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An East Williamsburg appetizing shop offers ‘a taste of nostalgia’ to its customers
(New York Jewish Week) — Let’s face it: Classic Jewish deli and appetizing shops are having a moment. According to Bon Appetit, “the old school deli is the newest hot girl hangout,” while an exhibit on Jewish delis at the New-York Historical Society continues to draw crowds. These days, we’re basically all Estelle Reiner and we want to have what Sally Albright is having.
In recent years, a whole new crop of appetizing stores and delis have popped up in New York, with even Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) from “Succession” getting into the business: He’s an investor in the newish Jewish lunch counter S&P. And while some of these establishments, like Edith’s Sandwich Counter, seek to bridge the gap between an older generation and a new one, the year-old Simply Nova in East Williamsburg is all about harkening back to the days of yore.
From their tagline (“A taste of nostalgia”) to their classic deli boards, Simply Nova hopes to transport their clientele to the past.
According to Sean Brownlee, co-owner of Simply Nova, their emphasis on nostalgia is having the intended effect. “When people come in, the first thing they say is, ‘This reminds me of my childhood,’” Brownlee, 25, told the New York Jewish Week. “And that’s a really good, good feeling to know that we bring old memories — old, good memories — to people.”
The menu’s old-school offerings certainly help, too: Simply Nova boasts everything you’d want from an appetizing store and more — including, but certainly not limited to, bagels and all of the requisite fixings, pastrami and roast beef sandwiches, chopped liver, herring, matzah ball soup, latkes and a bakery corner featuring babka, rugelach, macaroons and black and white cookies. Simply Nova has scores of lox options on offer, like a pastrami cured salmon, beet gravlax and an Icelandic salmon of which Simply Nova is New York City’s exclusive purveyor. (My favorite is the classic Eastern Nova Scotia.) And yes, gluten-free bagels and dairy-free cream cheese are available as well.
Brownlee first met co-owner Felix Placencia, 52, when they worked together at a few other New York City appetizing stores. (Brownlee and Placencia declined to name those shops, though this Instagram post indicates they both had worked at Russ & Daughters.) They realized that with their combined experience and passion, they could go into business for themselves.
Brownlee has spent his entire seven-year career at appetizing shops, Placencia has 26 years devoted to the same. But perhaps just as important as work history was the shared conclusion that there was something missing from their previous places of employment: an emphasis on service.
“We wanted to create a more close relationship with the customers and bring nostalgic spirits to them, especially neighborhoods like these, where they don’t have that close relationships with those businesses out there,” Brownlee said. He estimates that their clientele is about evenly divided across generational lines, with approximately 45% of them Jewish.
“These days there is not many truly neighborhood store[s] where people go and it’s ‘their’ store, where they can go every week or every day if they desire to, and feel comfortable,” Brownlee said, estimating that 80% of their clientele are repeat customers.
“We believe that the first experience of the food is the service,” he added. “So if you come to a place that doesn’t give you that first impression of customer service, even though the food is great, you’re not going to taste it.”
Brownlee and Placencia are both of Dominican heritage, and although neither is Jewish, their time working in appetizing stores has instilled in them a deep love of traditional appetizing foods. “I felt very connected to it,” Placencia said, both of the cuisine and the process of making it.
Brownlee said that at Simply Nova, they work to cater to their customers’ individual needs (pun somewhat intended). Brownlee said Simply Nova recently catered a wedding at Gracie Mansion. Although they typically prepare their platters in-house and drop them off, the customer requested staff prep on site, and so their wish was granted.
Simply Nova’s predilection for the past also stands in contrast with its neighborhood. Nestled on Metropolitan Avenue between Graham Avenue and Humboldt Street, Simply Nova is on a block where a giant luxury apartment building replaced a beloved White Castle, and where many of the local establishments seem to be more interested in chasing trends than serving their customers. Simply Nova is a departure from some of the neighborhood’s other, trendier fare — as well as its many coffee shops and bars.
“Many customers always say, ‘This is so good, we needed a place like this in the neighborhood,’” Placencia said.
When the partners were looking a location, Brownlee, who lives in the area, happened to know the landlord of the building that previously housed The Bagel Store — famous for creating the rainbow bagel — which closed its Williamsburg doors in the summer of 2019.
“It was perfect,” Brownlee said.
Just last month, Simply Nova celebrated its one-year anniversary. And Brownlee and Placencia, a Bronx resident, couldn’t be happier with how their business has evolved. Instead of relying on advertising, their customer base has built by word of mouth — exactly as they’d hoped it would.
