We met upstairs on the second level of the restaurant where Shrimp Festival posters decorated the walls. This is one of my favorite places to eat. It’s a super restaurant where the wait staff makes you feel at home, and where your favorite meal ordered today will still be your favorite meal when you return to order it again be it a week, a month, or a year from now.  The reason is because of Chris and Rosemary Steele, and their orchestrated team working so beautifully together. Today I’ll be telling you mostly about Rosemary.

Rosemary Steele was born in Spokane, Washington. Her dad was an engineer with Schlumberger, and her mom was a teacher. Her mother was from Louisiana. Rosemary’s dad had been transferred to Mobile just after Mount St. Helens erupted.  It was while in Mobile that her mom introduced the family to Gulf Shores and its beautiful beaches. They bought a place and vacationed here whenever possible.

When Rosemary’s father was transferred to New Orleans he decided that he didn’t want to raise his children there and he spent the rest of his working career commuting. He worked two weeks on, then had one week off that he spent with the family in Gulf Shores. 

Rosemary grew up in Gulf Shores attending Gulf Shores Middle School, then graduated from Foley High School. She played soccer in high school and says she did just barely good enough with her studies to make it into college. 

Her freshman college year she went to Faulkner State in Gulf Shores, studying Business, as well as Apparel Merchandising and Design Management. During her summers in high school she worked at a clothing store underneath the Perdido Pass Restaurant which is where she met Chris, who was working in his grandfather’s restaurant upstairs. She and Chris dated through high school and while she was attending Faulkner. 

Finishing her freshman year, she and one of her girlfriends took off on a month-long adventure traveling around and exploring all parts of the United States. They stayed off the Interstate highways and explored the back roads of America. A great adventure. But she missed Chris. 

Returning to Gulf Shores, she called Chris and they met out on the Jetties down at Alabama Point. It was one of those perfect nights with a full moon, a gentle breeze, and two people in love. Chris proposed and she accepted.

At the end of summer, they both went to Auburn University to complete their degrees. Chris got his in Business, and in Restaurant Management. All thru school they worked in fields related to their studies. With a year left in school, in 1996, they came home during a break, and got married in one of the biggest weddings in Gulf Shores. She tells me they had 275 of their closest friends as guests. During Spring Break, they went to Hawaii for a honeymoon that was a wonderful gift from Chris’s grandparents. They cherish the memories but also remember it being an exhausting trip there and back. They hiked, snorkeled, and went site seeing.

After college, they moved to Atlanta. Chris got a job as Manager of Houston’s Restaurant and Rosemary worked for Vanity Fair at their corporate office. While in Atlanta, their daughter Madison was born. This event made them realize that they wanted a better life. Atlanta was nice but they wanted to raise their family in Gulf Shores. They grew up here, loved it, and knew this was where they wanted to be.  They wanted to be part of a community [“a small town with a big beach”].  They wanted to live in a place where people looked out and cared about each other. 

Chris had worked every summer at the Perdido Pass restaurant where his grandfather took him under his wing and taught him everything he knew about the food end, the business end, the bar end and the promotion end of restaurants, as well as secrets of managing a large staff. He learned about cooking and what he needed to know about purchasing food and making things work right with a restaurant. 

Chris took a job as one of the managers at The Beach Club and helped get it opened and established as a first class place to eat.  Rosemary bought into Charlie’s clothing stores (4 locations) and did what she enjoyed. After being back for a little over a year, they had an opportunity to purchase DeSoto’s (April 2000). They were 26 years old and this was a major undertaking.  

In 2002 Rosemary was pregnant with her second child and she decided that the clothing stores were just too much to handle with all the driving about the country. She sold out her share and joined Chris in running DeSoto’s, Smokey Mac’s barbeque and the Pizza Restaurant buildings.  

In 2002 they opened Rafters, which is now owned and operated by Chris’s brother and his wife. In 2004 Rafters was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan, and there was extensive damage to DeSoto’s.  

DeSotos was rebuilt, and Rafters reopened at the Wharf. Chris and Rosemary spend lots of time at DeSotos, but Rosemary feels that the freedom with either one of them being there gives her the ability to get away and spend more time with the children, and to participate in school and community activities.

They’ve had offers to expand or franchise but they feel that quality of life, family ties and being able to put out a good product are more important than getting bigger. Sometime down the way, if it’s right, it’ll happen. 

Hurricane Ivan was a learning experience. She and Chris had only been in business four years when it smashed the Alabama coast in the early hours of Sept. 16, 2004. Thinking that they had plenty of insurance and that they were ok, it seems things didn’t work out that way. 

The restaurant had several feet of water, walls were busted out and everything was a mess. They rebuilt and then were delayed from opening because of a permit mess. They didn’t want to lay off their staff, so they put them to work cleaning up and clearing out the building. Finally they reopened. It was busy beyond expectations because of all the repair crews working in the area. DeSoto’s and Mikees were about the only places to eat on the entire Island. 

What was most devastating, after finally getting reopened from Ivan’s damage, it was only nine months later that Katrina hit. It was heartbreaking. 

The restaurant was their dream…number one on their bucket list. They love the Island. The Steele’s sponsor the school sports teams with uniforms and other needs. Rosemary was president of the Junior Women’s club, a chairperson in the “Taste of the Tropics” fundraiser, served on the South Baldwin Literacy Council and helps with their Gala, and was a founding member of the Maidens and Pink Stiletto Mardi Gras Krew. 

Rosemary says, “Our area is growing so fast and it’s nice, but I hope we never lose that community feeling. What I miss from growing up (years) here is a real boardwalk where you can buy ice cream, snacks and souvenirs. It was where you went on amusement rides. It was where you met your friends.”

And just when you think you’ve dealt with it all came the oil spill IN 2010. I was asked by FOX Sports to travel with them for two weeks and do the still photography for a 12-part series on the effect of the oil spill on the environment. One stop was at DeSoto’s where we interviewed Rosemary.

At the end of the interview, we casually mentioned that we had hoped to rent a plane to travel the coast, but none were available as the other wire services had booked them up already. A call was made to Chris, who offered to fly us anywhere we wanted to go. He refused to accept any money as he felt that at a time of tragedy we all needed to help each other to make our area whole again . . .  that if helping us create this film would help our area in its recovery, then he wanted to be a part of the good that came from what was bad (spilled oil). 

Chris flew us for two days while we gathered photos of the damage. Chris had learned to fly after Katrina at the local airport, and those days after the spill he was our hero. 

The beauty of the restaurant is the owners of it. They take care of their customers. They treat and consider the staff like they are family. Some employees have been there since it opened, and all are loved.  When you walk in, you’re recognized, and when you leave you’re full, happy, and you look forward to returning.

The Steeles are part of the Island. They are a part of its history, and its traditions. They are friendly, beautiful, generous people that make the Island what it is. We ON THE ISLAND are blessed to have them as part of our community, and I am blessed to be able to call them friends.