At the newly opened Pirouette Cafe and Wine Shop in Arlington, you won’t find any sweet wines or big Napa Valley reds.

That’s because you wouldn’t find them on co-owners Jackie and Philippe Loustaunau’s table at home, either.

“Any of these bottles, we would be happy to serve a table of friends and family, no questions asked,” Philippe says of the wine list.

Pirouette, the couple’s first restaurant venture together, opened in mid-September between Ballston and Virginia Square in Arlington. Philippe, a defense industry consultant who is getting ready to make Pirouette his full-time gig, and Jackie, a culinary school grad who has worked both front- and back-of-house gigs in restaurants, among other food-related jobs over the years, wanted to open a the kind of spot in their neighborhood they and their friends would hang out.

Part restaurant and part wine shop, the majority of Pirouette is dedicated to the 66-seat cafe. (There are also 41 seats on an outdoor patio, open weather permitting.) The design plays softer and more colorful touches — such as plants and a brightly colored, hanging sculpture made of dozens of tiny acrylic panels — off harder materials and neutral tones, including the polished concrete floors and wood planter boxes.

Near the front entrance, a wine display featuring hundreds of bottles shows retail customers and diners alike what’s available for purchase.

The Loustaunaus say their palate favors wines with a good balance of acid, structure, and strong finish — and even if they don’t carry a diner’s preferred wine, the goal is to stock something different to suggest that the guest would like.

Take those Napa Valley reds. “We decided we would take on that challenge of saying, ‘oh, I hear you like this particular wine. We don’t have that, but we have this other red that I think has some of that meatiness that you might enjoy,’” says Jackie.

They want customers to enjoy the experience of tasting new-to-them styles, including at winemaker and wine tasting events. They plan to use the 16-seat table in the center of the restaurant for tastings, including some ticketed special offerings. On other nights, the owners may call over patrons to meet a particular distributor, or host an event could take over the entire restaurant for a night of special wine offerings paired with food.

But regardless of the way these events will be structured, the couple is aiming for a more relaxed, interactive experience than a tasting event where a winemaker talks at their audience at length about, say, the slope of the vineyard or other minutiae that guests aren’t as interested in.

“We want to find a way where, when a winemaker is here, it’s a little more fun, youthful, not so static and passive,” Jackie says.

Pirouette’s wines by the bottle start at $15 and all sell for less than $100 — except for magnums. A number of the wines fall in the $15-$40 range; the prices are the same whether you buy them to enjoy while dining in or to bring home. The restaurant does not charge corkage fees for those dining in. There are also approximately 10 wines offered by the glass at any given time.

While the co-owners run point on the vino, they have handed much of the decision-making around the food to Executive Chef Adam Hoffa. His menu reflects Philippe’s French roots, influences from Jackie’s time living in Italy, and the chef’s own Southern upbringing and cooking styles he honed during stints at Italian restaurants such as Fiola in D.C. and Trattoria Lucca in Charleston, South Carolina, among others.

So think pickled shrimp served with baby fennel and a citrus dressing ($17), or a potato salad laced with smoked trout and frisee ($14). There are mac-and-cheese croquettes ($15), but also a red endive salad with fried croutons, orange-dijon vinaigrette and ricotta made in-house ($14). Entrees on the current menu include a pork chop milanese for two ($55) and seared scallops over a charred corn salad ($33).

Hoffa says the menu will change periodically to reflect ingredients or preparations that the team is curious to experiment with and what’s available that season. One prime time for that experimentation will be on “Off-Menu Sundays,” in which the kitchen plans to offer a smaller menu that allows an individual line cook or chef on staff to experiment, and pairs those dishes with a different, smaller wines-by-the-glass list.

In addition to seasonality, Hoffa’s inspiration has stemmed from two main ideas, he says.

“I wanted things that would be kind of different for the neighborhood … [but would be] things that would pair interestingly with wines without necessarily seeming pretentious or over-the-top, just tasty and simple flavors,” said Hoffa.

His other source of inspiration? The chats at the long table at the end of service, when the team comes together after a day of work.

“We discuss the service, how the day went, things that made us laugh, things we didn’t like; we taste different wines sometimes to see what might be coming on the menu,” he says.

Pirouette Café and Wine Shop is located at 4000 N. Fairfax Drive in Arlington and open Tuesday-Thursday from 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Friday-Saturday from 11 a.m.-10 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. It is a cash-free establishment.