Bye Bye Bistro Bienville, Hello Lili Co.

It garnered positive reviews as recently as last December but Bistro Bienville bid Plateau diners adieu on August 4. The neighbourhood restaurant has gone under the knife and will reopen soon as Lili Co. under Catherine Draws and chef David Pellizzari. The "micro-resto en retrait du brouhaha des rues commerciales du Plateau" is going all in with offal, natural wines and cocktails and will be open for breakfast, dinner and drinks.
Presumably, this is nothing more than a case of relatively new owners (the restaurant changed hands over a year ago) wanting to shake things up a bit. It's worth noting, however, just how unanimously lauded Bistro Bienville was in its heyday.
Upon announcing her review last October, Lesley Chesterman tweeted, "Go!"
Robert Beauchemin, now retired, and late of La Presse, declared Bistro Bienville "the restaurant of the future in Montreal."
Marie-Claude Lortie consistently named the restaurant one of her top picks in the city. In a review dated December 21, 2012, she wrote "that while restaurants come and go in the Plateau, one day one comes along that distinguishes itself from the rest."
And yet here we are. Bye bye Bistro Bienville, hello Lili Co.

· Le Bienville: les classiques réinventés [La Presse]
· Petit coin de bonheur [Voir.ca]
· [Lili Co.]
[Photo: Katerine-Lune Rollet]