‘There were only good times’
Jay & Lloyd’s Kosher Deli bids farewell to Sheepshead Bay after 28 years
BY JESSICA PARKS
After 28 years of feeding and
entertaining customers from
across the city and around the
world, the duo behind a beloved
Sheepshead Bay mainstay
— Jay & Lloyd’s Kosher
Deli & Family Restaurant —
have closed their doors as the
pair packs up their wealth of
memories on Avenue U.
“There are probably 100 stories,
I can’t say how many stories
there are,” said co-owner
Lloyd Lederman. “I keep looking
back and there were only
good times — it’s what’s helping
me get through this.”
Lederman and his partner
Jay Stern have known each
other since they were kids
growing up in Mill Basin, but
it was their personalities and
passion for food that led them
to become business partners,
Lederman said.
“We’ve known each other
since we were four years old,”
Lederman said. “He’s funny.
We’ve got the same silly personality
— a Jewish sense of
humor. We’re a couple of mensches.”
COURIER L 16 IFE, JUNE 12-18, 2020
They fi rst began their southern
Brooklyn venture in 1993,
when the area was predominantly
Jewish and devoid of its
own Kosher deli — which, Lederman
said, were quite popular
in that decade.
“People were waiting to see
a Kosher deli open,” he said.
“So I put a big sign out, ‘Kosher
Deli,’ because, who knew Jay
and Lloyd?”
But it wasn’t long until people
did.
The restaurant took off right
away and people were eating up
the homemade recipes passed
down to Lederman, a third-generation
deli man, from his father
and grandfather.
“It was no time before I was
open until 1 to 2 in the morning.
We couldn’t close, it was
just so busy,” Lederman said.
“It was an immediate start to
business.”
His special heart-shaped
pickles and pastrami sandwiches
quickly emerged as staples
in the community and the
restaurant became a go-to spot
on many local food tours.
“My food is my love, it’s my
heart,” Lederman said. “And
people would say ‘you know
what? We know that.’”
Patrons came from far and
wide to visit Jay & Lloyd’s on
their trips to New York City.
Upon news of their closing on
social media, farewell wishes
poured in from all around the
world.
Not only was their food unmatched,
but the eatery also
doubled as a community hangout
spot, where neighbors
could always stop by to hear
one of Jay or Lloyd’s infamous
jokes.
“New customers, they just
kept coming back, because we
were fun, I’m sorry to say it,”
Lederman said. “Jay was always
telling a joke, we made
people forget and laugh.”
Lederman and Stern announced
their decision to
close the restaurant in a May
27 Facebook post, and Lederman
told Brooklyn Paper that
the ongoing pandemic and the
decreasing popularity of kosher
delis left them with little
choice.
Since the closure, Lederman
is spending his days enjoying
his backyard oasis in
Rockaway Beach — a space he
had rarely found time for before.
However, the deli man suspects
he may return to business
in the next couple of years,
though at a smaller scale.
For now, he bids farewell
to all of his beloved customers
over his nearly three-decade
span in Sheepshead Bay.
“Happy pickles,” Lederman
said.
Lloyd Lederman, of Jay & Lloyd’s Kosher Deli & Family Restaurant,
loved entertaining his customers. Photo courtesy of Lloyd Lederman
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