The Metropolitan Café was once a downtown Dallas staple for those working and living in the area to stop in to grab a quick breakfast or lunch before closing after 20 years in November 2021. Now, owner Noemi Chiriac is bringing this classic café back to life this Fall featuring an impressive Executive Chef, redesigned interior, and menu featuring original Metropolitan Café dishes and innovative new ones. Located at 2032 Main St, Dallas, TX 75201, The Metropolitan Café will be open for weekdays for breakfast, lunch, and happy hour. The cafe will also be available to host private events and offer catering.
Owner, Noemi Chiriac, was first introduced to The Metropolitan Café in the summer of 2021 while she was working as an engineer at Raytheon. She fell in love with all of the pictures and artifacts throughout the space. On a lunch break to have her favorite sandwich in November 2021, she brought her mother along. After eating, she asked the owner if her mother could help cook at the café as her mom is retired, likes to keep busy, and loves to cook large amounts of delicious food. That’s when Noemi found out it was the last day it was going to be open and in a spur of the moment, asked if he would sell the business to her. Buying The Metropolitan Café for her mother gave her an opportunity to share some of her one-of-a-kind Romanian dishes in the heart of Dallas.
Executive Chef, Randall Braud, brings many years of culinary knowledge to the café with previous experience in popular Dallas restaurants such as Mot Hai Ba, Bolsa Mercado, and Barcelona Wine Bar. He has also worked under Dallas chefs including Matt Balke, Peja Krstic, Jeana Johnson and Colleen O’Hare. His Filipino heritage lends to his love of feeding people and his passion is to do exactly that as long as he’s doing the cooking.
Joining The Metropolitan Café team, Chef Braud says, “Developing the menu for The Metropolitan Café is a unique experience as I am creating a cohesive menu between the original café classics as well as my spin on more artisan deli sandwiches, comforting, familiar dishes while incorporating Noemi’s mother’s Romanian flare into some items.”
Classic items staying on the menu include croissant sandwiches such as The Meeker Special – egg, ham, cheese, tomato, cucumber and scallions; and The Denver Croissant – egg, ham, cheese, green pepper, tomato and onion. Breakfast bagel sandwiches and some of the panini sandwiches, and the daily special hot plate will stay on the menu as well.
Chiriac says, “The Meeker Special is what kept me coming back to the original café. I love croissants, fresh cucumbers and scallions and this sandwich had all of that.”
The 2,056 square foot space has been revamped with an art deco design playing homage to the time when it was built, in 1913. The building was originally known as the Masonic Blue Lodge Temple until 1919 where it’s primarily remembered as The Western Union Telegraph Company building. This historic location is where both Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby received telegrams. Ruby paid a visit to the Western Union just 5 minutes before shooting Oswald behind the building outside the Dallas courthouse.
The Metropolitan Café will pay tribute to both old and new Dallas giving customers a space to enjoy breakfast, lunch, and happy hour. The cafe will also be available to host private events and offer catering.
Chiriac exclaimed, “I love the idea of being at the cafe early, setting up and being the first one to greet my customers on their way to work while they get a coffee and croissant. The thought of sharing my smile and energy first thing in the morning gives me joy.”
The Metropolitan Café | 2032 Main Street | Dallas | 214-741-2233
Website coming soon
