Dave Stewart is the Barry White of downtown's slowly-but-coolly-evolving post-sunset scene.

His popular downtown restaurant/lounge properties — Indigo Eurasian Cuisine, Bar 35 and four-month-old brasserie Du Vin — serve food and drink. Quite often, superlative food and drink.

But like the late great velvet-voiced soul maestro at his best, Stewart is a master of ambience. Of getting every design detail meticulously right from floorboards to ceiling. Of creating elegant — yet common-folk-appealing — environments evocative of the familiar, yet somehow wholly his own.

Du Vin is Stewart's Love Unlimited Orchestra — a brasserie rooted in the classic French model of informal wine and food bar, orchestrated with charmingly funky antiquated fixtures, tchotchkes and furnishings. All of it stuff that Stewart purposefully collected, bought or was given over Du Vin's two-year design and completion.

On the recent Friday evening we stopped by, Stewart's vision of a French-inspired "neighborhood bar ... where people can come and go from all day long ... and graze and have a glass of wine" seemed fully realized.

A half-dozen or so klatches of chatty, casually dressy downtown work folk took up tables in Du Vin's Bethel Street-fronting main room. And patrons sipping glasses of vino at the room's alluring, lengthy dark wood bar waited patiently for occupied tables lining Du Vin's fetching outdoor courtyard to clear.

Reminiscent of a streetside cafe one might find in a back alley in, say, Marseilles, Du Vin's courtyard is pure oenophile eye candy. Mismatched cobblestone. A wall-mounted fountain. Potted flowers and plants. Hanging lanterns. Faux residential windows — illuminated from within, curtains drawn — almost hastening patrons to keep their voices hushed lest they disturb nonexistent residents within.

Tucked off the back corner of the courtyard is a small cream-colored "cask room" evoking a countryside pub — complete with weathered floors, antique light fixtures, oddball texts and an old clock surrounded by a collage of dog-eared French countryside photos.

The crowd was mostly twenty- to fortysomething, heavy on dating or married couples and groups of friends. On the sound system: a tasty selection of French-inspired world beat.

Du Vin's impressive 200-plus wine collection is available by glass or bottle. (Stewart hopes to top it off at 300). Priced at $7 and up per glass, pours were generous.

We skipped Du Vin's inviting a la carte French-inspired small- platter menu this time, opting to match our wine with its mini-selection of cured meats and artisan cheeses. Single-ounce servings of black pepper pate, cacciatore salami, bresaola and trio of Taleggio, explorateur and Munster cheeses (priced $4 to $6 each) arrived elegantly arranged on wood cutting boards with microgreens, nuts, fresh grapes and dried fruits.

The finishing touch from our outdoor table? A sliver of moon-illuminated sky visible if we looked straight up and above neighboring downtown buildings.

Stewart couldn't have conducted that bit of ambience any better if he'd tried.

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.