Fox Park is about to get a second restaurant from the team behind Little Fox—and this one is built for lingering over a bottle, a freezer-door martini, or a plate of oysters. Sur Lie, a wine-led bistro and bottle shop, is slated to open in September directly across the street from its more acclaimed sibling.
The new concept from Craig and Mowgli Rivard is designed to be more casual and generally less expensive than Little Fox, while still functioning as a full restaurant rather than a wine bar with snacks, according to St. Louis Magazine. The intimate dining room will seat 44, with a 16-seat sidewalk patio and a private back room for parties of eight to 16.
Sur Lie is planning a day-to-night setup for the neighborhood. Its bottle shop hours are expected to run from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, followed by dinner service from 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
The city’s Excise Division previously listed Sur Lie LLC for a full-drink and Sunday liquor license, summer garden and restaurant-bar operation at the Shenandoah Avenue address, with Craig Rivard named as managing officer. The application was approved for an initial temporary license, according to the City of St. Louis.
A European-Leaning Menu Without A Passport
The opening dinner menu is expected to include about 14 savory dishes with European influences but no single-country identity. Early offerings include daily East Coast oysters, confit egg yolk with house bread, Italian fried rice, skate wing Milanese and seasonal vegetable dishes.
Sur Lie will also offer roughly 125 wines, with Becky Lambson overseeing a list focused on minimal-intervention producers. Bottles will carry separate prices for drinking in the restaurant and taking home, while four draft cocktails, classic drinks shaken by servers and pre-batched martinis kept in a freezer will handle the cocktail side.
The Kitchen Has One Big Limitation
The new restaurant will have neither a gas line nor an exhaust hood, so Rivard plans to cook with induction burners and convection ovens. Rather than treating that as a handicap, he told St. Louis Magazine that the restrictions could push the kitchen toward more creative cooking.
The name Sur Lie refers to a French winemaking technique in which wine ages on spent yeast cells, adding texture and complexity. The official project site describes the concept simply as a “Wine + Eatery” for Fox Park and identifies it as the latest project from the Rivards’ Postcards from Bklyn hospitality group.
Reservations will be accepted, but some tables will be held for walk-ins. Lunch may be added later after the owners gauge neighborhood demand, with the group planning to begin with a corporate catering program before expanding the restaurant’s daytime footprint.
