Aunts et Uncles
Happy 2021, Massive! Helping us start the new year with the soothing, inspirational vibes we could all use right now is concept shop and plant-based cafe Aunts et Uncles. Owned by married couple Nicole and Michael Nicholas, the multi-hyphenate Flatbush oasis — which offers well-seasoned vegan bites and a retail experience with clothing, books, indie mags, candles, stationery and other lifestyle items, all encased in warm, bright interior design and eclectic music — is an amalgamation of their interests and experiences.
“I was literally born and raised around the corner from here,” says Michael, 38, a streetwear designer who previously owned the Flatbush retail store and clothing brand Brooklyn Sky before he and Nicole launched their current line DIEM in 2014. Drawing from Nicole’s background in hospitality and music as a former bartender and concert promoter, plus the couple’s vegan journey over the past three years, they opened Aunts et Uncles last October.
“We wanted to create something on a higher vibration that more fully reflects the way we live,” Michael says, likening the shop to an extension of their home where customers can be at ease. “The experience we’ve created here is driven by clean space, clean mind and clean eating.”
“We wanted to give the neighborhood an inspirational space that it deserves.”
“We often look to our aunts and uncles as kind of the ‘cool parents,’” says Nicole, 42, explaining the name Aunts et Uncles. “You can tell them what you want to be instead of what your parents are forcing you to be. Their house is where you can be yourself.” (The French, meanwhile, is a nod to their Caribbean heritage. Nicole, a Toronto native who’s lived in Brooklyn for the past 20 years, has roots in St. Vincent, while Flatbush-born Michael is of St. Lucian descent.)
Accordingly, Aunts et Uncles’ minimalist design — warmed by a color palette of coral, sea green, and copper; striking art pieces and sprawling fiddle-leaf figs — feels super comfortable and homey.
Although COVID-19 has placed restrictions on indoor spaces, the cafe/shop was designed for lingering among its curated selection of books and magazines on photography, design, travel, film and food, as well as racks of shirts and bags from the couple’s understated but provoking Does it Even Matter (DIEM) line, which amplifies issues of racial justice, mental health and Black culture and history, from the Negro Leagues to Peter Tosh to “The Color Purple.”
Michael and Nicole, who celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary this year, take particular pride in opening Aunts et Uncles in their own neighborhood. “People sometimes view success as getting out of where you’re from,” Nicole says. “But what would it look like if more of us stayed and used our talents to mold and shape our community? We wanted to be home and give the neighborhood an inspirational space that it deserves.”
Reflecting their own plant-based diet, the menu at Aunts et Uncles is fully vegan, although Michael and Nicole aren’t necessarily pushing it on folks. “We definitely want to let people know there’s a better way of eating, and it can still be fun and tasty,” Nicole says.
The cafe offers dishes for pick-up and delivery, including comforting, familiar options that Michael jokingly calls “bait” for carnivores: the juicy au burger with Beyond Meat patty, caramelized onion and spicy mayo; the lemony lobster roll made from hearts of palm, vegan mayo and fresh dill; and the oversized tivoli taco filled with vegan ground beef seasoned like a Jamaican beef patty.
Also hitting the spot are breakfast items, such as vanilla and cinnamon-spiced French toast and the classic breakfast sandwich of sausage, egg and smoked gouda (again, all vegan) on an English muffin. To any non-believers: it’s so good you won’t miss the meat.
“We also have offerings for people who have been plant-based for many years, who have a level of expectation when they go out to eat and don’t deal with anything processed,” Michael says, pointing to items such as savory roasted cauliflower topped with a spicy peanut sauce; sautéed okra, asparagus and brussels sprouts with homemade pesto; mofongo, a Puerto Rican and Dominican dish of garlic-flavored mashed green plantains, rooted in Central and West African fufu; and “The Roots” — roasted beets, carrots and sweet potatoes.
“Everything is flying out the door, so it’s been exciting to see people having fun with the spectrum of offerings.”
1407 Nostrand Ave., Brooklyn, 347-295-0001, auntsetuncles.com
