Notable New Orleanians: A Tricentennial Tribute

A NTOINE A LCIATORE (1824-1875)
Antoine Alciatore.
THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION, 1994.89.61.4.
In 1840, Marseilles native Antoine Alciatore opened his first restaurant in New Orleans.
Relocated to its present location in 1868, Antoine’s Restaurant is still owned and operated by his
descendants, a feat unmatched in longevity by any other local business. Notable for its food, size,
reputation, and glamour, Antoine’s Restaurant has been the oldest in the city since at least 1905,
when a dining room renovation led to newspaper headlines about “the old Landmark, famed for
its excellent cuisine.” 1 Alciatore early on established his importance by offering his customers the
experience of dining out for celebration as opposed to offering a rooming house that fed its boarders
a daily meal or a tavern that fed travelers.
Born and trained as a chef in Marseilles, Alciatore emigrated through New York to New Orleans,
where he worked at the St. Charles Hotel. His first restaurant was part of a boarding house. He
married Julie Freyss, an Alsatian whom he had met when both were crossing from Europe to
America. With a growing family of seven children, the couple in 1868 purchased a double Creole
townhouse on St. Louis Street, to which in 1874 they added cast iron pilasters and a prominent
Mansard-style roof. At the time, the business operated as a restaurant, lodging, and boarding
house. Three years later, Antoine returned to France, where he died of tuberculosis.
Widowed with a large family, Julie Freyss Alciatore stayed on, managing and improving the business
until her retirement in 1887. She sent her young son Jules to France for training. Jules would
become the next proprietor, inventing some of Antoine’s signature dishes including Oysters
Rockefeller, “often imitated, but never duplicated.” A typical advertisement for Antoine’s dating from
1916 names Jules Alciatore “Proprietor” and his list of new creations Oysters à la Ellis, Soufflé of
Pompano, and Poulet à la Rupinicoscoff. 2 Under Jules’ leadership, the restaurant expanded into nearby
buildings on both sides of 713 St. Louis St., demolishing adjacent service buildings to create a covered
courtyard space now known as the Edwardian Room. An expansion into another courtyard created
the elegant Rex room, perhaps the city’s most prestigious private dining space. In the meantime,
the little French family passageways that are part of every Creole townhouse remained, adding to the
sense of spatial mystery that diners experience as they navigate the restaurant’s complex floor plans.
Jules’ eldest son Roy Alciatore succeeded him in 1934, serving as proprietor with great distinction
until 1972. No dish left the fabled kitchen without passing his inspection. The last proprietor
to be named Alciatore, he left children and grandchildren as proprietors, all of them direct descendants
of Antoine. At the present writing, the proprietor is Rick Blount, Roy’s grandson.
At a capacity of one thousand, Antoine’s size has made it the premier site in New Orleans for
banquets. During Carnival season, social, political and Mardi Gras organizations compete to dine
there as the ideal place to see and be seen in a festive season. Seldom open to the public, these
events contribute to the restaurant’s cachet with a sense of exclusiveness that has never hurt it. Its
Rex and Proteus organization luncheons have filled the restaurant to the brim. For fifty years, the
festive Battle of New Orleans banquet of the Louisiana Historical Society (q.v.) filled the Edwardian
room with toasts and historical speeches lasting well past midnight.
The formally attired waiters at Antoine’s are exceptional, trained to explain the intricate menu
with its French-named dishes. They remember their customers, who also ask for them by name.
This practice is found occasionally elsewhere, but remains distinctively Antoine’s, where at the current
writing waiter Sterling Constant is in his fiftieth year. In 1918, when another waiter died
approaching his fiftieth year with Antoine’s, headlines read, “one of the most familiar figures in
New Orleans, and for nearly half a century connected with Antoine’s restaurant….” 3
For further reading, see Roy F. Guste, Jr., Antoine’s Restaurant, Since 1840, Cookbook (New Orleans, 1978); Acts of Abel
Dreyfous, N.P., December 24, 1877, Notarial Archives Division; Civil District Court docket 209-046.
1 The Times-Picayune, October 1, 1905.
2 New Orleans Item, January 22, 1916.
3 New Orleans States, July 4, 1918.
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