• Abigail Sylvor Greenberg
• Henry Street Deli's front porch

As of last month, Henry Street Deli, the popular neighborhood grocery and sandwich joint at 11 Henry Street in Burlington's Old North End, is under the new ownership of partners Mojo Hancy-Davis and Jordan Lewis. Former owners Peter and Sawyer Sansom sold the market after 13 years of operation.

For Hancy-Davis, owning the deli is the continuation of more than a decade in Burlington's food business, though it marks a definite pivot from his last project; in spring 2022, he and Matthew Peterson opened seasonally focused May Day, also in the Old North End. Hancy-Davis, who had previously worked at August First and Misery Loves Co., was named a 2022 James Beard Award Best Chef: Northeast semifinalist for his May Day cuisine. (See details on May Day's new chef here.)

Lewis is a longtime Burlington bartender who is continuing her post at Zero Gravity Craft Brewery as she and Hancy-Davis take the helm at Henry Street Deli.

• Abigail Sylvor Greenberg
• Mojo Hancy-Davis and Jordan Lewis

The duo's purchase of the deli "kind of came up out of nowhere," Hancy-Davis said.

"We didn't want it to close," Lewis recalled. She and Hancy-Davis are longtime Burlingtonians and fans of the establishment, and she'd been feeling "stagnant" as a bartender.

Hancy-Davis saw buying the deli as a choice with "limitless potential," he said.

Nonetheless, it was a difficult call to make. "I loved May Day," he added. "I still do, but in terms of my broad life path, this just made sense."

So far, the duo has installed an oven and a flat-top grill. They've tweaked the menu to include new sandwiches such as a pork belly bánh mì and to allow customers to substitute tofu for any protein. They hope to make their baked goods from scratch soon and to expand the deli's market offerings.

"We are not trying to chef it up," Hancy-Davis said. "We're just going to double down."