Lou

Love it! I love that it’s in a minimall next to a laundromat and a store that sells most things for $1. Then you step inside and you are transported to a well decorated, very comfortable, neighborhoody, friendly place that serves really good food and a wide variety of interesting wines.
The glass front of the restaurant is all blocked out with a nice flower pattern, and further blocked by full length drapes in the same pattern, so it’s nice and dark inside.

We shared some apps. Pig candy, of course. My reason for coming. Now my life feels complete. There was a hint of cayenne in it. Mmm. Charcuterie and cheese plank, mac n cheese, the market salad of potatoes, eggplant with basil, and I think some sort of green beans cut into small cylinders. All of it was very good.

Three of us got the duck, three of us got the chorizo, 1 of us got the steak. I got the chorizo, since I could not resist anything that’s topped with a fried egg. It was served on a bed of beluga lentils. The chorizo was ok, kind of tough, the rest was good. Got to try a piece of duck: that was some well-sourced duck, and perfectly cooked too, melted in my mouth—how often do you get to say melted and duck in the same sentence?

We got all three desserts: varlhona chocolate pot de creme, a trifle, and an incredible amazing plum sorbet, it was just like eating the fruit itself, which was clearly a high quality farmer’s market fruit, no run of the mill plum here.

We also got a couple of bottles of wine, a sangiovese, and a red from Lodi, listed as “looney” or something like that. Interesting flavors, as our server said, like violets.

Service was very friendly and professional. Lou is one of those places where you want to drop by, hang out, have some great wines and food, relax and enjoy. I wish it were closer to me, I’d be there all the time.

tucked away in a strip mall on vine, with little more signage than a reversed out white on black marquis squeezed among the other businesses in the same mall, lou teases us to find her. even though there’s only an address on the door, you can’t miss the dynamic, black and white on one side, and red dominating black and white on the other side graphic curtains that shield its diners from the rest of the city.

i have to first comment on the fun and fabulous decor because no dining experience is complete without the feeling generated by the environment or the ability it has to transform you to another place. when you enter, the left wall is papered with a vintage-looking edward goreyesqe illustration of trees; while the right wall has the menu hand-written complete with drawings of sheep on a blackboard, an indication of the changing menu that follows what’s fresh & in-season locally. though there’s plenty of pattern, it all works well together, and along with candle and soft overhead lighting sets a warm mood.

a small, intimate space where you may find yourself bumping elbows with fellow diners at a keith haring-esque patterened communal table, it’s still as yet largely undiscovered as we went on a saturday night without reservations and only waited 15min. i fear though, that won’t last for long, but they do take reservations.

the attention to the details is as everpresent in the food as in the space.

Okay, so I thought this place was closed from the outside – turns out it’s just a really thick curtain. Inside it’s dark, small and noisy like some to hip to quit new york eatery. The food is good, skip the over-hyped “pig candy”, and go for the steak – which was awesome, but way too salty. Oh and don’t expect to catch a movie after, the service is pleasant but very slow.