A highly cosmopolitan new cafe is coming to the Dallas Design District that'll bring food, bicycles, and epic coffee together in one place. Called The Meteor, it's a concept with locations in Austin and Bentonville, and it's opening in Dallas in late summer at 1930 Hi Line Dr.

UPDATE 8-28-2023: The cafe will open on Thursday August 31.

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The cafe will open as a temporary pop-up in The Urby, a 27-story apartment building across from the Virgin Dallas hotel, taking a space that was originally designated to be a restaurant called Charley.

Eventually, The Meteor will relocate to its own dedicated space in a new residential building at 1950 Hi Line Dr., which is still under construction.

The Meteor was founded in 2019 by Doug Zell, co-founder of Chicago's acclaimed Intelligentsia Coffee, and Chris St. Peter, a former attorney. Their goal is to create an expansive community space combining bicycle shop - both are avid cyclists - with an all-day cafe and wine shop serving and selling natural wines.

The concept has so much going on, it's almost too big to comprehend. Basically, it has all the good things in one place, and every element is nicely orchestrated.

The wine shop, for example, features the increasingly popular category of natural, organic, biodynamic wines only, more than 500 bottles. That's good on its own. Even better, they'll sell to-go or for consumption onsite. Even better still, with no corkage fee. If you need one more better, prices start at $15 — for a bottle.

The coffee is from Intelligentsia, Zell's alma mater and one of the best-known coffee roasters in the U.S.

The food is ingredient-driven with an international flair and includes pizza, burgers, sandwiches, salads, and baked goods, all made in-house with thoughtfully sourced ingredients, plus coffee and teas, cider, and beer. Service will be casual counter-service style, with an approachable, breezy touch. (Their website/signage is similarly fun: "espresso-champagne-chain-lube.")

The hours are convenient and user friendly: Doing an "all day" menu means they'll be there long hours, starting with a full breakfast and segueing into lunch and dinner.

The bike shop will offer a limited selection of bikes and gear for sale, along with an in-house service department for maintenance and repairs. You can drop off your bike and sit down for a pizza - and not just pizza, but pizza with a sourdough crust - and a glass of wine.

"Our goal is to deliver top-notch food and of course a delicious cup of coffee, as well as being a bike-friendly destination," Zell says.

The popularity of bicycling surged during the pandemic, and there's a strong shift as people seek alternatives to a car-centric culture, even in Dallas. The Meteor is poised to ride that trend with a commitment to open three more locations in 2024, in Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Tucson.

"As our culture becomes more bike-friendly, the opportunity for something like The Meteor continues to grow," Zell says. "People who ride bicycles tend to be attracted to the kind of food and beverage we're doing."

"Given the way the Design District is coming together, we felt like a place that does something culinarily interesting and also with a bicycle component was a match made in heaven," he says.