Finally, a new restaurant will replace shuttered Cafe Express in Dallas
A new American restaurant named The Finch is set to open in Mockingbird Station in Dallas, where Cafe Express served fast-casual food for nearly 20 years.
The space, located on a busy corner of Mockingbird Lane and Central Expressway, has sat vacant for about three years. It’s an iconic enough location that Dallas Morning News readers often asked me: Will anyone ever move into the old Cafe Express? Finally, the answer is yes.
The Finch’s menu is described as “bold” and “broad,” with items like seafood, soup, salad, pizza, pasta and entrees like mushroom risotto and cioppino-style seabass.
The restaurant comes from a company called Milkshake Concepts, which started its culinary story in 2015 in Deep Ellum. It operates Vidorra, Stirr, SkyRocket Burger, a redone Serious Pizza, and the flashy, new Harper’s — all in Deep Ellum. The company also recently relocated its nightclub named Citizen from Uptown to Deep Ellum. It’s one of a handful of bars creating a new, late-night identity in an area of Dallas without a real name.
Outside of Dallas, the group has several restaurants in Addison and Fort Worth. And in 2022, co-founder and CEO Imran Sheikh plans to open new eateries in Grand Prairie, including a second Finch.
The Finch restaurant at Mockingbird Station will help Sheikh and his team reach yet another area of North Texas: Lakewood and Highland Park.
The Finch is expected to open in spring 2022.
We reported recently that longtime Mockingbird Station tenant Trinity Hall, an Irish pub, closed in late August.
The Finch will be at 5307 E. Mockingbird Lane, Dallas (in Mockingbird Station).