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About Pierre Pelech

By Special Order:
Roast Suckling Pig for 6 to 8 people.

E-mail:
chez.pierre@verizon.net

Name:
Pierre Pelech
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Occupation:
Chef/owner of Chez Pierre (an authentic French bistro),
44250 Town Center Way in Palm Desert, 346-1818.
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Home:
Palm Desert, originally from Pau, France
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Background:
His interesting culinary journey has covered destinations in the French Riviera, Polynesia, the Caribbean and Los Angeles. Locally, he was a chef at Bighorn Country Club in Palm Desert and was the chef at the Heart Institute in Rancho Mirage, working with Dr. Jack
Sternlieb.
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Favorite foods to prepare: 
Wild game and fish 

Most memorable cooking experience: He represented the state of California at a state dinner in Washington D.C. for Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
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Recipe for success:
"Hard work and love of what you're doing. I'm a lucky man because I can't wait to go to work every morning. It's a pleasure to give pleasure."

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Proudest cooking accomplishment:
Teaching blind children how to cook at the Braille Institute in Los Angeles.

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Cooking philosophy:
"If I can't eat it or drink it, I will not serve it."
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What people don't know:
He loves jazz and plays pétanque (a distant cousin of horseshoes and a close relative of bocce) every Sunday.
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Customers' Favorites:
Frog legs sauté Provençal, Braised Sweetbread Mascotte and thin Beignets.
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Restaurant preferences:
Cuistot and Musashi, both in Palm Desert.

Since he opened the restaurant in November 2002, Chef Pierre has continually improved the facility and the charming patio is covered and air-cooled, with a misting system inside and out. You may dine inside, but we recommend the patio as the best spot for a leisurely evening enjoying Chef Pierre's creations, the professional wait staff and the management and organizational skills of Pierre's elegant spouse and partner, Esther Pelech.  Desserts here are top-notch, especially the apple tart served with vanilla ice cream. The pastry is tissue paper thin, lighter than air and large enough to share, albeit reluctantly.

Crème brulee is perfection but the chocolate mousse, liberally garnished with whipped cream, is akin to velvet on the palate and most definitely should not be shared. We also recommend the very French floating island with custard cream made from Tahitian vanilla beans costing $100.00 per pound.

All desserts are made by Chef Pierre and are priced at $8.00.

What better way to top off a wonderful culinary experience than with a glass of dessert wine or a fine port? It's all available at reasonable prices at this marvelous French bistro.

Here's what The Desert Sun had to say about us in May 2005:

This charming, authentic French bistro in the Trader Joe's shopping center in Palm Desert may be one of the desert's best-kept culinary secrets. Owner and Chef Pierre Pelech, a passionate missionary of authentic bistro food, sets a high standard in creative cooking at reasonable prices. Chef Pierre's summer menu begins Wednesday and focuses on large salads with shrimp and calamari, as well as lighter bistro fare.

Here's what the Desert Magazine had to say about us in February 2003

In the French tradition, Chef Pierre also will introduce pitchers of wine, light and inexpensive, priced from $16.00 - $20.00.
The menu, naturally, includes all things French such as frog legs Provencale and braised sweetbreads garnished with mushrooms, artichokes and sherry for $24.00. Some of the heavier entrees - including coq au vin - disappear for the summer, but the menu will retain the popular hanger steak with shallots and a Cabernet wine sauce, priced at $22.00 and served with pomme frites. The calamari steak served with lemon and capers on a bed of angel hair pasta with tomato and basil is $21.00, and the veal piccata served with capers, lemon and a Chablis wine sauce is $24.00. Both are wonderful summer dishes.

Chez Pierre's marvelous complimentary appetizer pate will be replaced for summer with a medley of iced vegetables, including Mexican onions with garlic mayonnaise. Accompanying entrees this summer will be an assortment of room-temperature vegetables dressed with balsamic vinegar. Winter or summer, one of the most marvelous aspects of dining at Chez Pierre is the ambience on the terrace.

