OPENING ALERT
Affordable new French café says bonjour to San Antonio's Pearl
Voila! Cafe will open June 13.
A new French restaurant hopes to add some je ne sais quoi to the Pearl District. Voila! Cafe will open June 13 inside the Oxbow Building at 1803 Broadway, offering bistro classics on the quick.
The project comes from restaurateur Stephane Raveneau, the local franchise owner of Sweet Paris Crêperie & Café at The Shops of La Cantera. The Brittany native designed the café to be an alternative to fast-casual chains, offering quick meals at price points between $9.95 and $12.95.
For breakfast, guests can expect omelettes and gaufres — crispy waffles topped with various savory ingredients. Highlights of the lunch/ dinner menu include a Niçoise salad, rotating panini, and Gallic classics like bechamel-drenched croque monsieurs and madames. The latter has an egg on top, said to represent a woman’s hat. Neat!
Other offerings are meant to give back to the community. Sales from the country pâté, Caprese panini, and Nutella waffle s'mores will benefit San Antonio Meals on Wheels. A limited selection of beer and wine might make guests more charitable.“
All dishes will be authentically French,” says Raveneau, in a release. “Our sandwiches will feature bread made daily with butter and flour imported from France, and our menu will focus on the classics you can find there.”
Raveneau says the concept has been twenty years in the making. "It is a beautiful, comfortable, laidback, and inexpensive restaurant with good, original French food," he says. "Most importantly, there is no pretentiousness here."
On June 13, Voila! will be offering a 25 percent discount during extended Saturday hours of 7 am-9 pm. After the debut, regular hours will be 7 am-9 pm, Monday through Friday, 9 am-9 pm, Saturdays, and 9 am-8 pm, Sundays. Breakfast is served until 3 pm daily.
