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Durbach & Stewart Softly Open “Cafeteria” At 2702 Main Street

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Cafeteria will open its doors softly to friends and family tonight (public this weekend). The new 30 seat restaurant comes to us from industry vets Andrey Durbach and Chris Stewart. As you may recall, they sold their L’Altro Buca restaurant (previously Parkside) in the West End to Carol and Luciano Loi of Adesso Bistro a couple of months ago in order to purchase the Ping’s spot at 2702 Main (details all here).

The focus won’t be cuisine-specific like their two other restaurants, La Buca (Italian) and Pied-a-Terre (French), and much like the original Parkside, the menu will travel quite a bit. They’re aiming for “super casual”, with no dish large or small trespassing beyond the $20 mark. In the end, what I imagine we’ll end up seeing is a playground for chef Durbach’s creativity, which is never a bad thing. All told, I’d count this as a huge win for Main.

I popped in before the doors were unlocked earlier tonight. Click through the menu and the room below…

  • Cafeteria
  • Cafeteria
  • Cafeteria
  • Cafeteria
  • Andrey & Chris | Cafeteria
  • Cafeteria
  • The first menu | Cafeteria
  • Cafeteria
  • Cafeteria
  • Cafeteria
  • Cafeteria
  • Cafeteria
  • Branding | Cafeteria
  • Cafeteria

ALL ANTICIPATED OPENINGS

There are 21 comments

  1. Looks awesome – can’t wait to check it out. I’m quite happy to see they rid the windows of that uninviting frosting.

  7. Thanks once again for making Main st. (a working class neigbourhood) look like slice of some yaletown lounge. How boring and bourgeois can you get?
    What is it with the lack of imagination coming from restaurant owner’s these days? Everywhere, we’ve got ‘social houses,’ ‘steakhouses’ and ‘cafeterias’ all with the usual white on black signage complete with furnishings from IKEA.
    Hopefully the prices are not as alienating as the aesthetics. At 20 bucks a plate I think you guys have you heads up your butts.

    Thanks!

  8. I like the brick and I hope those lights found a good home as they are beautiful one off’s that many would hunt to have.

  9. I’m impressed by the inclusion of Red Racer IPA, a real-deal super hoppy IPA.

  10. Clington. Why don’t you open a place then that charges , let’s see, how about 5 bucks a plate and how about 2 bucks for a beer? Then you can attract the real Main street crowd.

    Pretty much the two best guys in the Vancouver restaurant business open up a cool place on Main street and all you can say is they have their heads up their asses? You are a fool. I can’t even guess where your head is but it must be up the ass of that dude in the rainbow wig with the John 316 sign.

  11. Gotta dig up my Afrikaans dictionary but if memory serves me well, “Clington” is what they say instead of “Douchebag”.
    Seriously…. these guys are going to offer great quality at a great price.
    Pretty sure Chris and Andre aren’t going to get too stressed about not having your approval.

  12. this is a bit off on a tangent, but what do people have to say about tim hortons opening at main and broadway? letters to city hall in order?

  13. It’s good to have a new restaurant but from a glance at the menu picture it’s quite pricey and nothing leaps out at me as all that interesting. Pings menu was much more appealing.

  14. i can’t believe i’m biting here but….

    @ Clington:

    i thought this was an article about a restaurant opening, and you’ve turned it into the industrial revolution in russia. you refer to main st. being a “working class neighbourhood” and then use the word “bourgeois”. in your world do the various denizens of main st. wear dark blue thick overalls and wield oversized wrenches?

    doubtful.
    thanks for playing though!

    * and on a personal note, thanks SO much for not adding any superfluous apostrophes or getting “you’re” and “your” confused, which i’m certain took all of your cognitive capabilities and several drafts to avoid.

  15. @clington that is laughable, have you been to any of their restaurants? You would not be saying that if you have. Wow.

  16. That dude is totally right, Main Street is a working class neighborhood and deserves more working class restaurants.

    For the love of God, somebody open a Sammy J Peppers or an Olive Garden before a full-scale revolution breaks out.

  17. Alex,

    You head is jammed so far up your ass that you will never see the light of day ever again. Main Street is not the new Coquitlam. Piss off!

  18. @Clington – I hear your point about the transition of Main Street, but I was at Cafeteria last night and ordered 4.50 sleeves – which isn’t a bargain, but is affordable to most “working class” people who just want a drink. Also, the waitress didn’t put any pressure on us to order food. We did end up ordering food after being there about 20 minutes cause we saw how great everyone else’s looked, and it was a good value, I thought, though it would be a treat for a “working class” person. It wouldn’t be completely out of range for a special occasional. I had delicious beef tenderloin for just under $20, and a good sized bowl of soup for 4.50. That’s far less than I’d pay at most steakhouses for that kind of food.

    I’m just hoping Sigz stays open – great prices, no pretentious servers or decor.

  19. We ate there the day taxes were due so – July 5 maybe? Loved the food, like the fact that they’ll open any bottle of wine if you have two glasses. Service nice and snappy but not overly sucky. The only thing I did not like was that the sun was coming in from the west and the light was blinding. Hopefully the blind has arrived by now.

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