256 South Palm Canyon Drive
Palm Springs, CA 92262
Tel. 760-778 3727
Website: www.pomme-frite.com
Parking: Street
Dress Code: Casual
Reservations: Yes
Credit Cards: Yes
Prices: Moderate
This French-style Belgian restaurant, located on the main drag in downtown Palm Springs, has built its reputation on excellent pomme frite served in a wire cone and Moules à la Marinière, which is as Belgian as it gets. They also offer an equally outstanding roast chicken, Carbonades Flamandes (beef stew made with beer), escargot and various homemade pâtes. It is interesting to dine and people-watch on the sidewalk terrace.
The owner Jean-Claude Constant, who in the past spent more time in the kitchen, has now hired a chef who came from the award-winning Desert Sage Restaurant in La Quinta. This may be a good thing for the kitchen, but it assures for a terrible experience for diners, as it has given him more time to spend in the front of house and the unpleasant sound of his loud voice bossing his wait-staff and yelling orders to the kitchen is really irritating and annoying. It is a shame that this restaurant’s cooking, which is quite all right, is diminished to nothing due to the constant (no pun intended), distraction of the reverberation of this tyrannical Belgian’s voice in the dining room.