A Brooklyn sandwich shop known for drawing lines around the block is moving into the Upper West Side storefront once occupied by Francesco's Pizzeria, a neighborhood pizzeria that had served the area since 1999. Edith's will take over the 2,400-square-foot space at 186 Columbus Avenue, between West 68th and 69th Streets, after Francesco's closed its doors this past July.
The move was first reported by iLovetheUpperWestSide.com, which noted that workers at the former pizzeria space said in July they did not know what was coming next for the storefront. Francesco's traced its roots to Sicilian-born owner Vito Rappa, whose family culinary heritage stretched back four generations to a taverna opened in Borgetto, Sicily, in 1900, according to My Five Blocks. Its closure made it one of three quarter-century-old neighborhood pizzerias to shut down on the Upper West Side during 2026, alongside Patsy's Pizzeria on West 74th Street and Cheesy Pizza on Broadway, as West Side Rag reported.
From a Greenpoint Pop-Up to Manhattan Storefronts
Edith's didn't start out as a Manhattan brand at all. The business began in spring 2020 as a pop-up at Paulie Gee's pizzeria in Greenpoint, where it reportedly sold out daily, per the original reporting from iLovetheUpperWestSide.com. The shop takes its name from founder Elyssa Heller's great-aunt, who ran a Brooklyn deli in the 1950s, and Heller has said she draws on old family recipes along with centuries of global Jewish cuisine for the menu.
The pop-up's early success led to a standalone Williamsburg counter in March 2021. Heller later closed a full-service restaurant and grocery venue in Williamsburg in May 2023 to shift the company's focus toward a broader consumer brand that included sandwich counters, pop-ups and brand collaborations, a strategic shift detailed by WhatNow NY. That counter-service format became the template for Edith's expansion into Manhattan, which began in December 2024 and now includes shops at 64 Charles Street in the West Village and 135 West Broadway in Tribeca.
Edith's also built brand recognition through a multi-month pop-up at Nordstrom's Manhattan flagship, supplying hand-twisted bagels and house-smoked pastrami to several in-store restaurants from November 2023 through January 2024, according to Haute Living.
What's on the Menu
At its storefronts, Edith's serves scratch-made, grilled-to-order breakfast and lunch, including bagel sandwiches, hot breakfast sandwiches, lunch sandwiches, sides and slushies. Its BEC&L — bacon, egg, latke and cheese — was named by The New York Times as one of 57 sandwiches that define New York City. The Infatuation has ranked Edith's Sephardi breakfast wrap among the best breakfast sandwiches in the city, while Food & Wine has praised the shop's Iced Cafe Slushie, a cold brew blended with tahini and oat milk that was introduced in 2020 and became one of the brand's most recognizable social media hits.
That drink drew national food industry attention in February 2026 when fast-casual chain CAVA began market-testing a nearly identical beverage, according to Morsyls.
A Busy Season for Columbus Avenue Retail
Edith's lease is part of a broader surge in Upper West Side retail activity. According to a CBRE report, the deal was one of 11 retail leases signed in the neighborhood last quarter, totaling more than 50,000 square feet and ranking the Upper West Side second in Manhattan for quarterly leasing volume. Much of that activity was concentrated along Broadway and Columbus Avenue, the report found.
Edith's new Columbus Avenue address also sits just two blocks south of another Brooklyn food transplant. Lucia Pizza opened a new slice shop at 159 Columbus Avenue this month, moving into a former Starbucks storefront near Lincoln Center, as West Side Rag reported.
