Joe Beef Wine Bar Le Vin Papillon Braces for Summer Expansion

Le Vin Papillon is in expansion mode. A facelift will double the wine bar's capacity and terrasse and effectively conjoin Le Vin Papillon with sister restaurants Joe Beef and Liverpool House. A longer bar will be added, good for 12 to 15 seats, and the kitchen will be enlarged to make room for a charcoal oven. And get this—when work is completed later this summer, the wine bar will open days. Joe Beef’s Dave McMillan offered some details: "We've decided to open in the mornings. We'll sell coffee and sandwiches until the wine bar starts up at 3 p.m. We're also toying with the idea of putting in a sliding takeout window to sell soup, sandwiches and lemonade."

The seeds of Vin Papillon’s expansion were sown when Stephen Shiller and Danny Lavy of SSDL Properties Inc., and Joe Beef's McMillan, Allison Cunningham and Fred Morin, purchased the building that housed Lili & Oli late in 2013. McMillan told Eater last April that it was understood that the coffee shop would eventually have to cede way. When reached for comment, a Lili & Oli partner disputed that a verbal agreement was ever in place. Patrick Hébert claimed that sufficient notice by was not submitted prior to the end of lease last November. While McMillan did not disagree, with a year-to-year lease, Lili & Oli’s options were limited. When legal action was taken to evict, a settlement was reached to delay the coffee shop’s departure by several months. Lili & Oli has since secured a new home in the old Café Aux Grains D'Arôme a block west and work on the new Le Vin Papillon is expected to start soon.