Daniel Maurer The owners of Tompkins Finest Deli say they hope to open the store sometime in the next ten days, and about two months from now, they’ll open a Middle Eastern café at the corner of First Avenue and Second Street.
Adeeb Ghamem, a resident of Park Slope, Brooklyn, and Ahmed Alzabair, of the Upper West Side, were busy stocking shelves with Vitamin Water and PopChips earlier today, in a space that has been considerably gussied up from the time it housed Avenue A Mini Market. Mr. Ghamem, who is also a partner in East Village Finest Deli (on Avenue B) and First and First Finest Deli (you can guess where that is), said that he was opening another store in the East Village because “people are nice. Nobody gives nobody a hard time. Everbody’s polite here.”
He said the new store would be open 24 hours a day, selling and delivering smoothies, panini, wraps, sandwiches and burgers. There will also be a tossed salad bar offering 24 toppings and (perhaps to keep up with nearby Tompkins Square Bagels, which just got a new storefront painting) multiple flavors of cream cheese.
Within two months, the duo also hopes to open a “deli and cafe” on the southeast corner of First Avenue and Second Street, where construction is underway. True to Mr. Ghamem’s Yemeni roots, the still unnamed café will serve falafel, shawarma, and other Middle Eastern food.
The cafe still doesn’t have a name. And what it will look like? “Wait and see,” Mr. Ghamem said with a laugh.