“We’ve always wanted to build a place that grows slowly by customers who really trust us, and that fulfills us, knowing those people keep coming back,” Brownlee said, adding that their customers come from all over the city.
Now, Brownlee and Placencia are looking to the future. “We’re already planning to expand,” Brownlee said, sharing that they’re hoping to open a second location later this year.
Brownlee expressed how important it is to provide their Jewish customers with an authentic experience to connect them with their heritage. “I feel that this food is very special,” he said. “Many different cultures, or countries, they have their type of food, and it’s easy for people to find it. It’s not so easy for people who grew up with this kind of food to find it.”
While there has been a surge of appetizing shops in Brooklyn and Manhattan over the last decade or so, this wasn’t always the case — particularly when you consider how bountiful appetizing shops once were in New York City. When Shelsky’s Cobble Hill location opened in 2011, it was the first new appetizing store in Brooklyn in 60 years.
Brownlee insists appetizing stores can and should be for everyone. “Anybody who loves food, and loves lox or good soup or good bagel — they could come and enjoy [it] if it’s presented to them the right way,” he said. “They don’t necessarily have to know about the food.”
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Iran Says It Has Sent Response to US Peace Proposal
People walk past a billboard with a graphic design about the Strait of Hormuz on a building, in Tehran, Iran, May 4, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iran has sent its response to a US proposal for peace talks to end the war, Iranian state media reported on Sunday, as two ships were allowed to pass through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.
The response focused on ending the war on all fronts, especially Lebanon, and on the safety of shipping through the strait, Iranian state TV said, without indicating how or when the vital waterway might reopen.
It followed a US proposal to end fighting before starting talks on more contentious issues, including Iran’s nuclear program.
Pakistan, which has been mediating talks over the war, forwarded the Iranian response to the US, a Pakistani official said. There was no immediate US comment.
Despite a month-old ceasefire in the conflict and after some 48 hours of relative calm, hostile drones were detected over several Gulf countries on Sunday, underlining the threat still facing the region.
Still, the QatarEnergy-operated carrier Al Kharaitiyat passed safely through the strait and was heading for Pakistan’s Port Qasim, according to data from shipping analytics firm Kpler, the first Qatari vessel carrying liquefied natural gas to cross the strait since the US and Israel started the war on February 28.
Sources said earlier the transfer, which offered a modicum of relief to Pakistan after a wave of power blackouts caused by a halt to gas imports, had been approved by Iran to build confidence with Pakistan and with Qatar, another mediator.
In addition, a Panama-flagged bulk carrier bound for Brazil that had previously attempted to transit the strait on May 4 passed through, using a route designated by Iran’s armed forces, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday.
TRUMP UNDER PRESSURE TO END WAR AHEAD OF CHINA VISIT
With US President Donald Trump due to visit China this week, there has been mounting pressure to draw a line under the war, which has ignited a global energy crisis and poses a growing threat to the world economy.
Tehran has largely blocked non-Iranian shipping through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, which before the war carried one-fifth of the world’s oil supply and has emerged as one of the central pressure points in the war.
Addressing whether combat operations against Iran were over, Trump said in remarks aired on Sunday: “They are defeated, but that doesn’t mean they’re done.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war was not over because there was “more work to be done” to remove enriched uranium from Iran, dismantle enrichment sites and address Iran’s proxies and ballistic missile capabilities.
The best way to remove the enriched uranium would be through diplomacy, Netanyahu said in an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” without ruling out removing it by force.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a social media post that Iran would “never bow down to the enemy” and would “defend national interests with strength”.
Despite diplomatic efforts to break a deadlock, the threat to shipping lanes and the economies of the region remained high.
On Sunday, the United Arab Emirates said it intercepted two drones coming from Iran, while Qatar condemned a drone attack that hit a cargo ship coming from Abu Dhabi in its waters. Kuwait said its air defences had dealt with hostile drones that entered its airspace.
Recent days have seen the biggest flare-ups in fighting in and around the strait since a ceasefire began: the UAE came under renewed attack on Friday and sporadic clashes were reported between Iranian forces and US vessels in the strait.
Clashes have also continued in southern Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire announced on April 16.
Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reignited on March 2 when the Lebanese group opened fire after Tehran came under US-Israeli attack. The latest talks between Israel and Lebanon are due to start in Washington on May 14.
INTERNATIONAL MISSION PREPARATIONS DRAW IRANIAN WARNING
Though Washington imposed its own blockade on Iranian vessels last month, Tehran has taken its time before responding to calls to end a war that surveys show is unpopular with US voters facing ever-higher gasoline prices.
The US has also found little international support, with NATO allies refusing calls to send ships to open the Strait of Hormuz without a full peace deal and an internationally mandated mission.
