Ughhhhh! We came so close! Charlie and I made it all the way to November. Per our New Year’s resolution, we’ve been trying out a new restaurant together each month and maintaining this blog up to now. But alas, it pains me to say, our resolve unraveled finally after 11 months (an inconsistency that will trouble my OCD brain for another 11 months at least), and we weren’t able to meet for dinner in November. So, this month’s gastronomic review will be a solo one.
One reason Charlie and I were both too busy in November to resume our journey in haute cuisine was because we both had to go out of town. A work-related conference took me to New Orleans, where I got to sample some of the local food. In lieu of our usual restaurant reviews, then, I’ll provide a special report in this installment about a place I ate at during my trip.
According to its website, Vyoone’s aims to bring “unique French fare to the Warehouse District.” The website itself is cool and eye-catching; kinda why I decided to make a reservation for myself and a colleague the night before I left LA; that and the fact that my last-minute attempts to reserve a table elsewhere were all fruitless. In retrospect, there was probably a reason why of all the restaurants I tried securing a table for that Wednesday, Vyoone’s was the only one where tables for a Friday evening were still plentiful.
But I’m getting ahead of myself—the focus of this blog should be on the venue itself, and there isn’t too much about the physical aspects of the cute little eatery to find fault with. Even the location surrounding the restaurant isn’t too bad, by NOLA standards, although I experienced some trepidation walking through a few of the darker alleys on our way there. In general, I have not found NOLA to be a walkable city (despite my quite generous definition of walkability—even LA is fairly walkable in my estimation), but, if you stick to the wider and better-lit streets, and you’re not alone, then the area in which Vyoone’s is located, as I said, isn’t too scary.
The photo montage that plays on its website makes the restaurant seem rather grander than it actually is; still, the aesthetic pleasures promised by the photos aren’t all that misleading. The exposed-brick walls and green-painted fenestration give the place a rustic charm; but there is also a whimsical vibe thanks to an abundance of string lights that decorate the entrance and outdoor dining area. For whatever reason, all the patrons were crowded indoors that evening, but the tables outside are in a pretty-ish little garden and warmed by fire pits, and were seemingly comfortable enough. When my colleague and I arrived, at 6:30 pm, there were only a few other guests, even in the indoor dining room, and the place was actually quiet enough at that hour to hold a conversation. Imagine that!
Our waitress was friendly, albeit she seemed new to her job (I asked her about a listed ingredient in one of the cocktails, and she had to go ask the bartender what it was. By the time she returned to our table, I had already Googled the ingredient). The hostess or possibly the manager was similarly solicitous. When I asked for directions to the lady’s room, rather than just pointing it out to me, the hostess/manager led me halfway there, which, while unnecessary, was a nice gesture that I appreciated. Said lady’s room itself could be spruced up a bit (it wasn’t dirty, just somewhat shabby for an establishment at this price point), but overall, my verdict is that Vyoone’s is a cute and fairly quiet environment in which to have a meal and a chat.
