A selection of dishes from Urbano Cafe. Photo by Joy Waters.
Duck breast, cannellini beans and escarole. Lobster ravioli fra diavolo. Tuscan-style chopped New York Strip seared rare.
These are a few of the menu items that are featured in Urbano Cafe’s new culinary direction.
The Old East Dallas mainstay, owned by brothers Sina and Pasha Heidari, is launching a new menu and culinary direction, moving toward contemporary Italian food.
“We’re delighted to lean into a bright, uncomplicated, vegetable-forward style of cooking inspired by coastal Italy –– places like Sicily, Sardinia, Capri and Apulia,” Sina Heidari said in a press release.
Specifically, the menu — crafted by Chef de Cuisine Oseas Lopez and Culinary Director William Salisbury — is expected to include:
Bruschetta caponata (antipasto on house focaccia)
Whole roasted artichoke
Cioppino (combining shellfish, tomato-white-wine-broth and ’nduja)
Stracci con pesto (kale-walnut pesto on housemade pasta squares)
Lobster ravioli fra diavolo
Wild shrimp zafferano (made with grilled Gulf shrimp, fregola, saffron, tomato and pecorino Sardo)
Duck fagioli e scarola (duck breast, cannellini beans and escarole)
Svizzerina al Barolo (Tuscan-style chopped New York Strip seared rare and served on Barolo sauce)
Urbano Cafe’s wild shrimp zafferano (made with grilled Gulf shrimp, fregola, saffron, tomato and pecorino Sardo). Photo by Joy Waters.
“Our goal has been to evolve Urbano Cafe in a way that honors what Mitch and Kristen Kauffman created when they opened here in 2009,” Pasha Heidari said in the press release. “Since taking it over in 2024, we have focused on maintaining Urbano’s warm and welcoming vibe, an important part of the fabric of life in Dallas, while building something that will be here for everyone to enjoy for many years to come.”
This shift also includes Urbano’s beverages. Thanks to the new bar next door Sylvestro (led by bar manager Trenton Crawford), expect to order cocktails with dinner at Urbano Cafe. Or wine — the selection of which has been overhauled and centers on Italian and domestic producers, according to the press release.
“This is a list created for wine lovers, with some great values,” Pasha Heidari said in the press release. “We’re sourcing some really great intro wines from iconic estates in Italy. And of course most of the small Italian producers we’re featuring are making natural wines – that’s the way they’ve been made there for ages. The list is not completely there yet, but I think it will give guests a sense of where we’re going.”
Find the full menu here.
Dining and Cooking