Sacramento County
Biographies
RESTAURANT De FRANCE
RESTAURANT De FRANCE, Faure & Becker,
proprietors. This institution, having the greatest prestige of all in Sacramento,
was established in pioneer times by A. Mouton, a Frenchman who was widely known
as a restauranteur and baker for many years. It
was afterward kept by Louis Payne, who for fifteen years was the popular
proprietor of the French Hotel on Second street; and it came into the
hands of the present management in 1888, Mr. Payne having transferred his
interest in them in March of that year. Its location, on the northwest
corner of Fifth and K streets, in the Metropolitan building, is at once central
and desirable. The main dining-hall comfortably seats eighty persons,
while in addition there are two private dining-rooms, each having a seating
capacity of twenty-four guests, and four smaller ones, suited to smaller
parties, besides of course the kitchen and other rooms, all on one
floor. A genuine French chef de cuisine is employed. Julien Faure, the senior member of the firm, was born in Hautes Pyrenees, Southern
France, September 11,
1852. His father, Alexander Faure, was a farmer; his mother’s maiden name
was Madaline Pene. At
the tender age of eleven years young Julien began to
learn the trade of pastry cook, at Pau. On
hearing the accounts of his friend La Louche, who had
made a fortune at the Bay here in California, he
determined to emigrate to the Golden
State. Arriving at San
Francisco from Bordeaux,
he was first employed at the Sanford House. Eight
or ten months afterward he went to Salinas,
this State, and was employed in a French restaurant there a little more than a
year and a half. Returning to San Francisco,
he was chef at the Occidental two years, but he soon lost some time on
account of impaired health. In March, 1876, he came to the Capital City,
about the time Louis Payne took charge of the French Hotel, and was chef
at the Arcade in 1878, and furnished the dinner for the Press banquet in the
presence of King Kalakaua and his suite, who were at
that time making a tour of this country. Subsequently for eight years he
was chef at the Western Hotel in this city, which position he left to
become a member of the present firm, in 1888. Mr. Faure was married in
October, 1884, to Miss Emma Trope, daughter of Alexander Trope, who came from France
and settled in Sacramento in
1852. She is a native of this city. Their children are three
sons. Mr. Faure has been a member of the A. O. U. W., the Druids and the
Red Men. In the latter organization he is Past Grand Sachem, and he has
represented his lodge in the grand council of the order at San
Francisco, in August, 1889. A. Becker, the other
member of the above firm, was born in Calaveras
County, this State, December 15, 1862. His father, John Becker, a brewer,
came to California in 1852, and
established the Altaville Brewery. His mother, nee
Elizabeth Myers, was a native of Baden, Germany. He
was next to the youngest in a family of five sons. His first station after
arriving at the years of responsibility was in a Stockton
brewery, and the next at the San Joaquin House in that city. In 1883 he
was employed by Louis Payne at the French Hotel in Sacramento,
and there he had charge of the dining-rooms until he formed his present
partnership relation.
Transcribed 10-3-07 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated
History of Sacramento County, California. Pages 772-773.
Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.
© 2007 Marilyn R. Pankey.