Closure News

One of Dallas' oldest vegetarian restaurants is closing this weekend

It was quirky in a city of shiny.

Cosmic Cafe

A longtime vegetarian restaurant in Dallas is closing: Cosmic Café, which has been serving unpretentious vegetarian food at 2912 Oak Lawn Ave. for more than 25 years, is closing to make way for a yoga space.

They're closing on October 17.

Owner Praveen Sachdev says he'll keep the location open to host yoga classes which will be organized by his friend Jim Hunt, who was owner of Sun Yoga Center in Richardson. Sun Yoga closed in August.

The space will offer donation-based yoga and meditation classes, beginning November 6.

"Praveen decided to close the restaurant but he still wanted to have something in the space," Hunt says. "So we'll start with a few classes a week. He doesn't want to make money out of it, neither do I. We're both doing this to offer something to the community."

Cosmic Cafe's roots began in the late '80s when Kumar Pallana opened a general merchandise store in the space. In 1992, his son Dipak opened the Cosmic Cup in the space, creating a gentle oasis, with a menu of Indian and vegetarian food at a time when vegetarian options in Dallas were slim to none — making it a unique and valuable piece of the Dallas community, and a quirky counterpoint to Dallas' shiny persona. (They also briefly had a location in Austin.)

Sachdev came on board in the late '90s, taking over the restaurant, whose name changed to Cosmic Cafe, then eventually buying the house.

As one of the only vegetarian restaurants in Dallas at the time, Cosmic was a drop-in for vegetarian performers and celebrities passing through town.

Glorious decor featuring Hindu artwork, Buddha statues, and other Indian motifs added to the peaceful hippie vibe, and a front porch overlooking Oak Lawn Avenue, draped with Tibetan prayer flags like a beacon, gave it a patio ahead of its time. It also had a meditation center on the second floor, where yoga classes were held, so the precedent was there.

The food was your prototypical post-hippie vegetarian with a comforting warmth in dishes such as the signature Buddha's Delight, with curried vegetable of the day, dahl, samosa, pappadam, rice, and naan; and Cosmic Stir, with stir-fried asparagus, broccoli, bell peppers, onions, carrots, squash, snow peas, and tofu sauteed with a yogurt and ginger sauce and served over rice with a salad.

Most dishes were under $10, so it attracted younger diners and students, giving it a dose of hipness. It was a favorite hangout for Dallas' Hollywood-famous brothers Luke and Owen Wilson, Sachdev says.

"They were going to SMU, and for them, this was a place to meet and write their screenplays," he says.

That's how they met Pallana, who was cast in a series of acting roles in Wes Anderson films such as Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, and The Royal Tenenbaums.

Eager to pursue a film career, Pallana moved to California, and sold the cafe to Sachdev, who took it over full-time. (Pallana died in 2013.)

"I bought the building from Kumar in 1996, and have had the restaurant ever since," Sachdev says.

He did put the building on the market a few months ago, but he says it was a "half-hearted listing."

"I have my own little dream to smell the roses," he says. "I hoped to find a buyer who knows Cosmic Cafe and who would keep it going, but most either wanted the restaurant but not the real estate or the other way around. So I figured, let's keep the lights going, build up the meditation part and just close down the restaurant."

The café will be open for the rest of this week, giving fans time to pay their respects and get a final taste.

vegan closings

Opening News

New restaurant The Gibson fills needs of its North Dallas neighborhood

The Gibson

A swanky new restaurant has debuted in North Dallas after overcoming some major obstacles: Called The Gibson, it opened in November at 17552 North Dallas Pkwy., in the space previously occupied by Maguire's Bistro & Bar, after three years in the making.

Husband-and-wife Carl and Carrie Britton first purchased the building in 2022, intending to open a spinoff of The Funky Door, their fine-dining restaurant in Lubbock.

Carrie is a big wine buff who's certified by the Court of Master Sommeliers and is also a French Wine Scholar. She opened The Funky Door in 2010 — a rare fine-dining haven in Lubbock at the time. More recently, she's turned her attention to the Dallas area, opening a French restaurant called Vieux Carre in Flower Mound in 2023 (which is currently closed temporarily).

The Gibson was slated to open sooner, but in mid-construction, they were dealt a serious blow.

"In 2023, The Gibson was devastated by thieves," Carrie says. "They destroyed the building, doubling the remodeling budget in damage by stripping copper from the walls, stealing all the electrical wiring and components, stealing equipment, and destroying everything from the AC to the floors."

To make it worse, insurance wouldn’t cover the loss because it was theft.

"It was a blow that left me truly shaken, and for a long time I couldn’t even look at the pictures of the damage," she says. "Emotionally and financially, I had to really pray about whether I was going to get this done or not. But I really felt like it was something that I needed to do. I want to be victorious. I'm not going to be a victim."

She regained her passion, returning to the vision she had for the space.

“The building had its own personality — I felt like a kind of Hollywood glamor with a new Dallas edge would be perfect," she says.

The GibsonThe Gibson

The facade and decor have an Art Deco flavor with chandeliers, a color scheme with polished black surfaces and brass accents, and a swooping bar in the center. They've also added a patio, helping to make the space right off the Tollway feel more friendly and approachable.

The menu is American with steakhouse touches. There's a tomahawk for two, ribeye, filet, and NY Strip. Plus short ribs, salmon, a burger, vegetarian risotto, and sea bass with an unexpected white chocolate strawberry buerre blanc.

There are deviled eggs, crab cakes, shrimp cocktail, and fried pickles. Entree prices start at $20 and top out at $59 for the sea bass.

Cocktails include a pear martini and a Gibson with gin and dry vermouth, garnished with an onion. A large wine list includes what Carrie describes as “unicorns” — bottles that are hard to find, including a 1982 Lafitte.

"There are very rare wines, but we also have everything, starting from $40 a bottle," she says.

They're currently open for dinner with plans to add lunch, and there's definitely an audience. Maguire's had a big following and when The Gibson got vandalized, the neighbors came out in support.

"The neighborhood has been really awesome," Carrie says. "They would alert me when things were going on, and they were really great to help watch over it. That was a big motivation."

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