Cracked Pepper Cafe — and its popular bread pudding (seen in the image) — is coming to Fresno City Hall later this year, filling a dining gap for city employees. (Fresno City Hall photo by flickr user Thank You (25 Millions ) views under Creative Commons license, photo composite by Israel Meave/The Business Journal)
Fresno City Hall employees will soon be able to grab coffee and bread pudding from one of the city’s top chefs without leaving the building.
Vatche Moukhtarian, Cracked Pepper Bistro’s owner and head chef, is developing his cafe concept for city hall following a survey of more than 450 city employees who described what food service options they wanted.
What’s on the menu?
Moukhtarian said that the cafe will serve coffee and quick-bites, like grab-and-go salads and sandwiches. He said the menu is still under development.
The space includes 1,852 gross square feet, according to the lease agreement. It was once occupied by the defunct City Hall Cafe. Moukhtarian said a restaurant has not operated in the space near the security checkpoint since the pandemic.
The Fresno City Council is expected to approve a lease agreement this Thursday. Construction is expected to start this month and Cracked Pepper Cafe is expected to open this fall.
Free rent for three years
The lease runs 36 months, with a target commencement date of Nov. 1, 2026. It can be extended twice for one-year periods if both sides agree in writing.
Rent is $0 per month for the first 36 months. If Moukhtarian exercises the extensions, rent kicks in at $1,464/month (months 37–48) and rises to $1,507.92/month (months 49–60) — both calculated at roughly $1/square foot for the 1,852-square-foot space.
Bestelling pudding
Though the cafe will offer a more casual menu than the restaurant, Moukhtarian said that he plans to offer his acclaimed bread pudding at the cafe. He estimated that the restaurant sells roughly 262 pounds of bread pudding per week.
“No way around it, we have to have the bread pudding down here, so we’re going to make bread pudding available for the staff.”
While Cracked Pepper Bistro is known for its high-end menu and ambiance, Moukhtarian said Cracked Pepper Cafe will offer a different dining experience.
“We’re not taking fine dining and moving it down there,” he said. “It will be a little bit more casual.”
And a cup
Chef Vatche, as he is known, isn’t new to coffee. In addition to his fine-dining bistro, Moukhtarian owns Sanctuary Coffee Roasting Co., a specialty coffee roaster and distributor that operates in Clovis.
Its beans are sold online and carried by local businesses, such as The Market, Sam’s Italian Deli and Moto Delicatessen. Cracked Pepper Bistro also stocks Sanctuary Coffee beans, which are the base of the coffee and espresso drinks it serves at brunch.
Cracked Pepper Bistro, Moukhtarian’s original food concept, is a California-style restaurant that builds its seasonal menus around locally-sourced ingredients that are complemented by wine pairings from Paso Robles.
A culinary career
The culinary veteran received his education at the San Francisco Culinary Academy. He would later work under Chef de Cuisine, Roger Morris at Peppermill Casino in Reno, Nevada before moving on to the role of sous chef at Chukchansi Gold’s Vintage steakhouse.
Moukhtarian also worked at Yosemite’s Tenaya Lodge before returning to Fresno in 2006 to open Cracked Pepper Bistro, which has since become one of Fresno’s fine-dining staples.