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Buvette Daphnée, the acclaimed ByWard Market restaurant that suddenly closed in late May after staff refused to work for its chef, announced Monday that it is to reopen at the end of the July.
“We took a small break, but are happy to announce our reopening at the end of the month,” the William Street wine bar and eatery said in an Instagram post Wednesday morning. “We are so stoked to welcome you back to our cozy space.”
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The restaurant, a self-described Montreal-style wine bar, was a near-instant success after it opened late last summer. It cracked this year’s Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list, ranking 97th, and was also named one of the country’s 10 best new restaurants by that magazine.
But on May 31, staff walked out that afternoon before Buvette Daphnée’s dinner service could begin. Tensions between chef Dominique Dufour and both front- and back-of-house staff had long been simmering, based on allegations that Dufour’s lack of management skills led to chaos, high stress and uneven guest experiences at the restaurant. Some staff also told this newspaper that Dufour had verbally abused two workers, and that her decision to terminate a server was the last straw that prompted the walkout.
“I take full responsibility for not being the leader expected of me for my team and by my team,” Dufour told this newspaper in an emailed statement last month. “I recognized that there was a communication breakdown, between myself and the staff, which I did not know how to navigate.”
Dufour said she was six months pregnant with her second child and would be “stepping back” from the restaurant for health reasons.
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The Buvette Daphnée Instagram post makes no mention of who is to be in charge of its kitchen.
Dufour came from Montreal to Ottawa in 2018 to open Norca, the restaurant at the Hotel Le Germain Ottawa. Within a year, she left the boutique hotel and opened her restaurant Gray Jay Hospitality on Preston Street. Dufour then appeared on the 2020 season of the hit Food Network Canada show Top Chef Canada, raising her profile nationally. Gray Jay moved to Echo Drive in the fall of 2021, but it closed on New Year’s Eve of 2022.
Before it closed, Buvette Daphnée at its best treated guests to elevated small, shareable plates and astutely selected wines, served in a beautiful space with exceptional hospitality. This writer was among those who sang its praises.
Dufour had been invited to cook this Sept. 25 at the 2024 Ottawa edition of Canada’s Great Kitchen Party, a competition involving six Ottawa chefs that will send its winner to the 2025 Canadian Culinary Championship in Ottawa.
But the local event announced last week that Dufour would no longer be taking part. Teegavarapu Sarath, chef-owner of the Indian fine-dining restaurant Kathā on Preston Street, is to replace her.
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