Touhami Elfahdi and daughter Miriam Elfahdi stand outside the Uptown building where they’ll soon open a second location of Cafe Miriam, which they opened by City Park in 2017. (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
Though crepes and coffee are at the core of Café Miriam, owner Touhami Elfahdi said he’s serving something more important: Moroccan hospitality.
“Every time you’re in a taxi or on public transport, you’ll end up having dinner at someone’s house from a short conversation,” Elfahdi, who opened the City Park shop in 2017, said of his home country. “Growing up, I don’t remember a week without having unexpected guests.”
Next year, Elfahdi, 56, and his eponymous daughter Miriam aim to bring that feel to a second location in Uptown.
“There’s so much more potential in this space,” said Miriam Elfahdi, 24.
The new location at 1707 Lafayette St. will open Jan. 18 in a space that quadruples the 400-square-foot size of the original at 2217 E. 21st Ave. In what was once a residential home, Touhami and Miriam Elfahdi will still serve classic crepes such as the Pulp Fiction-inspired Royal with Cheese. But now they will have 1,700 square feet across two floors and an outdoor patio to do it.
“My whole mentality has been to replicate first and then adapt as needed,” Miriam said.
Along with coffee, crepes, salads and sandwiches, the new Uptown space will offer pastries made by chef Pascal Trompeau, the founder of Trompeau bakery who sold the business six years ago.
Touhami and Miriam Elfahdi inside their second location, backdropped by Andy Woodward’s 50 State Animals Collection. When Elfahdi first moved to Denver in the 1980s, he stayed with Woodward’s family and now considers him “like a brother.” (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
The two also will import Moroccan mint tea, a North African delicacy, to serve at the shop.
The new location will initially be open on weekends, and plans to go full time in the spring. The Elfahdis said they plan to host events — such as Moroccan dinners, movie nights or outdoor music — starting around that time too.
Miriam added that she hopes Uptown’s hours will expand to fill a vacuum in the Mile High City. The original café, at 2217 E 21st Ave, is open 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, but the two hope the new joint will become a European-Moroccan late-night staple.
“There have also been a lot of nighttime cafés in Denver that have closed in the last few years, so we want to bring something like that back too,” she said, mentioning The Market, which closed on Larimer Square in 2020, as a place to emulate.
Revamping the Lafayette Street building cost around $140,000 and was self-funded, Touhami said. Though nothing structural was done to the building, its walls and basement got a face-lift alongside a new patio. The last tenant was Waffle Brothers, which shuttered in summer 2023 because of unpaid taxes, so the Elfahdis saved on the kitchen and water lines.
Miriam, who graduated from Chapman University in Southern California in 2023, has been managing the project from San Francisco, where she moved in March. When the second café started ramping up in August, the younger Elfahdi started coming back to Denver more regularly.
“She created the first one, so how could she not be there for the second?” Touhami said.
While restaurant owners often express frustrations with Denver’s permitting process, the two called working with city government as “one of the highlights” of the project.
“It’s taken them a while to bring the building up to their high standards,” said landlord Stephanie Shearer, who runs several Denver retailers, including Pandora Jewelry. She and her husband Chris Bacorn also own the former Eze Mop building next door, which they bought in 2009 and have since renovated.
“In my career, I always say it’s best to be late with a good solution than on time with a bad one,” Touhami said.
The Morocco native moved to Denver in 1988 to attend Metropolitan State University, which he parlayed into a successful career consulting high-profile oil and shipping companies around the world. But advising the likes of Maersk and Chevron pulled him away from his family too much, he said, so Elfahdi moved into a part-time, stateside role in 2016.
Soon after, “We needed something to do,” they said. For a family that loves hosting, opening Café Miriam was natural.
“When you opened, I didn’t take it very seriously,” Miriam, who was a high school junior at the time, told her father through a laugh.
But what started as a weekends-only, two employee (Touhami and Miriam) café blossomed into one of Denver’s highest-rated breakfast restaurants. After being taught by former Crepes n’ Crepes owner Alain Veratti soon after opening, the shop began offering the French staple. The Elfadhis also sold Moroccan dinner fare, such as tapas, during the pandemic to help get them through.
Café Miriam employs between 10 and 15 people, and the Elfahdis are working on hiring six more to build out their Uptown staff.
“It started with us carrying most of the weight, but we couldn’t grow just like that,” Miriam said.
The duo plan to open more locations in the future, but the focus now is on building a reputation in Uptown through service.
“I look at reviews first to see how people are responding before the money,” Elfahdi said. “That comes and goes, but the experience is what stays.”
