Metropolitan Cafe in downtown Dallas has closed, after 20 years

After 20 years of breakfast and lunch in downtown Dallas, the Metropolitan Cafe closed the day before Thanksgiving in 2021.

It was a regular stop for commuters walking near Main and Pearl Streets – a casual place to grab a bagel or croissant in the morning, a panini or a salad for lunch. In a city full of expensive coffee shops, the Metropolitan Cafe sold bottomless coffee for less than $ 2.

“To this day it didn’t feel real to me,” writes owner Michael Vouras on Facebook in an announcement on Sunday evening.

He explains the closure of the café without exaggeration: it is only time.

“This is not due to any health problem or injury, or anything that makes us stop. It just seems that this is the right time to move on. 20 years in one place is a long time, not to mention working all the time in a busy, volatile and rapidly changing place, ”he explains in parting.

Christine and Michael Vouras, pictured here in 2003, were the owners and operators of the Metropolitan Cafe for almost 21 years, from January 2001 to November 2021. The Metropolitan Cafe in downtown Dallas was walking distance from hundreds of stores. Owner Michael Vouras says he will miss the many regulars who have walked through the doors for over 20 years.

After the family opened the cafe in January 2001, Mike’s father, Pete Vouras, died. Mike and his mother Christine Vouras kept the place going for two decades, with significant help from Mike’s wife Stephani.

“Thank goodness we both have a tremendous sense of humor and have rarely taken home the angry kitchen explosions that are common in the industry,” he writes. “I think my Schwörerglas paid the electricity bills down here for at least 3 months.”

Her daughter Emi “grew up here in the truest sense of the word”.

The Vouras family has been in the restaurant business for decades. Mike’s grandfather, Jimmy Vouras, owned a restaurant called Chateaubriand on McKinney Avenue in Dallas from 1954 to 1982. It was a power lunch place – “where big business was done,” according to a 1988 Dallas Morning News story. Over the years the family has opened three Chateaubriands at three different addresses in Dallas.

Commentators on Mike’s Facebook post lament the loss of Metro Cafe. A man drives 40 miles each way to have breakfast there. One woman wrote that the Greek vouras chicken “got me through law school”.

Businesses in downtown Dallas took a significant blow during the coronavirus pandemic when commuters stayed home for more than a year, missing their regular stops at places like the Metro Cafe for a cup of soup and a friendly chat with one of the owners .

Mike called his customers “family”.

“We weren’t the busiest or busiest place downtown, but I would compare the quality and loyalty of my customers to any other business in Dallas. This place was like a bar that didn’t serve alcohol, ”writes Mike.

“I don’t feel like I’m losing customers. I feel like I’m losing about a thousand good friends. “

The Metropolitan Cafe was located on 2032 Main Street in Dallas. It was closed on November 24, 2021.

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter @sblaskovich.

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