Lou Beraud and her husband were strolling after dinner on a trip to Paris when she had a sad epiphany. Beraud is French and realized how badly she missed the affordable, charming restaurants that are foundational to the dining scene in the City of Lights.
“We went to [Parisian restaurant] Bouillon Chartier and realized that there was no place like that in Oakland,” says Beraud. So she decided to open a place like that, a little wine bar where people could come and enjoy wines from around the world, small plates of food and companionship.
La Loulou opens Saturday, May 10, with eclectic wines by the glass and cheesy nibbles including raclette in a fanciful space on Piedmont Avenue infused with French Art Nouveau and Art Deco design. “I really like that in Paris, everything is beautiful. It’s also very welcoming,” Beraud says. “You don’t need to go to a Michelin restaurant to have a beautiful ambience.”
What a fun ladder!
Photo by Maria C. Hunt
The belle epoque decor is enough to make passersby do a double take, especially the vivid color scheme and the feathery ceiling lights that evoke can-can dancers. La Loulou’s decor creates an experience, starting with its deep golden accent color reminiscent of a popular French champagne label that shows up on curving Art Nouveau details framing the bar, the mirrors, the doors, and the hand painted artwork on the front window. Beraud says she wasn’t thinking of a particular champagne brand, the color just makes her happy.
She complemented this color scheme with touches of deep magenta and an opulent emerald green on details like the tile cladding the bar and the velvety channeled banquettes in the back of the room. “The garden fences, the Metro entrance, and street lights — everything that the city paints that’s city painted is that dark green,” Beraud says. “That reminded me of France.” Her husband Peter Andreoni, a contractor who specializes in custom woodwork, created many of the curved flourishes that frame mirrors and doorways at La Loulou.
The soundtrack runs from classics like Josephine Baker’s J’ai Deux Amours and La Vie en Rose to modern tunes by modern artists including L.E.J., Bon Entendeur, and the Belgian singer Stromae.
Beraud is new to the restaurant business, though she has experience in the wine industry. She worked for Champagne Cristal and sold French wines in Silicon Valley with the distributor Planet Wine. At La Loulou, the wine list is rooted in France, with 70 to 80 percent of the selections sourced from regions including Loire, Burgundy, Languedoc-Roussillon, and Bordeaux, though California and Italy are represented as well. There are some quirky bottles too, like the Moroccan-made Syrah called Sirocco from Alain Graillot.
The chalkboard at La Loulou.
Photo by Maria C. Hunt
Natural wine devotées will be drawn to 23 Monje, an orange skin-fermented blend of organic grapes including French Colombard and Gewürztraminer from Santa Cruz. It smells like lychee and pink grapefruit. “It’s an orange wine, but not a weird orange wine,” Beraud says.
Food at La Loulou.
Photo by Maria C. Hunt
Besides a rotating list of wines by the glass, the 100 selections can be purchased by the bottle and enjoyed at Loulou or taken home. Eventually Beraud plans to expand the list to 200 or 300 choices. “I want it to be educational too,” she says. “All the information looks scary on the bottle but it’s not once you get the hang of it. I was thinking of doing little tasting classes, events, and different cheese and wine pairings with some info as well on the wines.”
Beraud also plans to host events like summer game nights, collaborations with other chefs on the avenue, and pop-up dinners on Monday nights.
The interior at La Loulou.
Photo by Maria C. Hunt
The menu, which is displayed on chalkboards, runs from cheese and charcuterie boards to marinated olives and spiced nuts. Heartier fare includes bacon and Comte cheese puffs served with mixed greens, duck rillettes, croque-monsieur served warm from the panini press, and melty raclette cheese on a baguette along with salami and tangy slices of apple. Charcuterie will be a big focus as well, with precise slices coming from a fire engine–red Berkel meat slicer with a vintage-inspired flywheel.
Andreoni noted that while many of their friends work in Michelin-starred restaurants, they can’t afford to actually go to that restaurant and enjoy the food they’re serving. They hope La Loulou will be an egalitarian antidote to that phenomenon, just like their beloved bouillons. In Paris, a bouillon is an affordable restaurant that serves classic French fare — think steak frites, escargot, and meat stewed in a bouillon broth. Bouillons like Chartier, which dates back to 1896, appealed to workers with hearty portions and fast service. In the old days, diners often were seated together at one big communal table, which made it easy to strike up conversation.
Beraud hopes La Loulou will become a neighborhood hangout for people of different ages and backgrounds. “I would go to the same place with my friends that everybody enjoys,” she says. “It’s a mix in Paris. It’s not categorized.”
La Loulou, at 4250 Piedmont Avenue, will open on May 10. It will be open from 2 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays and from 2 to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Sign up for the
newsletter
Eater SF