30 Under 30: Magasin Cafe

Magasin Cafe on Magazine Street offers great Vietnamese food at palatable prices. (Photo from Urbanspoon, where the restaurant gets a 92 percent like-it rating)

As a recent business school grad, I’m always on the lookout for great, affordable food and drink specials around New Orleans. So it was with the 30 under 30 mindset that a few friends and I recently headed to Magasin Cafe, the new Vietnamese restaurant Uptown. The name is French for store, which fits since this chic little eatery is housed in a quintessential New Orleans corner store.

I was especially eager to try what Magasin had to offer, having spent a week in Vietnam a few months ago.

And Magasin more than lived up to my expectations. The food was exceptional – as close to the real thing as anything I’ve tried since returning to the State, especially the pho and banh mi sandwiches. The service was top-notch, and with entree prices in the $5 to $15 range, the restaurant is affordable as well.

Another great thing about Magasin is its BYOB policy, which means that drinks can be adapted to your pocketbook. And, best of all, there’s no corkage fee. We arrived early with a bottle of wine and a few beers, which we all shared while we waited for a table to clear.

The corner restaurant is small but sleek, with chrome accents, angular columns and a boomerang-shaped bar. Like most petite spaces with great food and matching prices, Magasin gets crowded, so expect a wait.

All in all we had a great experience, and I’d highly recommend giving it a try. Grab a few friends, a bottle or two, and get there early to try some authentic Vietnamese cuisine right in the heart of Uptown.

The skinny:

Magasin Vietnamese Cafe
4201 Magazine Street
504.896.7611
magasincafe@gmail.com
twitter @magasincafe

Open Monday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. for lunch and 6 to 9 p.m. for dinner.

Slates Snider is a recent graduate of the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. He contributed this story to NolaVie.