laV

This restaurant and wine bar opened in March of 2014 and offers predominately Provencal inspired French cuisine.  It's supposedly more of a posh French interior design than rustic French farmhouse based on reviews I've read, although I only briefly peeked inside so I don't have first-hand thoughts to share on this.  The exterior landscape definitely has a very formal, traditional feel to it with a restrained color palette and a certain amount of ornamentation in the detailing that you don't see in a lot of new east Austin developments. The restaurant’s design was overseen by two firms, McAlpine Tankersley Architecture and McAlpine Booth & Ferrier Interiors, although I couldn't find out any information about the landscape design specifically.  In the City of Austin site plan submittal the landscape sheets are stamped by Bury + Partners who were also the civil engineer on the project.

The first plants that I saw against the gray facade were Italian Cypress and olives, which are basically botanical shorthand for Mediterranean in these parts.  The Bamboo Muhly in between the cypress is a little odd, but the white roses backing the olives in their planter boxes look good.  The planters have decorative finials on the corners and a dark bronze patina.

Italian Cypress, Bamboo Muhly and Olive Trees

Olives in Planters with White Roses in the Background

On the 7th Street frontage there's a wooden deck seating area with some live oaks popping up.  The patio space does a good job of co-opting the public sidewalk in a very urban way to create a hybrid public/private realm reminiscent of a sidewalk cafe.  Some parallel parking spaces provide a buffer from the deck so it's not right on the fairly busy roadway.  The guardrail separating the deck from this area has some weathered steel window box type planters.  They straddle the rail like saddlebags which I liked, although the finish doesn't really match the rest of the detailing of the landscape where all the other metal is bronzed or painted dark gray.

7th Street Deck

Parallel Parking Buffer

Weathered Steel Planter Boxes

The east side of the restaurant exterior has another outdoor dining space.  This one has a very symmetrical layout with two pergolas flanking a water feature.  The stone (or maybe cast stone) water feature has  a central pillar with two pipes pouring water a couple of feet down into a basin.  Because of that drop you get some good white noise from the water.

East Patio

Water Feature

The dark gray pergolas are much smaller in scale than those at Texas French Bread and the Pearl Brewery that I wrote about previously.  They just have one or two tables under them.  Fans, lights and speakers are all intergrated into the pergola, and a leave-out in the pavement has been planted with Wisteria vines that are climbing up the structures.

Pergola with Texas State Cemetery View

Wisteria Planting Leave-Out

Tumbled Concrete Pavers

Tumbled concrete pavers at the driveway entry are a nice accent touch that breaks up the concrete of the drive and parking lot so it feels less engineered and more designed.  It also designates a pedestrian route over to the Jardins de LaV outdoor event space and garden.  This space is pretty simple with a wooden fence, some crushed stone paths and large grass areas.  A canopy of Tivoli style lights is held up by wooden post that have a nice steel sleeve footing detail.  The posts have decorative caps that tie in with the restaurant detailing.  The planting beds are mainly edibles that are perhaps used in the restaurant or the Say laV food trailer that's in the garden.  The planters themselves are about 1/4" weathered steel plate.  Again, the steel seems a little out of place with the rest of the details, and I would have more expected some  raised wood planters perhaps painted to match the fence or the gray of the restaurant brick.  The planters have irrigation integrated in them which is a must in Texas during the summer.

Jardins de LaV with Holiday Tree

Raised Steel Planter Beds

Wood Post Footing

Tivoli Light Connection and Post Cap