A gimbap pop up from the team behind Nami Nori is taking over the former Postcard Bakery space in the West Village, while NoHo pita shop Shifka is gearing up for a sprint of guest dishes with some very familiar New York names. Both are set to launch next week, part of a spring wave of quick-hit pop ups and collabs that are keeping neighborhood menus a little less predictable than usual.
TBD Gimbap steps into the old Postcard Bakery
The Nami Nori crew is opening a takeaway gimbap counter called TBD Gimbap out of the shuttered Postcard Bakery at 31 Carmine Street beginning Wednesday. As reported by Eater, the group is using the Village storefront as a temporary walk up window. Given the Nami Nori team’s background in open style hand rolls, expect compact, made to go riffs on Korean gimbap rather than a full sit down setup.
Shifka lines up a month of guest specials
NoHo spot Shifka plans to roll out six collaboration specials with New York restaurants over roughly six weeks, starting with a pastrami laffa created with Katz's Delicatessen on Friday. That timeline and the first details were laid out by Jeremy Jacobowitz in a Yahoo Creators roundup of local openings and specials, which lists the partner restaurants and their scheduled runs. The idea is a series of short, high visibility drops that pair Shifka’s pita counter with legacy names, widening the menu and the spotlight at the same time.
How Shifka got here
Shifka is an all day pita shop from the team behind Sami & Susu that opened in October at 324 Bowery. Its handheld lineup, from harissa chicken to lamb kebab and rotating soft serve, has already drawn steady crowds. Observer covered the opening and Shifka’s focus on approachable, all day sandwiches and dips. That track record helps explain why collaborators see the shop as a natural fit for timed specials and co branded menu one offs.
Other openings and seasonal treats to watch
Sunday Morning, the East Village bakery known for cinnamon roll lines, has opened a second outpost in NoMad and will sell daily cinnamon rolls in flavors like blueberry lemon curd, pistachio mascarpone and caramel pecan. Eater reported the expansion. In Times Square, donut shop I’m donut ? is leaning into cherry blossom season with a sakura raspberry cream donut and a sakura latte, according to TimeOut. And Israel rooted Cafe Landwer has debuted its first New York City location in Williamsburg, a milestone that New York Jewish Week flagged in its coverage.
Why this matters
Short run pop ups and chef collaborations let restaurants test new ideas, fill idle kitchen hours and grab quick publicity without committing to a full rebrand. National and local coverage has highlighted collaborations as a major part of this spring’s dining calendar. Forbes and other outlets note that these pairings are increasingly common as restaurateurs chase buzzy, highly shareable moments.
Expect many of these pop ups to disappear as quickly as they arrive. Limited runs and walk up windows often sell out, sometimes faster than you can refresh your feed. If you are trying to catch TBD Gimbap or any of Shifka’s collaborations, keep an eye on the hosts’ announcements for exact run dates and day of availability, since the whole point is to keep things fleeting.
