Pigalle restaurant - was a great French restaurant located at 27 N Santa Cruz Ave from about 1992 to 2006. There are few photographs of the restaurant so unless you were a local back then or you traveled here it may be difficult for you to understand what a unique little place it was.
Picture a long, narrow restaurant flanked in hand painted murals depicting the Place Pigalle, the red-light district of Paris, France including scenes of local businesses and street cafes. (If you ever have eaten at Opa! Los Gatos, that is the same space). It was as close to being in Paris as you could get in Los Gatos back then.
It was the only place downtown at the time where you could find French classic dishes like escargot and a Grand Marnier Souffle.
Pigalle maintained a prix fixe menu most of the years but switched that up to a more standard menu later on. You can take a look at the old Pigalle menu from 2004.
This restaurant was originally named Champs Elysees and operated by a different chef. According to an old Metroactive article from 2001, the murals on the walls were painted by Ken Poisson and that Chef Steve Lopez took the reins and gave the restaurant the new name, Pigalle.
Pigalle was owned by a well-know Los Gatos resident, Diane Ogilvie. Chefs changed a few years after the opening. Ignacia Pena was the last chef that we can document. You can read more about this history, the chefs and food here.
Umami blog has a nice picture of the interior and writes about the food; circa 2004.
You can read an old review from SFgate, written in 2004. It was in its later years at that time
We did a drive-by of ASA Los Gatos this morning, September 30, 2019. We see progress! There is no sign on the building yet, but there is a sign posted next to the Best Western sign along Alberto Way.
There were chefs in the kitchen working away and a delivery truck in the drive dropping off boxes, all of which indicating progress is being made. Check out more details here.