Lilly’s Cafe is planning a second location at 3329 Magazine St. in the Garden District. (Assessor’s Office photo)
The owner of Lilly’s Café, a popular Vietnamese restaurant in the Lower Garden District, is planning to open a second Lilly’s farther up Magazine Street.
Lilly Vuong, who runs the 8-year-old restaurant with family members, told Garden District neighbors in a Neighborhood Participation Project letter that she recently purchased the cottage at 3329 Magazine St. to open a second Vietnamese restaurant.
Before that can happen, she needs approval from the City Planning Commission and the City Council; a restaurant is only allowed as a conditional use in the district. A hearing is on the Planning Commission’s Jan. 12 agenda.
Plans for the restaurant show it will take up about 900 square feet at the front of the building. It will have outdoor seating, Vuong said.
“I am ready to expand my delicious food and warm hospitality to the neighbors of the Garden District and beyond,” Vuong told residents of the area near Louisiana Avenue and Magazine. “I promise, if given the opportunity, I will develop and run my second location with the same hard work, dedication and love I put into my first Lilly’s Café at 1813 Magazine.”
The site was once home to the Psychic Café and, more recently, the Hinge hair salon. The salon moved to a new Magazine Street location in the Lower Garden District in September.
The building has some “deferred maintenance issues” and would need renovation, Vuong said. She estimates the renovations would take about three months and would start within a month after receiving city approval.
The planned hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
