NEWISH JEWISH CAFE TO OPEN THIS SUMMER ... Construction is in full swing at Palo Alto JCC's Town Square, officially called Oshman Family Jewish Community Center, located at 3921 Fabian Way at the intersection of Charleston and San Antonio roads. Workers are busy creating a new Jewish restaurant in the Palm Court area of the JCC that will feature, among other items, pastrami, blintzes and knishes. "We're opening this restaurant based on the need for a Jewish deli in the area," said JCC CEO Zack Bodner. The restaurant, called Nourish, A Newish Jewish Cafe, replaces the 4-year-old Cafe on the Square. Nourish is the brainchild of Bodner. "A lot of us grew up with Jewish delis in our neighborhoods, but now many are gone," he said. Although the new menu is still being perfected, Bodner explained, "It will feature flavors from New York, Tel Aviv, and the Bay Area. We'll have things like corned beef sandwiches, matzah ball soup, lox and bagels. When it's Purim, we'll have hamantaschen; when it's Hannukah, we'll have latkes. And there will be kosher items, too. That's the beauty of having our own restaurant here." The menu also will feature soups, salads, and artisan pizza, as well as traditional Israeli food consisting of hummus, falafel and Israeli salads. The major part of the $1 million-plus construction is building the full-service kitchen. "The old cafe didn't have the capacity for a kitchen. We'll have a real grill and an artisan pizza oven," Bodner said, adding, "It's going to be a real restaurant with a new brand and a new look." Nourish, scheduled to open July 17, will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

PINK POSY OPENS AT STANFORD ... After nearly six months of delays, a new bakery opened last month at the Stanford Shopping Center. Pink Posy now occupies the 550-square-foot space that had been vacant for four years after the previous tenant, Fiori Artful Floral Design, moved out of the mall. The small space has been redone into a dazzling display of handcrafted cakes, pies, cookies and lunch items. The interior is simply but elegantly bathed in varying shades of white, accented by a stark white quartz counter and white quartz tabletops. Although the space is small with room for just a few tables, the bakery leases a 1,400-square-foot kitchen two buildings away, where all the pastries are baked fresh and walked over. Pink Posy, known mostly for its wedding cakes when it was a home-based business in Redwood City for several years, also has an espresso bar.

MIDTOWN FLORIST FORCED OUT ... A venerable Midtown retailer is the latest to fall victim to rising rents. Nature's Alley, a floral design shop, located in the Midtown Shopping Center, 2600 Middlefield Road, will close June 7 after an impressive 16 years in business. "Almost all the tenants here whose leases were up got a rent hike. Most were able to renegotiate their leases. I couldn't afford it," said Nature's Alley owner Karen Froniewski. "I knew it was going to happen, I just didn't know when," she said of the rent increase and subsequent closing of her business. The 900-square-foot-space has a rich history. It used to be the storeroom for the former Midtown Pharmacy, which closed in 1995, and long before that, it was an outdoor patio that had a small window for post office transactions, according to Froniewski. Currently a Sunnyvale resident, Froniewski plans to move to Florida.