|
|
|
 |
|
Foodreference.com - Articles Section
Food Articles and Beverage Articles - Essays and Articles about food, wine, beer and spirits history, science, culture, production, use and appreciation of food and beverages`
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
YOU ARE HERE >>
|
|
|
|
|
|
PAGE 2 - HISTORY OF ANTOINE’S RESTAURANT, NEW ORLEANS
Mme Antoine carried on the operation after her husband's death. It was her son Jules, who was only eleven years old, who began to show the most intense interest in the restaurant. For the next six years Mme Antoine took young Jules as an apprentice and taught him all she had to teach. At seventeen Jules was sent abroad to France to work in some of the greatest kitchens in Strasbourg, Paris and Marseilles. He even went for a while to London.
After four years abroad, Jules returned to New Orleans, but his mother was still not ready to give him full control of the restaurant. She wanted him to work for awhile as manager of another restaurant, to prove he was ready. Jules became the chef of the famous Pickwick Club in New Orleans. In 1887 his mother asked him to take over the operation of Antoine's.
Some time later, Pierre Bienvenu Roy came to New Orleans to do some business here and to stay with his dear friend Mme Antoine. He brought with him his daughter Althea, who won the attention of Jules. Some weeks later Jules was off to Lafayette, to the plantation of the Roys, to meet Althea's entire family and woo her into becoming his wife.
 Jules was successful in his mission and soon they were married.
It was not long before Althea gave birth to a daughter Marie Louise, then a son, Jules, and then another son, Roy.
Jules was a master of his art and brought the name of Antoine's to international fame. He was responsible for a major part in the growth of the restaurant. He created many dishes, the most famous being Oysters Rockefeller.
The third Jules found his passion not in cuisine, but rather in romance languages and became a distinguished professor of language. It was Roy who was to carry on the house of Antoine, and he set to work learning the business under his father's careful tutelage.
In 1923, father Jules took Roy to France and to the great kitchens there, so that Roy might observe and remember all that he saw and tasted. Jules gradually handed over the responsibilities of the operation to Roy, so that in 1934, when Jules died, there was an easy transition of proprietorship from father to son.
Roy continued the operation, expanding and improving through the years. He added the 1840 Room, a small private room designed to honor the year Antoine's was founded, and the Rex Room, decorated to honor the society and past kings of the Krewe of Rex of Mardi Gras.
Roy also created and added many dishes to the menu such as Pigeonneaux Royaux Sauce Paradis.
Roy Alciatore ran the restaurant from 1934 until the middle sixties, when his nephews Roy and Billy Guste,Jr., sons of his sister (now Marie Louise Alciatore Guste) came in to help him modernize accounting procedures. These nephews are both lawyers and handled all the legal work for Antoine's. When Roy Alciatore died in 1972, Roy and Billy Guste took over the proprietorship of the business for the family.
In 1969 Roy Guste,Jr., son of Roy Guste, graduated from high school, began college and started to work part time at Antoine's. Roy,Jr., was headed toward a degree in law, like his father and his grandfather, but became intrigued by Antoine's and was soon off to France to learn the language and cuisine. After a stay of about a year and a half, combining study in the cooking schools of Pans and work tours in great restaurants, and becoming generally familiar with the chefs and owners of the greatest houses of France, young Roy returned to New Orleans to dedicate himself to the continuation of the House of Antoine.
In December of 1975, Roy Guste, Jr., at the age of 24, was officially named proprietor and given the reigns of the operation of the family restaurant. In 1983 he let the restaurant to pursue a career in writing.
Today, Antoine's is now overseen by a board of family members who are both capable of and enthusiastic about carrying the name well into the 21s Century.
Additional Information: Antoine’s Restaurant Website
BACK TO PAGE 1 OF ANTOINE’S HISTORY
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Please feel free to link to any pages of FoodReference.com from your website.
All contents of this website are copyright © 1990 - 2008 James T. Ehler and FoodReference.com unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. You may copy and use portions of this website for non-commercial, personal use only. Any other use of the materials in this website without prior written permission is prohibited.
Contact email:
james@foodreference.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Click on the
3 Young Chefs
for a Directory of the best
Cooking Schools
Restaurant, Hospitality & Hotel Management,
Travel & Tourism Schools
|
|
|
Get a Free Trial issue!
SAVEUR
The Award-Winning magazine that celebrates the people, places and rituals that establish culinary traditions
|
|
|
|
