Date Visited: 14 June 2009Meal: Lunch
Diners: 2 - Me & Wendy
Experience: La Lou is another new Leesburg restaurant, open for about a month now, and occupying the former location of Market Street Coffee (next door to the Tally Ho Theater). La Lou is self-described as offering "a wide variety of modern American and Mediterranean cuisine such as: pizzas, pasta, seafood, lamb, steaks, burgers, paninis and much more…" I'll say right here at the start that our experience was so good, I hardly know where to start - we were quite impressed! From the minute we walked in, we were warmly greeted and welcomed by owner and head chef Driss Lahlou. The weather was perfect on this Sunday afternoon, so we took the offer of outside seating, which overlooks the Leesburg Town Hall Green, where they hold the Acoustic on the Green concerts.
We started off with some refreshing iced tea to drink. Driss then brought out some bread - not just any kind of bread - this was a pizza-style fried flat bread with a light topping of herbed cheese, along with an absolutely delicious olive tapenade. We suspected that the tapenade was homemade too, and this was confirmed when Lahlou's business partner Mohamed Touzani came out to our table for a visit. An incredibly delicious way to begin our meal!
The La Lou lunch menu included not only the regular lunch items, but also a special Saturday and Sunday brunch menu. I ordered from the brunch menu and got the Steak & Egg ("Strip steak with two eggs any style & home fries"). The steak was surprisingly tender, and a very generous portion. Wendy was more adventurous and ordered one of the specials of the day, called the Bistro Trio - and what a special it was! It featured chicken stuffed with sausage on a bed of pasta with a slightly spicy tomato sauce, a filet mignon on a bed of home fries, a small kebab with shrimp and grape tomatoes, and a side of green beans. Every bit of it was amazingly tasty! The stuffed chicken was a real treat, expertly prepared. Every detail seemed perfect, even the green beans - cooked just right.
Overall, we had a completely satisfying and pleasant dining experience in every dimension - the food was great, the service superb, the weather wonderful, and the company lovely (my honey!) Driss invited us to come back anytime! If you want to have this unique dining experience for yourself, visit La Lou as soon as possible. Support this truly great local Leesburg restaurant!
Plus, they have a great web site, unusual for many new restaurants.
Location: 19 W. Market St., Leesburg, VA, 20176
Web site: http://laloubistro.com/
Total bill: $43.29 + $12.00 tip = $55.29
7 comments:
I can't wait to try the brunch! This place is going to be a huge success.
Unrelated: I am thinking about undertaking my own challenge to visit "Every Winery in Loudoun." You have inspired me! I don't know if I have the patience to do all the spreadsheets, though.
Thank you for your blog! We visited La Lou tonight after coming across it on your blog - and we thoroughly enjoyed it! Thank you for blogging about restaurants in Leesburg.
We visited La Lou Bistro in mid-February 2010. It was a disaster. My friend started out with the escargots which came floating in some mess of canned mushrooms. She ordered the linguinia carbonara but the owner, having taken the order, then came back to say they were out of clams and mussels. So she switched to the steak and ordered a baked potato. The plate came with cold, soggy broccoli and green beans and, oddly, a boiled potato plopped down with them. I ordered the rockfish which I think came out of a frozen packet and was microwaved. My dish came with the same cold soggy vegetables. For one appetizer, two entrees and no desserts, plus three glasses of wine between the two of us, the bill was a whopping $101!!! This was without doubt the biggest rip-off of all time. Definitely do not go there. They do not belong in Leesburg or anywhere else for that matter.
Anonymous: Sorry you had such a bad experience. From my own experience, that of commenters on this blog, and some on yelp.com, it seems that La Lou Bistro is a bit inconsistent. Some diners have had great experiences, and some have had so-so. I'd suggest giving them another try. Personally, I employ a "three strikes and you're out" policy on new restaurants.
I visited this restaurant recently and found the chef and others there very welcoming. It is beautifully decorated. The chef gladly accomodated my children's picky eating habits and we were all treated to a wonderful meal. Having worked in restaurants beofre , it is easy to see that the chef knows how to produce quality food with international flair. Thanks.
We visited La Lou Bistro again today for a Mother's Day lunch. Our experience was superb! We all shared a Crab & Artichoke Dip appetizer to start, and Andy tried the French Onion soup and liked it! Wendy ordered one of the specials, a seafood paella - it was great! I had the Shrimp & Scallop Linguini , Andy had the Carnivale pizza, and Alicia had the Chicken Panino that comes with the best French Fries in Leesburg. This visit reinforced our already high opinion of La Lou Bistro - give them a try!
My sister and I had different meals, but from beginning to end, this was probably the best dinner I've had anywhere in the world.
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