Love to LUVI you, baby
Show me some LUVI
review by Paul Oswell
Before I started coming to New Orleans in 2001, I didn’t really know about the Vietnamese food that you could get here. Thankfully, this gap had been filled with enough bowls of pho and banh mi to sink a Mardi Gras float by the time I moved here in 2011.
As much as I love Vietnamese food, though, I’ve never been to Vietnam. I’ve lived in Japan and traveled through various other Asian countries, and I sometimes had a hankering for some of those flavors. New Orleans has a couple of good sushi restaurants and some decent Thai food, of course, but sometimes you really want to mix it up within a single sitting. Could you take, say, elements of both Chinese and Japanese? Is that an outlandish idea?
Luvi came along like the answer to my prayers. A former donut shop, Luvi is a small uptown restaurant with beautiful bespoke woodwork and striking pops of bold colors and patterns. The pan-Asian menu, not such a common thing in this city, includes an array of evocative Asian flavors, plus a solid mix of Japanese dishes and some beloved delights from Chef Hao’s hometown of Shanghai.
On my first night there, not soon after it opened in 2018, small, chatty crowds of in-the-know restaurant hawks were already bellying up to the counter, or huddled around tables. There was a frisson of excitement, or at least enthusiasm for this novel menu. I’m convinced that the restaurant still wields this culinary charisma.
The menu is a mix of cooked and raw dishes. I loved the seared tuna of The Dragon Boat and the yellowtail and jalapeno combination of the Stoplight. I’m a sucker for dumplings, and Chef Hao serves up some of the best I’ve tried, cooked to his own mother’s recipe. The raw bar also turns out innovative sashimi, ceviche and the like.
Even the house cocktails sport Asian influences; the lychee martini and its fellow concoctions drew upon ingredients like ginger, shochu, and citrus. There’s no wine list, but you can bring your own for a corkage fee.
It’s a welcomingly intimate atmosphere, and you feel like you’re eating with an extended family, and the staff cope admirably with the bustle and spatial restrictions of a small, busy restaurant. If you need some pointers with the menu, your server won't be too harried to help (and will be positively enthused if my experience is anything to go by).
Luvi is a refreshing change of pace, with an original, inventive and memorable menu that doesn’t try to make a big show of it. There’s no need for theatrics here. It’s a tastefully reassuring place, and a great way to expand your appreciation of Asian cooking in New Orleans.
LUVI website
review by Paul Oswell
Before I started coming to New Orleans in 2001, I didn’t really know about the Vietnamese food that you could get here. Thankfully, this gap had been filled with enough bowls of pho and banh mi to sink a Mardi Gras float by the time I moved here in 2011.
As much as I love Vietnamese food, though, I’ve never been to Vietnam. I’ve lived in Japan and traveled through various other Asian countries, and I sometimes had a hankering for some of those flavors. New Orleans has a couple of good sushi restaurants and some decent Thai food, of course, but sometimes you really want to mix it up within a single sitting. Could you take, say, elements of both Chinese and Japanese? Is that an outlandish idea?
Luvi came along like the answer to my prayers. A former donut shop, Luvi is a small uptown restaurant with beautiful bespoke woodwork and striking pops of bold colors and patterns. The pan-Asian menu, not such a common thing in this city, includes an array of evocative Asian flavors, plus a solid mix of Japanese dishes and some beloved delights from Chef Hao’s hometown of Shanghai.
On my first night there, not soon after it opened in 2018, small, chatty crowds of in-the-know restaurant hawks were already bellying up to the counter, or huddled around tables. There was a frisson of excitement, or at least enthusiasm for this novel menu. I’m convinced that the restaurant still wields this culinary charisma.
The menu is a mix of cooked and raw dishes. I loved the seared tuna of The Dragon Boat and the yellowtail and jalapeno combination of the Stoplight. I’m a sucker for dumplings, and Chef Hao serves up some of the best I’ve tried, cooked to his own mother’s recipe. The raw bar also turns out innovative sashimi, ceviche and the like.
Even the house cocktails sport Asian influences; the lychee martini and its fellow concoctions drew upon ingredients like ginger, shochu, and citrus. There’s no wine list, but you can bring your own for a corkage fee.
It’s a welcomingly intimate atmosphere, and you feel like you’re eating with an extended family, and the staff cope admirably with the bustle and spatial restrictions of a small, busy restaurant. If you need some pointers with the menu, your server won't be too harried to help (and will be positively enthused if my experience is anything to go by).
Luvi is a refreshing change of pace, with an original, inventive and memorable menu that doesn’t try to make a big show of it. There’s no need for theatrics here. It’s a tastefully reassuring place, and a great way to expand your appreciation of Asian cooking in New Orleans.
LUVI website