How a Design Pivot Turned Louie Louie Into One of Philly’s Most Eye-Catching Restaurants | Eater Philly

"Inside Louie Louie, at 3611 Walnut Street in the Inn at Penn on the University of Pennsylvania campus, I encountered a ’70s-influenced mashup of color and texture born when founders Sydney and Marty Grims—working with designer Kate Rohrer of Rohe Creative—abandoned an early-1900s art nouveau direction for something more original. The result reads as an energetic, fun, and approachable American bistro with French influence, drawing on Peter Max, Studio 54, and Wes Anderson. Vintage touches include reupholstered furniture and repurposed subway tiles rescued from a Fishtown collector—many intentionally broken and filled with gold filigree—while the floors were the biggest investment and a defining feature: a shimmering mosaic at the entry and bar (a scaled-back choice to avoid mosaicing the whole restaurant), an oak-floored lounge, a black-and-white checkerboard main dining room, and a pink/green/amber/white marble secondary dining room. Globe fixtures arranged like Parisian street lamps and careful lighting design shape the dining ambiance, and a plant-enclosed patio with big front windows gives the place an indoor-outdoor energy that spills onto Walnut Street when the doors open in spring. Louie Louie’s walls and floors are my favorite parts, and it’s easy to see why it won Eater Philly’s 2018 Restaurant Design of the Year." - Rachel Vigoda