Chef Philippe Schmit has had a busy year.

In 2015 he collaborated with the owners of Flo Paris and oversaw the menu development at that Galleria-area bakery-cafe. Then, several weeks ago, it was confirmed that he’d be the executive chef at Toulouse Café and Bar, the French restaurant in the River Oaks District, the brand-new, still-incomplete, mixed-use development on Westheimer just inside the 610 Loop.

The restaurant – which also has a sibling in Dallas – immediately whisks diners away to France. Small tables (some topped with white marble) and French bistro chairs, high pressed-tin ceilings, red leather banquettes, a long mirrored bar and more honed white marble mosaic tiles on the floors can make any Houstonian a Parisian for the length of his or her stay at Toulouse. And the lunch menu, while certainly not sparse, is dedicated to classic French cafe favorites – fois gras, steak frites, oysters, charcuterie, soups and salads – with the entire flip side of the document densely filled with cocktail and wine selections.

Our first impression upon arriving for lunch on Wednesday was the incredible wall of sound flowing out of the flung-open front door of Toulouse and into the tented patio: With so many hard surfaces inside and nearly 100 percent occupancy of diners (98 percent of whom were female) apparently screaming to be heard, there is no way that prime lunch and dinner hours would be a good time for an intimate conversation over food. In fact, Toulouse is an excellent place to dine if you really don’t want to talk to the other person at the table but do enjoy fascinating people-watching. As one lunch companion noted, “This is going to be the new cougar central.”

When our sweet waitress Sharee apologized for repeating our orders a couple times, she explained that she had burst her eardrum a week earlier (the restaurant opened April 4) while at work at Toulouse. Yes, the noise is that intense. While poking around the retail stores of River Oaks District after lunch, a retail employee told us that even at 3 pm the French restaurant has been packed. Godspeed, Toulouse staff.

Protective ear-wear recommendations aside, Toulouse has a lot going for it. If you’ve visited Brasserie 19 or La Table, the luxurious ambiance of the dining rooms and target demographic is a common thread among the three restaurants. It is safe to say that the competition for upscale French lunch spots in Houston is at an all-time high, if you include Artisans, L’Olivier, Le Mistral and Étoile. And that is a good thing.

Parking at a new shopping center can make or break its popularity, and at River Oaks District, while valet is available, the winner for some might be the signage that makes those people who prefer to self-park aware of what levels of the parking garage offer occupancy. With this feature, you won’t miss a business lunch while spending an hour nearly in tears trying to self park after you’ve been turned away from multiple valet stations because of just too many people. (I am looking at you, CityCentre.)

Back to the restaurant itself: The menu at Toulouse, as noted, isn’t elaborate or experimental; it spotlights the classics. During our lunch visit, we tried the quiche of the day ($17), which was light and fluffy but had a bit of a limp crust and came with small side salad, and an order of the savory French onion soup ($10, photo above). On the side we also noshed some crunchy Brussels sprouts with peppery diced guanciale, served in a small cast iron dish ($5 photo below).

On a second visit, we had the charcuterie and a croque madame (with the classic fried egg on top). The sandwich was over-griddled to blackness on the bottom (and subsequently removed from our tab), but the board of ham and sausages was a nice selection. Two glasses of rose, and we were content.

Toulouse, 4444 Westheimer, 713-871-0768, toulousecafeandbar.com