#2375 #S1198 - Vif, Seattle - 12/21/2013

Vif, Seattle

I must confess that I did not expect Vif to last very long in this space. Like Brigham Young claiming "This is the place" at the brink of the Utah dessert, the idea that this bleak and boxy old Herfy's building was the right place for a "food-focused coffee and wine bar" just seems a little mystifying to me. Even the name -- a French word for "alive" or "lively" -- seems more in sync with their neighbors like Paseo or Brad's Swingside than this quiet, bright space that is never open later than 7pm. Perhaps "Calme" would have been more apropos?

But here they are still, and congrats to them. There is plainly a lot of care going into the environment and techniques used to produce their wines and ingredients. Their descriptions are filled with mentions of "terroir," "natural viticulture," and "non-interventionist winemaking" -- i.e. things that some must see as touchstones for ethical foods, and others as fodder for a "Portlandia" sketch. The menu is full of breakfast cafe options that seem like they would be entirely enjoyable if one could linger over them in a garden patio, but less so in the spare dining area, devoid of intimacy, and redolent of a corporate lunchroom. I'm not certain that I should really count this as a bar, and so far I have managed to stop in only for a couple glasses of wine, so it would be silly to venture a general opinion on their offerings. I just wish they had chosen a location that made me a little more eager to sample them.


4401 Fremont Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103 - (206) 557-7357
Est. 2013 - Building constructed: 1965
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: vifseattle.com - facebook
Reviews: sprudge - yelp