Touhami Elfahdi and daughter Miriam Elfahdi stand outside the Uptown building where they’ll soon open a second location of Cafe Miriam, which they opened by City Park in 2017. (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
Though crepes and coffee are at the core of Café Miriam, owner Touhami Elfahdi said he’s serving something more important: Moroccan hospitality.
“Every time you’re in a taxi or on public transport, you’ll end up having dinner at someone’s house from a short conversation,” Elfahdi, who opened the City Park shop in 2017, said of his home country. “Growing up, I don’t remember a week without having unexpected guests.”
Next year, Elfahdi, 56, and his eponymous daughter Miriam aim to bring that feel to a second location in Uptown.
“There’s so much more potential in this space,” said Miriam Elfahdi, 24.
The new location at 1707 Lafayette St. will open Jan. 18 in a space that quadruples the 400-square-foot size of the original at 2217 E. 21st Ave. In what was once a residential home, Touhami and Miriam Elfahdi will still serve classic crepes such as the Pulp Fiction-inspired Royal with Cheese. But now they will have 1,700 square feet across two floors and an outdoor patio to do it.
“My whole mentality has been to replicate first and then adapt as needed,” Miriam said.
Along with coffee, crepes, salads and sandwiches, the new Uptown space will offer pastries made by chef Pascal Trompeau, the founder of Trompeau bakery who sold the business six years ago.
Touhami and Miriam Elfahdi inside their second location, backdropped by Andy Woodward’s 50 State Animals Collection. When Elfahdi first moved to Denver in the 1980s, he stayed with Woodward’s family and now considers him “like a brother.” (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
The two also will import Moroccan mint tea, a North African delicacy, to serve at the shop.
The new location will initially be open on weekends, and plans to go full time in the spring. The Elfahdis said they plan to host events — such as Moroccan dinners, movie nights or outdoor music — starting around that time too.
Miriam added that she hopes Uptown’s hours will expand to fill a vacuum in the Mile High City. The original café, at 2217 E 21st Ave, is open 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, but the two hope the new joint will become a European-Moroccan late-night staple.
“There have also been a lot of nighttime cafés in Denver that have closed in the last few years, so we want to bring something like that back too,” she said, mentioning The Market, which closed on Larimer Square in 2020, as a place to emulate.
Revamping the Lafayette Street building cost around $140,000 and was self-funded, Touhami said. Though nothing structural was done to the building, its walls and basement got a face-lift alongside a new patio. The last tenant was Waffle Brothers, which shuttered in summer 2023 because of unpaid taxes, so the Elfahdis saved on the kitchen and water lines.
Miriam, who graduated from Chapman University in Southern California in 2023, has been managing the project from San Francisco, where she moved in March. When the second café started ramping up in August, the younger Elfahdi started coming back to Denver more regularly.
“She created the first one, so how could she not be there for the second?” Touhami said.
While restaurant owners often express frustrations with Denver’s permitting process, the two called working with city government as “one of the highlights” of the project.
“It’s taken them a while to bring the building up to their high standards,” said landlord Stephanie Shearer, who runs several Denver retailers, including Pandora Jewelry. She and her husband Chris Bacorn also own the former Eze Mop building next door, which they bought in 2009 and have since renovated.
“In my career, I always say it’s best to be late with a good solution than on time with a bad one,” Touhami said.
The Morocco native moved to Denver in 1988 to attend Metropolitan State University, which he parlayed into a successful career consulting high-profile oil and shipping companies around the world. But advising the likes of Maersk and Chevron pulled him away from his family too much, he said, so Elfahdi moved into a part-time, stateside role in 2016.
Soon after, “We needed something to do,” they said. For a family that loves hosting, opening Café Miriam was natural.
“When you opened, I didn’t take it very seriously,” Miriam, who was a high school junior at the time, told her father through a laugh.
But what started as a weekends-only, two employee (Touhami and Miriam) café blossomed into one of Denver’s highest-rated breakfast restaurants. After being taught by former Crepes n’ Crepes owner Alain Veratti soon after opening, the shop began offering the French staple. The Elfadhis also sold Moroccan dinner fare, such as tapas, during the pandemic to help get them through.
Café Miriam employs between 10 and 15 people, and the Elfahdis are working on hiring six more to build out their Uptown staff.
“It started with us carrying most of the weight, but we couldn’t grow just like that,” Miriam said.
The duo plan to open more locations in the future, but the focus now is on building a reputation in Uptown through service.
“I look at reviews first to see how people are responding before the money,” Elfahdi said. “That comes and goes, but the experience is what stays.”
