You could call Vif a cafe, a coffee shop, or a wine shop. It’s all of these things, but it’s also something more. Open for a little more than two years in Fremont, Vif offers a rare kind of nourishment in Seattle. And while it might be a stretch to call Vif a restaurant, its food is certainly restaurant quality.
“Our business model does not fit the restaurant model,” says co-owner Shawn Mead. “We’re like a cafe plus.”
Vif is the vision of Mead and Lauren Feldman, who met in 1999 while working at Cafe Campagne, where Mead was the wine director and Feldman was the pastry chef. The two became friends and, in Feldman’s words, have been “spinning ideas ever since.”
The inspiration for Vif came while the two were traveling in France. Feldman says Vif is modeled after a type of business that’s common there but rare in the United States. “It’s called cave à manger—basically a wine shop where you can get a bite to eat”…
