Sometimes the best things are unexpected.

As restaurant owners, our passion is to create the best experience for our guests and our staff.

When we built The Essential in 2018, we had no idea how the business would grow and evolve. To be honest, you take the risk and watch it unfold. ❤️ 

We are thrilled with how The Essential has grown and deeply grateful for all that has happened over the past five years. To see a restaurant full of regulars is pure joy!

And while we LOVE the space that has been our home, we know how petite it is, especially at brunch!

For our guests, we know that wait times can be long or reservations hard to get, and parking can be a challenge. And for our team, it is a small space to work in, with high volume and high demands.

So we set out on a journey to find a new home for The Essential in early 2022. We were sad to think about leaving our perfect little space, but the volume had become too much.

We looked at *many* spaces, had buildings under contract, and leases signed - each falling through at the last minute. The right one just hadn’t been found.

Until now.

During this time of looking for a new home for The Essential, we were under construction on our most recent shop, La Fête. It’s an expansive space on 1st Avenue North, with a very comfortable dining room.

It’s an incredible space to work in, with ample storage and a huge prep area. We took all that we learned at The Essential and built a space that was easy to work in.

But, with some perspective, we have realized that La Fête doesn’t feel at home in a large space. For our French bistro, we started to feel that we needed a quaint, quirky place on a historic street - the way we feel like when we are in Paris.

And then it hit us. We have that.

We actually had all of the things we need for all of the things we love - we just needed to move them around. And thus, the restaurant swap was born.

With minimal construction and minimal downtime, we will be able to create restaurants that feel like themselves in a new space.

We are so excited for the next season, knowing that we can provide each of our teams and all of our guests what they need. 

So come and have a glass at your favorite table and cheers to the future!

Adventure awaits,
Kristen and Victor