Paul Bruggemans, founder of the longstanding upscale French restaurant Le Vallauris in downtown Palm Springs, died on Tuesday, Sept. 15. He was 89.
The restaurateur and his business partner purchased and remodeled the home that would become Le Vallauris in the 1970s. Omar Haddedou, Bruggemans’ husband, who later owned the restaurant with him, said Le Vallauris grew year after year due to Bruggemans’ vision, hard work and hospitality.
“At any shift, lunch or dinner, he was there speaking to anyone, making sure that the experience was up to his reputation,” Haddedou said.
Bruggemans was born on October 27, 1936, in Belgium. He was working at an international fair in Brussels when someone presented him with an opportunity to move to California. He took
it, moving there in 1960.
Haddedou said Bruggemans, who had studied at hotel school in Belgium, first worked as a waiter in the United States. The job was like taking classes for Bruggemans, teaching him about the restaurant industry, Haddedou added.
Bruggemans would go on to open the restaurant Le St. Germain in Los Angeles. Its success would motivate him to open Le Vallauris in Palm Springs, a growing tourist destination.
Le Vallauris would grow into a staple of the fine dining scene in the Coachella Valley, known for its French-inspired cuisine and charming outdoor space — diners among white tablecloths below trees adorned with lights, creating an intimate and dream-like ambience.
It was listed among OpenTable’s 100 most romantic restaurants in the United States for 2024. Soho House, a prominent private members club, purchased Le Vallauris about six years ago, Haddedou said.
Bruggemans loved his work. Haddedou recalled how his husband would call to check that everything was prepared for an event even while the two of them were on vacation out of the country.
The couple officially met through a mutual friend 29 years ago in Palm Springs. But they almost met earlier in Hyères, a city in the south of France, when Bruggemans visited Haddedou’s restaurant there.
Haddedou remembers a waitress approaching him with a gold American Express card, an atypical form of payment for the business, to ask if the restaurant would accept it. He looked outside to see who it belonged to and saw Bruggemans with two women. The group had been on the way to visit Porquerolles, one of the nearby islands.
The two would’ve celebrated 30 years together in January and were married for 13 years. They enjoyed traveling together and learning about the history of the places they would visit.
Some of Haddedou’s favorite qualities about his husband were his kindness and caring personality.
“He would put you at ease in any situation,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Founder of Palm Springs’ Le Vallauris French restaurant dies at 89
