Meet Philippe Placé, the bearded Frenchman who makes your dining experience come alive. Placé is the greeter who remembers your name from five years ago. The host who recites the entree you ordered and the wine you enjoyed. The server who recalls stories about your children and spouse. The raconteur who incites uproarious laughter at your table.
Placé is a force of personality, the face at the restaurant you never forget. In his youth, he served bread to Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana. Today, at age 53, he is San Antonio’s maître d’.
On the floor of Southerleigh Fine Food & Brewery, Placé is the conductor who sets the tone and temperature, sometimes with a wave of the hand, often with a hug and a side-splitting crack. He is at once a master server and a meticulous general manager, moving from table to table, mingling with customers, turning up the energy, turning on the charm. His actual title is co-founder of the Southerleigh Hospitality Group.
“I take pleasure in walking into the dining room, entertaining people, sharing stories about the food, about life, asking personal questions,” Placé says. “When you are serving someone, they should feel like they are the most important person in the world.”
How does he do it? His secret is 35 years in the making. He learned from mistakes at five-star hotels in Europe, from serving five-star generals during the Gulf War, from wisdom procured at two-star Michelin restaurants in Paris and London.
Placé makes an impression. Carol Muller remembers. Her party met him at Brasserie Mon Chou Chou, a sister restaurant of Southerleigh.
“Every single one of us felt sincerely appreciated,” Muller says. “This man truly cared about the experience everyone had, not only from the outstanding food and great service provided but the general sense of community that was there. His character and smile will keep me coming back, and many others, I’m certain.”
A native of Chartres, just outside Paris, Placé learned at an early age he would not follow his father into plumbing. Nor would he become an accountant like his mother. A poor student, he remembers teachers calling him “stupid” and “dumb.” He also remembers interrupting teachers with inappropriate jokes and hilarious impressions. “I would take over the classroom and entertain all of my fellow classmates, consistently,” Placé says. “I was capable of one-liners that would make the room explode with laughter.” His near failing grades notwithstanding, students twice elected him class president.
With next-level people skills, Placé imagined a career in hospitality. At 18, he moved to London, where he learned English, and secured a job at Claridge’s, a five-star hotel frequented by models and royalty. He arranged silverware and filled water glasses. He says he served the King of Belgium, the Queen of Spain and the Sultan of Brunei. He placed dinner rolls on the plates of Prince Charles and Lady Di. “I was a bread server for the Queen of England,” Placé says, recalling that she never touched her bread. “I was a little sad because I stayed there the whole night, hoping I would get a little closer to the Queen.”
He moved on and became an assistant manager at Hôtel Lutetia, a five-star hotel in Paris. His next assignment taught him humility and the finer points of service. As a sergeant in the Gulf War, Placé led a team of cooks and drivers for the French army.
Dressed in a tuxedo, he waited on generals, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. He was the personal maître d’ for Michel Roquejeoffre, commander of French operations.
Dinner tables were elegant. The dining hall was run with precision. Placé’s team set gold-plated silverware beside $400 plates. A string was pulled from one side of each table to the other. Then glasses were placed in exact alignment with the string. “The generals,” he says, “wanted everything in perfect order.”
After his military service and another stop at a luxury hotel, an opportunity opened in the U.S. In 1997, Placé became assistant general manager at Wheatleigh Hotel, a five-star hotel in Massachusetts. There he oversaw food and beverage operations. While hosting a wedding from Texas, he was taken by a beautiful bridesmaid, who grew up in San Antonio.
Kimberly Davidson thanked him for his service, squeezed his hand and said she loved his French accent. Placé said, “I love you and want to marry you.”
In 2001, the couple married in San Antonio, where Philippe stayed to serve as general manager at Las Canarias, a since-closed restaurant at the Omni La Mansión del Rio.
Over the next two decades, Philippe refined his craft at high-end restaurants and elevated his reputation. Tables turned. He went from soliciting advice on service to dispensing it.
“You have a million details that you need to know,” he says. “And the beauty of it is it’s going to take 10 years to be able to walk in the room and know exactly what’s not right in place.”
He knows instantly if the music is one decibel too loud or if a napkin is out of place. He recognizes at once that the party at table five needs attention or if a water glass needs to be filled on the far side of the room. Placé has an eye for perfection, muscle memory for excellence.
Southerleigh recently received a Michelin Bib Gourmand in the inaugural Texas Michelin Guide.
Amir Samandi dines at Southerleigh or Mon Chou Chou in the Pearl district at least once a month. When he and his wife arrive for an anniversary dinner, a bottle of champagne is waiting at a special table. Their names are written on their dessert.
“Philippe has a way of making you feel special,” says Samandi, 45, who runs a local nonprofit. “He’s not looking around in 10 directions. He’s focused on you. I find that remarkable and I’ve traveled the world quite a bit. Philippe makes you feel like a VIP. He does that for everybody. I don’t see him treat the mayor any differently than a stranger.”
There are no strangers in Placé’s dining room. Only friends. He never forgets a face or key details about a new customer. He is always present, never distracted, eyes locked on the most important person in the world.
The one right in front of him.
