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It's Off To Paris For Hudson Restaurateur

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By MEGAN HUSSEY, Tribune correspondent

Published: October 31, 2007

HUDSON - For Gaetan Gessat, owner of Ile de France restaurant in Hudson, cooking has always been a passion.

'I cook because that's what I know and love,' Gessat said. 'And when I do something, I do it with all my heart.'

Gessat and his wife, Michele, have been putting their hearts into Ile de France, 139110 Old Dixie Highway, since its opening in 1982. And tonight they will bid farewell to their clientele with a Halloween buffet, one that features a variety of French epicurean delights such as coq au vin, croissants and chocolate mousse.

The restaurant is booked solid for the event. In addition, Gessat said he has received many good wishes from longtime customers.

'Some of them have been going here since we opened,' he said. 'They tell me it's the only place worth coming.'

Some of the culinary milestones accomplished in the restaurant's history can be seen posted on its walls, next to samples of French art and Gessat family photos.

There's the framed 1998 article in Bon Appetit magazine, listing the Ile de France recipe for filet mignon with green peppercorn cream sauce, as well as mentions of the restaurant in Women's News Tampa Bay and The Tampa Tribune. Also adorning the walls are autographs courtesy of George and Laura Bush, Charlie Daniels and others.

Ile de France is the second restaurant owned by Gessat, who started his culinary career as a dishwasher at a pizza restaurant in Italy. He later studied with a number of prominent French chefs, and opened his first restaurant in Belgium before coming to the United States in 1980.

He said it was the weather that brought him to Florida. Now, he and Michele are planning to reopen their restaurant in another warm state and appropriately named city: Paris, Texas. They will live in Oklahoma.

Gessat, a native of Corsica, has been known to sing a French version of 'Happy Birthday' to customers celebrating their big day.

Gessat has definite ideas about how he and his restaurant will be remembered in the Pasco County community.

'I always wanted every customer to feel that they were treated like a person here, not a green ticket,' he said. 'We treat our customers like family.'

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