THE FOODIST / ET VOILÀ!

Et Viola French Bistro at Adams & 30th

By Thomas Shess, PillartoPost.org Restaurant Writer--

Since 2016, Et Voilà! has served classic French bistro cooking to San Diego’s Adams Avenue with warmth, confidence, and a polish to make dinner feel like an an uptown occasion--everytime. 

Chef-owner Vincent Viale gives the place its French spine: careful sauces, crisp textures, curated wine list, and a menu that respects the bistro canon without being too Americanized. 

Its survival for ten years is no small thing. Adams Avenue, especially around 30th Street, has some of the restless energy of New York’s Lower East Side: old storefronts, neighborhood lifers, renters, artists, immigrant flavors, ambitious cafe newcomers. Restaurants along Adams Avenue survive only by becoming useful. Et Voilà! has done that by being stylish without being precious, French without being stiff, and reliable enough to turn first visits into habits.  Here, specials are specials.  Not just one item, but an entire night honoring a region of French cuisine.  And it sells out each time.

The decor is simple, intimate and spotless without being fussy, the service has an easy professionalism, and even on a packed Tuesday night no one seems in a hurry. This is neighborhood dining with real ambition, where steak frites, onion soup, seafood, seasonal specials, and the civilized promise of dessert feel both familiar and thoughtfully handled. Et Voilà! does not overplay its Frenchness. It delivers the pleasure of a good bistro in a San Diego setting that knows how to relax.

Et Voilà! French Bistro is at 3015 Adams Avenue, San Diego, CA 92116; phone (619) 209-7759.

I first had steak with frites on Rue Cler in Paris.
I devoured this night's old ami with an escargot starter.

The cheese plate was creative and we gave up trying to pick the right ones for the table and ended up asking Chef Vincent to choose for us.  Ace move.

Chef!

I didn't share my escargot but I did allow friends to dip into the sauce.  The house charged for the bread. Sobeit.  We ordered four helpings (pictured) and it came with a friendly reminder sticker to tear the bread (no knives, please).

Of course, someone ordered Boeuf bourguignon in North Park because they could.

Espressos created by a French trained staff. Et Voila!

Our table in the center of the room was quiet allowing
for conversations  We talked mostly about the fine sauces

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Author Tom Shess has written about restaurants for San Francisco Magazine, San Diego Magazine, PSA and Pan Am and United Inflights, plus North Park News and now PillartoPost.org daily online magazine style blog.  For more info go to ThomasShess.com

DESIGN / THE OBAMALISK* UNVEILING

Obama Presidential Center Prepares to Open as Civic Campus in Chicago 

The Obama Presidential Center in Chicago is nearing its public opening as a 19.3-acre campus in Jackson Park, combining a presidential museum, public library branch, gardens, athletic facilities, gathering spaces and public art. 

The center is scheduled to open to the public on June 19, 2026, with an invite-only dedication ceremony the previous day. 

The project, often referred to informally as the Obama Presidential Library, is formally the Obama Presidential Center. Our media friends across the pond, the London Times has gone on record calling it the *Obamalisk.

Be that as it may, the Obama Presidential Library itself is part of the National Archives and Records Administration’s presidential library system, while the Chicago campus is operated by the Obama Foundation as a museum and civic center. 

The campus includes several major components. Visitors will find a museum tower, a branch of the Chicago Public Library, the Forum, Home Court athletic facility, a large playground, gardens, an auditorium, public plazas and outdoor areas intended for community use. 

The grounds are planned to be open daily and free of charge, while museum admission will require timed tickets. 

The museum is the dominant structure on the campus. Its tower changes appearance from different angles and carries an excerpt from President Obama’s 2015 speech in Selma, Alabama. 

A window by artist Julie Mehretu is also inspired by that speech. 

The tower’s upper level includes the Sky Room, where panoramic views of Chicago wrap around the top floor. 

Inside, the museum is organized across four floors and includes exhibitions on Barack and Michelle Obama, the Obama presidency, democracy and civic life. 

General museum admission includes access to the Oval Office exhibit and the Sky Room. Public art is a major part of the center. In the tower lobby, an elaborately designed stair winds near “This Land, Shared Sky,” a collaboration by Nick Cave and Marie Watt. 

Jeffrey Gibson’s “Yet With a Steady Beat” is included in a museum exhibition. In the Sky Room, Idris Khan’s “Sky of Hope” uses thousands of hand-stamped words referring to the Selma speech. The main plaza connects the museum, library branch and Forum. A sculpture by Martin Puryear frames a view toward the library, while a carved “O” from the Selma speech frames a view of Home Court, the center’s athletic facility. Home Court is designed to include a gymnasium with an NBA regulation-size court, practice courts, flexible seating and space for sports programs, community events and formal gatherings. 

The outdoor campus includes a fruit and vegetable garden, a large playground, the Great Lawn, Women’s Garden and Wetland Walk. These spaces are intended to make the site more than a museum destination, giving nearby residents and visitors places to gather, walk, read, play and attend programs. 

The center’s opening weekend is planned for June 19 through June 21, with public programming, performances, family activities and Chicago Public Library events. Museum tickets are already being sold for dates beginning June 19 and extending through November 30, 2026. 

The Obama Presidential Center arrives after years of planning and construction as one of the most ambitious presidential center projects in the country. Its stated purpose is not only to commemorate the 44th president and first lady, but also to serve as a working civic campus for Chicago’s South Side and for visitors from around the world. 

Its test will come in daily use: how the museum, library, gardens, recreation spaces and public programs function together as a place of memory, education and community life. Go to Dezeen Magazine for early photos of the completed site. 

OR: 

https://www.dezeen.com/2026/06/06/obama-presidential-center-this-week/

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