Present Day Challenges

These interviews underline the difficulties of maintaining a French-Texan identity while living in the United States. Throughout my research, I found several examples of French culture in Texas in modern day times. The first example is the French restaurant La Madeleine, which was opened in Dallas in 1983 by Patrick Esquerre, a French native. The menu is tailored to reflect popular French food items, and the inside is designed to look like a French café. Esquerre hired French bakers from France to come and work for him in order to make his restaurant even more authentic. Additionally, there are many influences of French architecture in Texas. The most famous of these buildings is the French Legation, which is the oldest surviving building in Austin. Dubois de Saligny imported French cuisine and furnishings for the house, but he also used local builders for the design. It’s difficult to define what is really truly considered French architecture in Texas because there are many different identities and subidentities. However, this cuisine and architecture support the fact that there is a combination of French-Texan influence that remains in Texas to this very day.