A new deli with a familiar name – Yetz’s Deli — plans to open its doors to the Isla Vista community on March 3. It will replace the previous restaurant, PokeCeviche, located on the corner of Embarcadero del Mar and Pardall Road.
Yetz’s Deli will primarily sell sandwiches and salads, according to UCSB alum and owner Daniel Dunietz. Wesley Haver / Daily Nexus
Yetz’s Deli shares its name and founder with Yetz’s Bagels, the bagel shop that took over the restaurant Dank Bowl Kitchen in March 2024. Yetz’s Bagels is currently located next to the space the deli will occupy.
Yetz’s Deli will primarily sell sandwiches and salads, according to UCSB alum and owner Daniel Dunietz. Dunietz also mentioned potential menu items such as an egg salad, a strawberry goat cheese beet salad, pastrami sandwiches and smoothies. The deli plans to offer many “classic items in a different style.”
“That’s kind of where the vision is now, a lot of traditional stuff but also some things that are a little bit our twist on traditional. It’s trying to bring things that I think people would like that are delicious, simple, a twist on the traditional,” Dunietz said.
According to Dunietz, the closure of PokeCeviche earlier this year due to declining profits presented the opportunity for him to expand after 11 years, despite his initial hesitation.
“I was always resistant [to expand] because what I need is for the bagels to expand [out of I.V.], and I’ve been kind of working on that this whole year to grow the bagel shop,” Dunietz said.
For Dunietz, the location provided an optimal place to create the deli with the established setup, including the availability of a bathroom for customers. The existing layout including a cafeteria-like serving bar allowed Yetz’s Deli to develop quickly, only requiring equipment to be fixed and cleaned.
“It was really like, can I think of something that’s missing in I.V. that PokeCeviche has the equipment, the infrastructure, the layout, the build-out for? And then once I really started to think about it deeply, it was like, ‘Oh this is actually really perfectly set up for a deli, for like a sandwich bar, for a salad bar,’” he said.
Although Yetz’s Deli shares a name with the bagel shop, Dunietz clarified that the deli would be separate from Yetz’s Bagels. Yetz’s Deli and Yetz’s Bagels will operate as separate entities while under one umbrella company.
“You won’t be able to get a bagel sandwich at Yetz’s Deli. So they’re gonna be two separate concepts, two separate menus there. My idea is there’s a lot of cross utilization, but they are separate from a customer standpoint,” Dunietz said.
Yetz’s Deli plans to serve customers menu items that Dunietz believed community members wanted to see more of in the I.V. food scene. He plans to stay involved in the community through the business by continuing to respond to customer feedback and participating in fundraisers and food donations. He shared his devotion toward making a positive impact for the community with Yetz’s Deli.
“As a business, I think the biggest positive impact I can have on a community is providing a quality service and a quality product at an affordable price. That’s why I’m in business,” Dunietz said. “At the end of the day, the best thing I can do is have a place for people, a public place that is open, that everyone is welcome. Virtually everyone can afford something for everyone in a place for people to gather and, you know, have a meal like that.”
A version of this article appeared on p. 5 of the Feb. 27, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.
