When Bernard Tronche left France with friends on an ambitious trip to see the Americas, he did not imagine that decades later he would be celebrating the 40th anniversary of his first restaurant. Saint-Emilion, which Tronche opened in Fort Worth on March 8, 1985, has survived challenging economies and culinary trends by offering French cuisine in a cozy fine dining setting.

Today guests are still greeted by Tronche, who serves as the maitre d’ and host, in addition to his other responsibilities, like bookkeeping and discussing the wine list with his sommelier and menu with the kitchen staff. 

The three-course prix fixe menu is served Thursday through Sunday, with dessert and appetizers offered a la carte. A post-pandemic adaptation is the addition of an off-menu dinner on Wednesdays, themed around a wine, a French specialty or highlighting a region of a European country.

Although Tronche and his wife of 42 years, Karin Kelly, visit France at least once a year, sometimes with customers, don’t expect to find the latest trends on the seasonally changing menu. He knows his audience isn’t looking for what he calls “tweezer food,” intricate dishes plated to get attention on Instagram. Instead, he offers French food popularized by Julia Child, with various renditions of duck and fish always available.

Longtime Fort Worth food writer June Naylor credits Tronche with introducing Cowtown to French cuisine. “There were ‘continental’ restaurants before he came to town, but nothing purely French,” Naylor says. “Other French chefs have come and gone, but Bernard has been here all the while, serving as the gold standard bearer.”

Tronche’s decision to source the freshest fish possible and announce them on the blackboard was revolutionary at the time. It was such a hit that it inspired him to open a fish market down the street called La Marée. Customers could also buy French wine and hard-to-find ingredients in the years before Central Market. It later expanded to serve takeout with the help of Louise Lamensdorf, then renowned for The French Apron Cooking School she co–owned and later of Bistro Louise fame.

Over the years, Tronche launched other restaurants: La Marée, Tutti Pazzi, an Italian fine dining establishment downtown, Sapristi, a French bistro with a second location in Florida, Paco and John, which was a partnership between Tronche and long-time employee Francisco Islas Sr. and Paris 7th with its larger footprint and expanded menu just down the street. All have since been sold or closed. 

The customers have kept Tronche going this long, he says. Every week people tell him they’ve been coming each year to celebrate an anniversary or that Saint-Emilion means so much to them. 

“The restaurant has survived through a lot of changes, a lot of different economies, a lot of ups and downs, and growth in Fort Worth, and it’s still, you know, a very good, a very good business,” Tronche says.

 

Daube de Cailles à la Provençale

Ingredients

• 

  Daube de Cailles à la Provençale

  4 slices of bacon 

• Salt and pepper
• 4 quails (semi-boneless preferred)
• Olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Pastis, optional
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 branch celery, sliced
• Flour, optional
• 2 or 3 shallots, peeled and sliced
• 6-8 garlic cloves, peeled, lightly crushed 
• 1 bottle red wine, preferably Grenache, Syrah & Mourvedre (G.S.M) blend 
• 1 cup chicken stock
• Peel of one orange, julienne thinly a couple of peels for decoration
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2-3 branches fresh thyme
• 1-2 branches fresh rosemary
• A few sprigs of flat leaf parsley
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup pearl onions, peeled
• Butter
• Sugar
• Black olives (Niçoise or similar)

Preparation 

 In a Dutch oven big enough to hold the quails, sear briefly the slices of bacon, leaving them soft. Remove and set aside.

Salt and pepper your quails. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pot and sear each quail on the outside until golden colored. Before removing the quails, add a tablespoon of Pastis and flame it. Remove the quails, set aside.

Add a small amount of olive oil, add carrots and celery.

Sprinkle two teaspoons of flour over the vegetables (optional if gluten free). Stir the vegetables. Add the shallots and garlic, cook the vegetables until lightly caramelized, stirring a few times. Do not let the shallots and garlic burn.

When the vegetables are colored, add wine and chicken stock, squeeze the juice of the peeled orange in it, add tomato paste, herbs (thyme, rosemary, parsley and bay leaves) and orange peel. Bring to a simmer and leave stock simmering while you prepare the quails: wrap each quail’s body with a slice of bacon. Use a toothpick to secure the bacon if necessary.

When wrapped, return the quails to the pot and let cook on a low simmer for 25-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, caramelize your pearl onions in a sauté pan with a touch of olive oil and butter and a sprinkle of sugar. When cooked, lower the heat and add the olives to the pan and a little sauce from the pot to warm up the olives.

Remove the thyme, rosemary and bay leaves from the pot and discard. The dish is ready to be served or can be stopped at this point and reheated later.

Service

The sauce can be left as is or strained. Place the quails on heated plates, top with olives and pearl onions, spoon the sauce over the quail, sprinkle the orange julienne and add flat leaf parsley on top.

Suggested Garniture

Red Camargue rice, fresh tagliatelle or roasted fingerling potatoes

Suggested Wine

Rouge from Southern Rhône