Aruba Dining Restaurants - Dishes -French Steak House

Founder of The French Steakhouse

Francois Toulouse, our first chef and founder of the French Steakhouse was born in Saintes Maries de la Mer, a small fishing village with about five hundred and fifty inhabitants. His formative years were spent with his parents in the little café-restaurant on the harbor side. As he got older, he often helped his father in the kitchen and he developed a liking for preparing food. He attended the regular schools and made friends easily.

During the summer vacations he used to go with his best friend Pierre to his uncle’s ranch in the Camargue, the only place in Europe where cows, bulls and horses still roam freely and are occasionally herded by cowboys. Francois became a good horseman. When he was about seventeen, a new assistant notary with his lovely daughter Cecilia, moved into his village. Francois was immediately swept away by her striking beauty.They went on occasional walks by the harbor and to church dances, and their relationship grew and blossomed.

One day, while herding , Francois had an accident. He fell off his horse and broke his leg in two places and had a spinal injury. He was rushed to the nearest hospital in Arles, 36 km (21 miles) north from Saintes Marie and was placed in a cast. He was admitted for six weeks, and unable to communicate, he missed Cecilia dearly. When he got out of the hospital Cecilia had fallen for his best friend Pierre. Devastated, he packed some bags, took the bus to Marseilles and accepted a job as a deckhand on the first ship that would take him. He found that the work was hard but he did not have the pain of seeing Cecilia and Pierre together. Nevertheless she was always on his mind. While on the ship his old injury started acting up and Francois was in the sickbay for about a week. Rio de Janeiro in Brazil was the first harbor they entered and the ships’ doctor had him hospitalized there. After three weeks Francois was ready to travel again but his ship had sailed on and no ships were expected in the near future due to the outbreak of World War II. He had a series of jobs, mostly in restaurants. The loss of Cecilia still made him restless and he could not settle anywhere for long. One evening while having a drink in a pub, he met someone who was going to take a huge herd of cattle from the plains of Brazil crossing over the Iguacu River, through Uruguay and into Argentina. He was immediately attracted to Buenos Aires, applied for a position at the famous Shorthorn Grill on Corrientes where he learned to prepare one of their specialties, "The Churrasquito". The chef of the most distinguished Buenos Aires grillroom, the Alvaer Palace Hotel’s, La Bourgogne Restaurant, the place where all of the high society wined and dined, learned about Francois and hired him as a sous chef. He became a well-known chef and cooked for many prominent figures, among them Juan Domingo Peron and his mistress Evita. When Francois first saw Evita , his heart became overflown with memories of his Cecilia. Juan and Evita liked his cooking and when Juan Domingo Peron became the president in 1946, Francois was invited to be his personal chef in the presidential palace. Francois did not hesitate and accepted with both hands. Every day he would prepare the most exquisite selection of dishes, to fall into grace with Evita.

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He secretly loved and admired her. Yet the years went by and in 1952 Evita fell ill and died. Francois was devastated by her sudden death, he missed the sweet smell of her perfume and he knew then that he had to move on once more. His journey took him through Chile where he took seasonal jobs in vineyards.

Gradually he moved through Bolivia, Peru, and finally he settled in Barranquilla, Colombia. When he arrived in Barranquilla, it was in low tourist season and none of the restaurants were in need of a chef. A friend who he had met earlier in La Paz, Bolivia, had an antique store and he took Francois in to help him out. One day, a beautiful Aruban girl walked in with her parents to look around and Francois served them. They picked out some items and asked Francois if it would be possible to have them delivered to their hotel room. In the early evening Francois went to deliver the box of antiques. He knocked on the door and this was opened by the girl he had seen in the store. Francois gave her the box, her hand brushed his, and their eyes met for an instant. They were interrupted by the call of her mother asking "Rosita, who is at the door?" She lowered her eyes, thanked him for delivering the box, and went inside. From then on all she could do was think about this handsome man.

That same weekend the village was celebrating the traditional "Feria de la Flores", with its big annual parade. Many of the towns people would be dancing in full costume on the streets while others would look on as the parade goes by. That is where Francois and Rosita met again. Encouraged by her sensuous smile, Francois approached her and asked to join him in the festivities. They danced, talked and laughed a lot, and they became an inseparable couple. When Rosita’s parents realized that something was starting to blossom, they spoke with Francois and asked if he would be interested to live and work on Aruba. Rosita’s parents were major shareholders in the Manchebo Beach Resort and they were planning to open a restaurant there. Francois accepted the position as chef. Because of his former culinary experiences, he was given free hand in developing his most exquisite dishes on the menu and for the decorations in the restaurant itself. Their wedding reception coincided with the first day of the opening of the French Steakhouse and Rosita looked adorable in her long wedding gown. The French Steakhouse acquired a reputation for superb food and service, thanks to Francois’ love and devotion in cooking and his insistence on perfection and high quality. Francois and Rosita worked together many hours in the restaurant, and prepared the most delicate dishes. On their days off they loved to go on her fathers motorboat and travel around Aruba. Then one day, while on one of their trips around the island, an extremely strong wind build up and caused their little boat to capsize. Immediately Francois realized that Rosita got hit by something and was in trouble. He swam over towards her as fast as he could to help her back on the boat. It was hard to get a hold of her because she was unconscious and unable to help herself but somehow he managed. His arms and legs were tiring. He could not hold on much longer and he could see his boat sinking. With the boat gone, Francois realized their doom, he embraced her for the last time, held on to her and they both drowned.

The remains of Francois and Rosita were never found and the staff of the French Steakhouse has never been able to formally lay to rest the remains of their founder and his wife...