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The original Chez Sophie was a fine dining, prix fixe only restaurant. Open seasonally, it attracted tremendous attention and a wide following from the Saratoga summer crowd, who seemed only too happy to take the thirty minute drive to the Sacandaga River. (Many of the clients we made then are still with us, and in several cases, the sons, daughters, and grandchildren have begun coming. We recently helped celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of a couple whose first anniversary was spent at Chez Sophie.) In 1976, Sophie and Joseph decided to move the restaurant to 69 Caroline Street in downtown Saratoga. A larger location, a more elegant facility, proximity to their customer base, and the hope of creating a less seasonal business all played a part in this decision. In the ten years that followed, the restaurant was to prove successful, although it remained seasonal. Caroline Street, however changed dramatically over that ten years, and the quality of life on that street became, for Sophie and Joseph, untenable. By 1986, Caroline Street was populated at 4 a.m. by rowdy revelers, and Sophie and Joseph decided to move back to their riverside roost in Hadley. It was at best a stop-gap measure.

Attitudes about drinking and driving had changed, and Hadley was no longer in the loop. In 1989, Sophie and Joseph rented a space on Washington Avenue in Saratoga, but at the end of that summer decided to close the restaurant. The space at 69 Caroline Street is now the Children's Museum of Saratoga.

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