Our History

Grapevine Cafe' and Gallery opened its doors in February 2001 in a 1920's two story commercial building in historic downtown Donaldsonville. The building had been in major disrepair and took over a year of painstaking attention to restore and preserve it to National Historic Preservation guidelines. The building has unique Art Deco style brickwork on the upper story and the original hand crafted mosaic tile floors downstairs.

In its glory days, it was known as "The Tavern" which had a restaurant and bar downstairs and a ballroom and private gambling rooms upstairs. During the bootlegging years, Al Capone was known to frequent this establishment and the now lush outside courtyard was once known to move many a bottle of illegal whiskey.

The concept of Grapevine Cafe' and Gallery, as defined by owners Cynthia and Steve Schneider, is to provide authentic Louisiana Creole and Cajun cooking in a comfortable art gallery atmosphere. Our award-winning cuisine has been written up in numerous national and international publications.

Like old, traditional New Orleans neighborhood restaurants, we believe in "belonging to the neighborhood" and invite all of our guests to be part of the neighborhood experience.

We feature rotating contemporary art shows by well-known local Louisiana artists. We also support our local musicians by providing a venue to perform both inside the restaurant and on the outside stage in the courtyard. We know that food, art, music and friendships are healthy for the soul. We invite you to visit and dine with us soon and as one customer described, "...I was completely overcome by the Grapevine experience!"