Chinatown's 'Secret' Sandwich Window Gets a Nifty New Dining Room

Michael Brafman was born and raised in Brooklyn, currently lives in Peter Cooper Village, and has been a professional chef in NYC for more than 30 years. He clocked his first kitchen job when he was 17, and has bounced between fancy places (like Jean-Georges and Gramercy Tavern) and corporate dining gigs (where the hours are so much more conducive to raising a family) ever since. 

During an unemployment stint a couple of years ago though, Brafman was helping a buddy devise a sandwich menu for Solely Tea on Eldridge Street, when something clicked. "I'm just going to make all the stuff that inspires me," he remembers thinking. "There's no boundaries! To me, the most important thing is, I don't want to limit my inspiration to just making versions of other, existing sandwiches. It's more like, I look at plated food that I like, and try to translate those not-sandwich dishes into sandwiches." 

Brafman's vision proved to be too mighty for the tea shop, so instead he opened his own place in September of 2024, a simple, semi-discreet ordering window just a few doors down from Solely called the Sandwich Board. "Our whole goal was to become a local, neighborhood staple," he said and, if you spend even a few minutes with Brafman on Eldridge, it's clear that he's succeeded. During our brief chat on the sidewalk outside the shop at least a half dozen people walking by gave Brafman a wave, or a fist-bump, or a "say hi to the family." He has strong "mayor-of-the-block" vibes, for sure.     

Thing is though, for most of the past year the Sandwich Board didn't provide us non-locals with anywhere to eat. Yes, there were four chairs set up guerilla-style on the sidewalk, which was great when the weather was pleasant, but much less appealing in February and March. So when the folks running the Forever Mart snacks-and-curios shop in the adjacent space called it quits, Brafman knew the time had come to expand. A few weeks ago he unveiled his new dining room, complete with stools, high tops and counters, and a second, indoor ordering window.