As a pair of customers bused their coffee mugs on a mid-February morning at Foxy’s in Barre, one offered a suggestion to the staff behind the bar: “You should have a couple cats.”
That business model already exists in town, the barista replied — Kitty Korner Café is across the street. And Foxy’s is a restaurant, so the health department wouldn’t be too keen on free-roaming felines.
But cats would fit the vibe. And there are a couple of mummified ones on display in the back hallway.
The new café-bar-restaurant from Fox Market and Bar owners Liv Dunton and Doni Cain has the same kitschy-cozy feel as its East Montpelier counterpart. But, Dunton said, “If Fox is your gay grandmother’s living room, Foxy’s is more like that of your queer eccentric aunt who collects all the dead animals and maybe was goth in her twenties.”
The dead animals in this case came from Cain’s 1800s farmhouse in Plainfield. When he bought it, he found one under the kitchen floorboards and one in the shed out back. They’re a little unnerving, and only one is distinctly a cat. But both are now proudly illuminated across from an alcove that’s ideal for making out — or breaking up, depending on how you feel about the preserved pets.
The journey to opening Foxy’s involved a yearlong — and somewhat contentious — purchase of the 19th-century Wheelock House, a massive DIY renovation, and two major floods that filled the basement. Still, it “felt inevitable,” Dunton said. “We were so drawn to this building and the Barre community.”
Foxy’s had its grand opening in December. Fans of Cain and Dunton’s original spot will recognize the business partners’ now-signature elements: a little bit of irreverence, a lot of everyone-is-welcome spirit, karaoke, queer speed dating, fair prices and food you want to eat — be it a grain bowl made with local ingredients or a bag of gummy bears. It’s less market and more saloon, with added espresso drinks, a sprawling bar that serves cocktails and a big kitchen, meaning more prepared food at the market as well.
Feeling at Home at Fox Market and Bar in East Montpelier
Feeling at Home at Fox Market and Bar in East Montpelier
By Jordan Barry
Food + Drink Features
Standing in front of Foxy’s diminutive pinkish-red exterior, I wondered how all of that could fit inside. But as you enter, the space unfurls almost magically, leading from a bright front window into a darker, sorta spooky den. Visiting during the day, I was as eager to soak up the sun streaming in as any cat in the Kitty Korner Café. While the wind screamed outside, bouquets of felt rainbows and flowers dared me not to be cheery.
A full espresso menu is the latest addition to Foxy’s many offerings, which continue to shift as the team sorts out what works for it and what the community needs. I showed up just as the first handwritten coffee menu was being hung and ordered an oat milk chai ($4). Glancing to my left, I locked eyes with a pile of housemade pastries and decided it might be fun to have a chai-bourbon custard pop-tart ($4), too. I took both to a comfy couch, letting the spicier-than-usual chai and the cinnamon-filled pop-tart warm me up.
After trying out a few iterations of early-morning-to-late-night hours, including dinner, the Foxy’s team has landed on café-bakery service Tuesday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., starting March 11. In a newsletter sent on February 22, Dunton wrote that things have gotten off to a “much, much slower start than we initially anticipated,” even for a traditionally slow time of year in the restaurant industry. “We overstaffed, overpredicted, overestimated the hype. And god is it hard to be wrong.”
As a result, Foxy’s has slimmed down its staff and its offerings, particularly at dinnertime. On Friday and Saturday nights, Dunton will soon act as head chef, serving a tasting menu that changes weekly. Cain will help run the bar on those nights, “which feels like a throwback to the early days of Fox Market, when it was just the two of us,” Dunton said, “but with a real kitchen and a lot more opportunity to do cool stuff.” Late-night hours will continue when events are happening.
They’ve already managed to do a lot of cool stuff using Fox Market’s tiny kitchen, which is essentially a converted closet. As the prepared-food side of the biz continued to grow — Dunton called it “the piece of Fox we couldn’t seem to keep up with” — expansion was necessary.
Now, Foxy’s acts as a commissary kitchen for the East Montpelier market. Items such as pot pies, hand pies and onigiri are all made in Barre and available at both spots.
I sat with my breakfast long enough that it was time for lunch when I got up to leave, so I took advantage of the grab-and-go cooler. The day I was there, the rotating grain bowl ($10) was stuffed with sushi rice, roasted asparagus, roasted broccoli, kimchi, spicy orange-sesame dressing and a sliced mandarinquat, with its lightly crunchy edible rind left on. It was bright and beautiful, just like the cathartic moment a few minutes earlier when strangers from various tables had all chimed in to commiserate over the current state of the country under President Donald Trump.
Those moments of connection — “deep breaths,” as Dunton called them — are common at Foxy’s and Fox Market, especially when “stuff hits the fan, like it’s doing on a big level right now.”
“I’ve designated myself a role in this fight,” Dunton continued, “and my role is to keep a safe space.”
If someone wants to come in with friends, scream into the void and just drink water the whole time, that’s OK, Dunton said. Foxy’s also hosts more organized political events, such as regular Art Is Resistance community craft parties, the next of which is scheduled for March 22.
Fox Market’s long-standing series of global pop-up dinners has officially moved to Foxy’s, too, starting with January’s five-course Croatian meal. Dunton and Cain are still setting the theme for the second dinner, which will likely happen in April. In the meantime, March 30 will bring a brand-new event: drag brunch.
Despite the slow start, it’s easier to draw a crowd for events at Foxy’s spot in the heart of downtown Barre than it is to Fox Market’s rural location along Route 2 in East Montpelier, Dunton said. And thanks to the city’s affordable housing, there’s a strong — and growing — queer community.
“For all of Barre’s different personalities and perspectives, everyone wants this place to do well and be healthy and good,” Dunton said. “There’s so much love here, and it feels like it’s really come alive.”
Foxy’s has quickly taken its place in that vibrant scene as a home for all, dead animals included.