Rack of lamb is one of the things I make at home.  Mine is excellent:  crispy on the outside, melts-in-your-mouth pink on the inside, with a rich, rosemary-Dijon sauce.  Why should I spend $20 to $35 for someone else's rack when I know I can do as well or better for $10.  My daughter, who is all of nine years old, came with us to review Chez Pierre.  She loves rack of lamb and was a bit wary of the French dishes on the menu.  She split Pierre's rack with my wife.  After placing a single morsel in her mouth she looked me right in the eye and proclaimed, "Daddy, this is better than yours."  Horrified, I reached over for a bite.  Washed over by a wave of humility and deeply chagrined, I said, "Honey, you're right.  It is better than mine."

Chez Pierre is almost an authentic French bistro.  To be truly authentic Pierre would serve wine from a barrel in picket (about 6 oz), half carafe, and full carafe sizes.  The government wouldn't let him so Chez Pierre's is "almost authentic and a first for the desert."   Chez Pierre is located in the space vacated by Magnolia, next to Fisherman's Market in Palm Desert. Chez Pierre may well become my favorite restaurant.  I prefer the informal atmosphere compared to the formality of Azur or Cuistot (not to mention the prices), but that is personal taste.
Peter Osbaldeston

Click Here to view live review on yelp.com

I can't imagine how I missed this place.  In over a decade of dining in the desert, my recent meal at Chez Pierre was by far and beyond the best, most personally enjoyable night out.  
 
Don't let the location--a corner of a suburban mall--scare you off.  Chez Pierre offers a romantic, quiet and secluded atmosphere.  Though inside dining is available, you want to eat on the patio.  Lots of greenery and twinkling lights set the right mood.  (The patio is also equipped with heaters and misters to deal with vagaries of climate.)

Pierre gives bistro French flair

It's rare when a restaurant not only serves incredible cuisine in an intimate and secluded atmosphere but has the ability to make you feel like you're dining in the home of an old friend. Welcome to Chez Pierre Bistro in Palm Desert.

Tucked away in the Trader Joe's center at Fred Waring Drive and Town Center Way, Chef Pierre Pelech is truly one of a kind. He has prepared dishes for the rich and famous and was co-owner and chef of the Los Feliz Inn in Los Angeles for 20 years before making his move to the desert. . . click here to read more on mydesert.com

The menu's foundations are bistro classics, e.g. hanger steak with pomme frittes.  There is also an extensive list of daily specials reflecting opportunities presented by the market and seasons.  We focused on these specials, starting with conch fritters, perhaps  recalling owner Pierre Pelech's days as Huntington Hartford's personal chef on Paradise Island, Bahamas.  These were served piping hot and crispy on the outside, moist and tender with conch inside.   We also enjoyed an appetizer of fresh anchovies, which were perfectly house cured and delicately flavored.  A celery remoulade was cold, crispy and delicious, made more flavorful by properly sharp grainy mustard (also house made). away, the best meal I have eaten in the PS area--ever.

We also enjoyed entree specials.  Skate--fresh as can be--jumped off the plate when combined with piquant vinegar and snap-crisp veggies.  The same veggies accompanied the halibut cheeks which were a revelation: simply pan-fried and slightly crispy on the outside/buttery tender within.
 
Desserts are also made by Chef Pierre.  Our tart tatain was the model of apple-goodness, made even better by a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.
 
The wine list is fairly priced, with an unexpected wealth of Oregon Pinots as well as the expected offerings from France and California.  My after-dinner Bushmills Manhattan was generously poured and perfectly mixed (not too sweet).

Service was uniformly friendly and accommodating.  Chef Pelech stopped by our table twice to make sure our dinner was going well, and when Chef was busy in the kitchen (from the patio, we could see him hard at work preparing these amazing dishes) his gracious wife kept the front of the house in order.
 
The desert dining experience of late has become increasingly corporate and lame.  Even if the food in these chains and chain-like places is well executed, the concepts are pedestrian and there is no personal touch.  In stark contrast, Chez Pierre is chef owned.  The menu reflects the touch of a master craftsman who cares about his ingredients, his staff, and his customers.  Pride of ownership translates into a top quality dining experience.  Top it off with the friendly, welcoming atmosphere created by Chef Pelech and his staff, and you have a winner.  Going away, the best meal I have eaten in the PS area--ever.