Emma’s Torch set to open Silver Spring café, culinary training center June 12

Downtown location to serve as regional hub after nonprofit closed Washington, D.C., space

June 2, 2026 2:53 p.m.

Table of dishes made at Emma's Torch cafes. Photo credit: Courtesy of Emma's Torch

Emma’s Torch, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit that provides refugees with culinary training and career support, will open a café and training center in downtown Silver Spring on June 12, according to a Tuesday press release from the upcoming restaurant.

Its new location is at 1200 East West Highway on the ground floor of the 1200 East West apartment building. It is the former home of NaiNai’s Noodle and Dumpling Bar.

On June 11, the nonprofit will host local officials and community members at the café and training facility for a ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening, the release said.

Emma’s Torch was founded in 2016 by founder Kerry Brodie with a mission to provide culinary training and job placement services to refugees, asylees and survivors of human trafficking.

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Students who train at the center also staff the nonprofit’s cafes and catering businesses. Trainees represent more than 75 countries, including Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine and the Congo, according to the release.

The Silver Spring café and training center will be the nonprofit’s third overall, with two locations in New York. The nonprofit previously operated a location in Washington, D.C.’s Brookland neighborhood, but that space closed in late 2025 in preparation for the new, larger location in Silver Spring, the release said.

At about 4,500 square feet, the Silver Spring space is more than four times the size of the former Brookland location and boasts a larger kitchen to help expand catering services and training space, the release said. The café will seat about 60 people and the training center will have the capacity to teach more than 185 students annually.

Brodie told Bethesda Today in November that the Silver Spring space will serve as the nonprofit’s new regional operations hub.

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Initially, the Silver Spring café will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday, according to the release. The menu will focus on breakfast and lunch dishes, including an egg and cheese sandwich on a biscuit, avocado toast, a crispy chicken sandwich, and pastries such as a smoked cheddar broccoli tart and cinnamon buns.

Emma’s Torch will open a cafe and culinary training center at 1200 East West Highway. Photo credit: Elia Griffin

The café will also offer brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. Dishes to expect on the brunch menu include brown butter pancakes served with a blueberry compote and shakshuka with crispy chickpeas, according to the release.

Emma’s Torch café will sell beverages including house-made chai, matcha lattes and coffee and espresso drinks, the release said. Once the café secures a county liquor license, it will serve beer, wine and cocktails.

Inside the café, a window will allow patrons to peek into the training facility’s classrooms, according to the release. There will also be space for private and community events.

The café is expected to offer outdoor dining as well in the coming weeks after opening, according to the release.

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Emma’s Torch is named after Emma Lazarus, a Jewish woman living in New York in the 19th century who was an advocate for refugees, according to the organization’s website.

Lazarus is the author of “The New Colossus,” a sonnet that is engraved on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. The poem welcomes immigrants to the U.S. with the famous words: “Give me your tired, your poor; Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

In November, Brodie told Bethesda Today the nonprofit’s search for a new location focused on finding a community with a large refugee population and lots of restaurants. The perfect location would be a “place where we thought that we could really thrive and be additive to what was available for new arrivals,” Brodie said.

Downtown Silver Spring fits the bill, she said. Silver Spring is “such a diverse community,” Brodie added. “There’s so many social services available. There’s so many wonderful restaurants. It’s Metro accessible. So it really all came together and made sense for us to put down roots there.”

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine