Pirouette Cafe & Wine Bar Combines Feel Of Elegance With Community

ARLINGTON, VA — A husband and wife team have opened a new cafe and wine bar in Arlington’s Ballston neighborhood, where customers can enjoy wine and food inside a professionally designed space that exudes "whimsical refinement."

Pirouette Café & Wine Bar is located on Fairfax Drive on the ground floor of the new J Sol Apartments. Apartment residents can access the restaurant without leaving the building through a door that opens into Pirouette's wine shop.

Long-time Arlington residents Philippe and Jackie Loustaunau opened Pirouette last September. They decided to combine their love of food and wine and their friendships with winemakers, importers, distributors, farmers, and chefs to go all-in on their dream to have their own restaurant and wine bar.

The couple worked with local architecture and design firm //3877 to design the community cafe and wine bar, which features a 3,300-square-foot interior and a 1,000-square-foot exterior. After conversations with the designers about what they wanted, the //3877 team came up with the term "whimsical refinement" to guide their design of the cafe and wine bar.

In response to the Loustaunau's request to incorporate natural materials, the designers at //3877 highlighted the concrete floors, pillars, and exposed ceiling of the existing space.

The front window of the dining space provides bar top seating. At the center of the space, patrons will find seating alongside greenery. Deeper into the dining area, guests will find a concrete tasting table. And hanging above the tasting table is a colorful abstract art piece by the artist Przemyslaw Kordys with DAC Art Group.

Along the back wall of the restaurant is an area ideal for larger parties, with sight lines to the wine shop, tasting table, and the kitchen.

Pirouette Café & Wine Bar, at 4000 N. Fairfax Drive in Arlington, is open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.