominations for best chef in America in 2014, 2015 and 2016. FT33 closed in 2018, at which time McCallister said he’d achieved everything he wanted to with the concept and wasn’t “going to ride this shit into the ground.”

Homewood opened in 2019 to much hype; Patricia Sharpe wrote in Texas Monthly that the chef had come back strong with a restaurant that was less about flash and more about flavor, citing particularly those now-famous fluffy parkerhouse rolls.

Prior to its opening, McCallister told the Observer Homewood was going to be a great neighborhood restaurant with “approachable, creatively done food but doesn’t require a dictionary for you to decipher the chef’s code of what he’s doing.”

However, as we note in our summary of Homewood in our Top 100 restaurants, “McCallister is McCallister, which means this kitchen is still ultra-creative.”

Homewood’s owner, Michael Barnett, told Reinhardt, “We just couldn’t stay in business.”

As always, we’re eager to see what McCallister has up his tattooed sleeve next.