"My love of cooking
comes from my childhood
and my mother's table"
"Tricot, the small village in the Picardie
region of France, where I was born and
raised, is located only fifty miles north of
Paris.  It is a great agricultural center for
this area.  Each family has a garden to
supply their own kitchen with fresh
produce and herbs.  Only the very freshest
of foods were served at my mother's table.  
We enjoyed what was in season.  There
were no frozen foods or pre-packaged
foods in our house!

The principles of my food preparation
style were firmly established here and
would come to serve me well in my
chosen profession"
Chef Andre Delacroix
Andre's formal training into the ranks of
chef du cuisine began at the very young
age of fourteen.  Apprenticeship took
him through several regional
restaurants. It was then on to the Georges
V in Paris, before beginning a six-year
tour as chef with the French Club
Mediterranee.  As that tour came to a
close, Andre found himself in Texas to
begin a ten-year stint with the Four
Seasons Hotel  (serving all that time in  
downtown Houston at the
critically-acclaimed restaurant Deville)

Chef Delacroix now has a true showcase
for his very personal style of food
preparation and service, and a vision to
go with it!

"I deliver the best elements of French
cooking in simple Texas style!"

Andre' has adapted traditional recipes from
his native France, substituting heavier
sauces with lighter, more pure-flavored
ones - with a taste of Texas thrown-in!
He uses no cream, hardly any butter,
very little sugar, and absolutely
NO preservatives.
The results are fresh and delicious!
     The addition of The Olive Grove at West View has fast become Andre's favorite hobby- with the first trees
planted in 2001 at our home on the wonderful hillsides just outside of Burton.  On Thanksgiving Day 2009,
family and friends enjoyed the first ripe olives from some of Andre's 160 olive trees.
                                                                                  
The on-going success of the trees provided more fruit during the autumn of 2010.  
The drought of 2011 meant no olives at all, followed by beautiful harvests in August 2012 & 2013. A Texas-size
hailstorm in early Spring 2014 stripped all the blossoms from the trees; and then the late Spring of 2015 saw a hard
freeze, happening after the trees were already in full-bloom, meaning no olives produced at all for those two years.
                                                                                                                                                                  
2017 - 2018 - 2019 crops saw big improvement with the trees simply loaded with beautiful blossoms and bees!
And we can report that the 2020 harvest should yield good numbers of both Mission and Arbequina olives.
       We'll be hand-processing and curing them for use in the restaurant.   This fall, we hope to have this popular  entree
back on the menu:  Chicken Nicoise featuring our olives in the sauce!
                                                             

Please Note . . . Our olive grove is not to be confused as a part of the restaurant itself nor are they visible from the restaurant.
They are a personal pastime /interest for Andre and family.   
    

THE OLIVE GROVE
AT WEST VIEW