Have you always enjoyed making food for people?
Oh, I love cooking. I always wanted a restaurant. I’m Palestinian, but I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. My dad used to take us overseas. He wanted us to learn how to speak Arabic and he wanted us to learn our culture. Every summer we would go over there. Then when I was a teenager, he wanted to move back for longer. So he opened a little sandwich shop next to our house in East Jerusalem and I worked there. I’ve liked to make sandwiches ever since I was a little kid.
We ended up moving back to the US about a year later because of the conflict.
When did you start running the deli?
I took over the business from my dad in 2005. He was running it like a regular convenience store. But I knew people wanted something to eat, so I started selling corned beef sandwiches and gyros in 2006. Every time I learned something new, I added it to the menu.
Why did you start filming customers and posting on TikTok?
I don't really know too much about Instagram and Facebook and TikTok, but about a month ago I started getting hip to it. Since I took over the store, I wanted to do different advertisem*nts. So I said, “All right, ’Nisha, I’m going to give you the salad [for free]. Can I put you on TikTok?” She was like, “All right, that’s cool.”
Did you know each other already?
Oh, I’ve known ’Nisha since she was little.
What happened after you posted the video?
For the first two months nothing really happened. But then it went crazy this month; 100,000 views and a lot of likes. Then it hit 600,000. I was like, “Man, this is going viral.”
What’s in the salad?
The sauce is what really makes it. And I don’t want to give away the sauce, you know what I mean?
Fair enough. What are the other ingredients?
It's a spring mix, so lettuce and spinach and kale and all the good stuff. Then I add cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, green peppers, a mixture of shredded mozzarella and cheddar, croutons, banana peppers, and jalapenos. Obviously, there’s grilled chicken. My secret sauce goes on top. My mom taught me the sauce, so only me and her know about it.
Can you tell me anything about the sauce?
Well, the main ingredient is an Arabic spice that’s grown in Palestine. So it’s basically olive oil, lemon juice, and my special seasoning.
Have things changed at the deli since the video went off?
Oh yeah. I’m making triple the amount of money that I usually make. And people are coming from all over: Las Vegas, California, Pennsylvania, Chicago, Atlanta, Portland. Yesterday, somebody came from Alabama. They told me how long it took to come and I’m like, “Are you serious?” The whole local fire department came yesterday. They never came to my store before this. One of them said, “I never even knew there was a deli over here.”
