WAY
back in the summer of 1999 we sat around the Boardroom Table in the The Grille
at the The Resort Course of The
Westin La Cantera Hill Country Resort. The Resort was sparkling new,
just opened, and our fine dinning restaurant had yet to open. Around the
table were Westin executives, the Matre 'd, servers and our consulting Chef
Mark Miller. Yes, THE Mark
Miller of Coyote Cafe fame. I
was one of the servers. The hot topic was how are we going to pronounce
the name of our restaurant.
We all agreed that it sounded best as
"Fran-CHESS-kas." It is just how most of us said it. Then
Chef Miller gave us a lesson in European pronunciations;
the "Fran-CHESS-kas" we were saying was Italian and we wanted to
stay away from being an Italian restaurant. Since we have more
Spanish influence in our cuisine, culture, and region he
maintained that we should use the
Spanish pronunciation .."Fran-ses-kas." From there on
we agreed, the Spanish pronunciation was the way to go.
Nowhere in all our discussion do I remember us talking about
what the name meant. We all got that it was a girl's name, which is obvious,
the legend that our name is honoring was the prettiest lady in the county who
stole the heart of a young man that was destined to become a priest.
What I did not catch is that it was acknowledgment of France
or French heritage which was itself a reference to freedom or "free
one!"
Many will agree that this French Spirit of freedom is
vibrantly on display in the feats of the month long race that tours the
country, called the Tour de France.
AND it
can be tasted in the wines made from their land! Which is why our wine
list is featuring French wines during July. Check out this wine list here.
Featured Red Wine:
Featured White Wine:
- Sauvignon Blanc, Sancerre, JEAN REVERDY "La Reine Blanche" Loire, France, 2011
- Chardonnay, Chablis, DOMAINE LONG-DEPAQUIT Burgundy, France, 2011
- Viognier, CINQUANTE-CINQ, Vin de Pays d'Oc, Languedoc, France, 2012
- Melon de Bourgogne, Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine, Sur Lie, DOMAINES VINET, "DOMAINE ST. MARTIN" Loire, France, 2011
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