Urbano Cafe should not still be open. Mitch and Kristen Kauffman founded it in 2009 in the century-old building on Fitzhugh that also houses Jimmy’s Food Store, ran it for 15 years, and decided they were done. The announcement went out, the regulars grieved, and that should have been the end of it.
Then Sina and Pasha Heidari made one phone call and one demand. The demand was non-negotiable: every employee stays. Chef Oseas Lopez, in that kitchen since 2011. General manager Kevan LaTorre, there since 2011. The whole staff. We covered the sale when it happened in early 2024. What we did not know then was how good the next chapter was going to be.
Sina and Pasha grew up in the restaurant business in a way most people do not. Their father Mohsen Heidari owned St. Martin’s Wine Bistro, the uber cool French restaurant that ran on Lower Greenville for years and became one of the most respected rooms in Dallas. Their uncle Al Heidari operated The Old Warsaw, the Polish-French fine dining institution on Maple Avenue that opened in 1946 and ran for decades as one of the most formal and celebrated restaurants in the city. The brothers spent their childhoods in those rooms, watching how restaurants were supposed to be run. When they got older they opened their own — Bowen House and Las Palmas in Uptown, then Mike’s Gemini Twin Lounge in the Cedars. They also took over St. Martin’s Wine Bistro in 2024, reviving it on Bryan Street with their uncle Omid Haftlang as partner. And then they heard Urbano was about to close, and they could not let it.
The new menu launched in early 2026, developed by Chef de Cuisine Oseas Lopez and Culinary Director William Salisbury, with direction from Leslie Brenner Concepts. The philosophy is coastal Italian — bright, vegetable-forward, inspired by Sicily, Sardinia, Capri, and Apulia rather than the heavier red-sauce tradition that most Italian restaurants in Dallas default to. Sina described it as uncomplicated, which is the right word. This is not a menu trying to impress you with technique. It is a menu trying to make you happy.
Start with the Bruschetta Caponata — Sicily’s famous sweet and sour antipasto of eggplant, olives, capers, and tomato served on house-baked focaccia. It is bright and acidic and the focaccia is the right vehicle. The Whole Roasted Artichoke with aïoli and gremolata is the kind of dish that disappears from the table before anyone decides it is their favorite. Order it anyway.
For pasta, the Lobster Ravioli Fra Diavolo is the one regulars are talking about — house-made ravioli in a spicy tomato sauce with enough heat to build as you eat. The Stracci con Pesto is house-made torn pasta with pesto, simpler and quieter, the dish to order if you want to understand what the kitchen can do without distraction. Both pastas are made in house, which at this price point in East Dallas is not something to take for granted.
The standout of the new menu is the Wild Shrimp Zafferano — grilled Gulf shrimp over fregola, which is a small round Sardinian pasta that absorbs liquid like a tiny sponge, with saffron, tomato, and pecorino Sardo. Saffron and Gulf shrimp together is a combination that should be on more menus in this city. It is not. This one has it. The Cioppino is the other seafood dish worth knowing — a shellfish soup in a tomato and white wine broth, the kind that arrives steaming and smells like the coast of somewhere you wish you were. For something more land-bound, the Svizzerina al Barolo is a Tuscan-style chopped New York strip seared rare and served over a Barolo wine reduction — a dish that sounds simple and arrives tasting like someone thought hard about it.
The wine list is mostly Italian, with a few French and California bottles, leaning toward natural wines from small producers. Pasha has been building it carefully, sourcing from iconic Italian estates at accessible price points. It is not a complete list yet — they said so themselves — but it already gives you enough to work with and signals clearly where it is headed.
One more thing worth knowing: the space next door to Urbano, formerly a coffee shop called Two Doors Down, is now Sylvestro Bar — the Heidaris’ new cocktail lounge with a seductive ’80s look and a creative cocktail program. Urbano and Sylvestro share a back patio filled with plants. The setup is a pre-dinner drink at Sylvestro, dinner at Urbano, a nightcap back next door. Complimentary valet is coming. For now, street parking on Fitzhugh is generally easy to find.
Urbano Cafe is at 1410 N. Fitzhugh Avenue in East Dallas, open daily 5 p.m. to midnight. Reservations and walk-ins welcome.