Britain, which has been working with France on a proposal to ensure safe transit through the strait once the situation stabilizes, said on Saturday it was deploying a warship to the Middle East in preparation for such a mission, following a similar move by France.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on social media that any stationing of British, French or other warships around the Strait of Hormuz under the pretext of “protecting shipping” would be an escalation and would be met by force.
In response, French President Emmanuel Macron said France was standing ready to help the international mission, but “we have never envisaged a military deployment to re-open Hormuz.”
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Jonathan Pollard Tells i24news: US-Israel Alliance Is ‘Finished’; He Is Entering Israeli Politics
Jonathan Pollard, a former US Navy intelligence officer convicted of spying for Israel, exits following a hearing at the Manhattan Federal Courthouse, in New York City, May 17, 2017. Photo: Reuters / Brendan McDermid / File.
i24 News – Jonathan Pollard, the former US Navy intelligence analyst who served 30 years in an American prison for spying for Israel, told i24NEWS in an exclusive interview Saturday that he is entering Israeli politics, declaring that every party currently sitting in the Knesset has “blood on its hands” from the October 7 massacre and that the US-Israel alliance is “finished.”
Speaking via Zoom on Sunday with i24NEWS Senior Correspondent Owen Alterman, Pollard announced he would run with a small party that has yet to clear the electoral threshold, saying he could not in good conscience join any existing Knesset party. “Every single legacy party that is in this Knesset bears a responsibility for the disaster that occurred on October 7,” he said. “The misconception started long before. And it was the mismanagement and the lack of oversight by the civilian governments that allowed them to get away with this disaster.”
Pollard was pointed in his criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, dismissing suggestions that he owed the premier gratitude for his release. “God brought me home because it was a miracle,” he said, crediting his late wife Esther, Ron Dermer, and Sheldon and Miriam Adelson for fighting for his freedom. “Bibi, you know, he let my wife almost starve to death on the streets of Jerusalem before he deigned to see her.” He also rejected Netanyahu’s claim that Israel had achieved a “war of rebirth,” saying, “We haven’t defeated our enemies. There isn’t one enemy, one of the fronts, of the multi-fronts, that has been decisively defeated.”
Pollard reserved some of his sharpest words for Israel’s ultra-Orthodox political parties, describing Shas as “a criminal enterprise” and United Torah Judaism as “a shakedown operation.” “The problem with the Haredim is that they haven’t gotten out of the ghetto, the shtetl,” he said, directing his criticism at the leadership rather than the community. “They don’t seem to understand that when you live in this country as a citizen, when you take money from the government, you owe the government something.” He called IDF soldiers serving hundreds of days in combat “sacred heroes” and said it was “disgusting” and “insulting” for Haredi leadership to equate military service with serving in a foreign army.
On the United States, Pollard was equally blunt, calling President Donald Trump “very dangerous” and saying he did not know what Trump’s “North Star” or values were. When Alterman noted Trump was widely popular in Israel, Pollard replied, “That just shows you how stupid a lot of people in this country really are.” He said Trump was “pro-money” rather than antisemitic and accused Trump advisers Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, whom he called “Tweedledum and Tweedledee,” of being “only interested in one thing, and that’s their bank account.” He also accused the Trump administration of deliberately preventing Israel from achieving decisive victories against Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran. “They don’t want us to win anything decisively,” he said.
Pollard said the US-Israel alliance had fundamentally broken down, predicting that the next American election would offer Israel “a very bad choice between bad and worse.” “This alliance is finished,” he said flatly. When asked whether his entry into politics was more about speaking truth to power than actually seeking office, Pollard said he was prepared to serve “in whatever capacity is appropriate,” and left voters with a direct message: “If they want to make sure that there is never again an October 7, you better vote for someone like me rather than Bibi Netanyahu or Naftali Bennett or Gadi Eisenkot.”
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UAE Says Air Defenses Dealt with Two Drones Coming from Iran
Drones are seen at a site at an undisclosed location in Iran, in this handout image obtained on April 20, 2023. Photo: Iranian Army/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
The United Arab Emirates’ air defenses dealt with two drones coming from Iran on Sunday, the Defense Ministry said, the latest in renewed attacks on the oil-rich Gulf country.
The UAE has reported being attacked in the past days by Iran after four weeks of relative calm since a ceasefire in the Iran war was announced by the United States.
Iran has denied carrying out operations against the UAE in recent days, yet it warned of a “crushing response” if any actions were launched from the UAE against it.
The attacks prompted the UAE to shift to remote learning for schools last week, but authorities said on Sunday that in-person learning would resume from Monday.