For the past year or so, whenever I’ve run into the talented and big-hearted Chad Houser, I’ve asked where he’s going to put Cafe Momentum‘s first full-service restaurant. He’d talked about downtown, but I tried to never get too excited. As a downtown resident with a love for Cafe Momentum, that sounded too good to be true. Tonight, at the organization’s pop-up at Spoon, Houser made it official: the restaurant will be at 1510 Pacific Avenue. And it’ll open in December.
It was important to Houser, executive director of Cafe Momentum, that the restaurant be near the DART line and TRE. The restaurant will provide paid internships to post-release juvenile offenders. These young men need an easy and efficient way to get to work. The space will be big enough for 85 customers, and will also have a classroom.
“1510 Pacific is the tangible reality of a longtime dream for everyone involved with Café Momentum,” Houser said in a press release sent out this evening. “This space is our opportunity to not only mentor more young men with job, life, and social skills on a daily basis, it will also serve as a hub for community building with catering services and a classroom all in one place. Our guests will not only eat well, but will know that their dining presence is making a difference in the lives of our city’s most at-risk youth.”
As Nancy has mentioned earlier, Eric Shelton is chef de cuisine and Justin Box is the executive sous chef.
This is huge news for Cafe Momentum, which has been hosting pop-up dinners at various restaurants around town for the past three years, but it’s also big for downtown. Earlier this week, it was announced that clothing retailer Forty Five Ten would open on Main Street. The UNT Law Center officially opens this week. If you had told me all these wonderful things would be happening downtown when I moved to Main Street four years ago, I would have been a little incredulous. Now, I can only see the potential that will be spurred from all this activity.
