New coffee shop brings Afghan-born owner’s craftsmanship to Fifth Avenue

Business was brisk on a Tuesday afternoon when we stopped by Starz Coffee just a day after they opened their doors at 4411 Fifth Avenue in mid November, adding to what is steadily becoming a strong local coffee landscape.

Serving their own label of beans roasted in Red Hook, artisanal sandwiches created by chef Hun, and pastries made fresh daily at their bakery, Apple Tree Gourmet in Newkirk Plaza, Starz is hoping to fill a gap owner Iqbal says exists on Sunset Park’s main commercial strip.

Iqbal’s partner, Jabreel Alomari, a long-time Sunset Park resident and owner of nearby Sunset Park Deli and smoke shop Jay Exotics, provided the location, which used to be another deli operated by his family.

“The coffee shop is the new thing now,” said Jabreel. “We’re going to try our luck with it and see how we’re going to do. Especially, since I found Iqbal. He’s got the plan and I got the location.”

Just a block away on Fourth Avenue sits Yafa Café, and a bit past 41st Street on Fifth, Judy’s, but in this dense stretch of the neighborhood folks appear eager for a closer option.

“Fifth Avenue needed a coffee place,” said Paul, who stopped in with his family for cookies and cappuccinos. He considers Judy’s more of a wine bar, and his wife, Lily, complimented the coffee and the milk options.

“Not every place around here has milk alternatives, which for us is a big deal,” said Lily. “We don’t really like whole milk, so a place that has almond milk and oat milk is good.”

“The cookies are amazing,” said their son T.

The café is the latest venture from Iqbal, who came to New York from Afghanistan in 2012, where his family’s work with the U.S. government had placed them at risk.

“Back in Afghanistan, we had a family construction company business that my mom was the owner of, as a woman-owned business, and so that’s the reason they sent me to engineering school, ‘Hey, you’re going to be our company engineer,’” said Iqbal. “The company contracted with the U.S. government, and threats and political pressure made it unsafe to stay. When the U.S. military withdrew from the region in 2021, most of my family managed to escape, though I still worry about my father, who remained.”

When he permanently moved to New York, Iqbal worked in the restaurant industry, learning the ins and outs, before returning to engineering and construction in 2016. Within that four-year window, he met his wife, Zohal, and they launched their first coffee shop in Ditmas Park, Coffee Z, the “Z” borrowed from Zohal’s nickname.

Coffee Z eventually closed, but Iqbal opened his own contracting firm, Doer Construction, and the bakery, Apple Tree. He still is actively engaged in large-scale projects, including work at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal’s offshore wind project, though he took several weeks off to focus on opening Starz. The name Starz is a family tribute hidden in plain sight, a mix of the first letters of Iqbal’s two children’s names, his nickname, his sister’s, and his wife’s.

With the construction business, the bakery, and their Starz Coffee brand, Ditmas Park residents Iqbal and Zohal have positioned themselves to make the new shop the first of a franchise they envision one day making its way into the city.

“My goal is always to move on towards Manhattan,” Iqbal said. “I have some friends that would really like to invest, but I need to figure out how to come out with a good business plan that would be a win for everybody.”

For now, the team is focused on delivering a fresh, consistent product to their Sunset Park customers. The lunch menu features six specialty sandwiches, including a rotisserie-chicken salad made with organic halal chicken roasted at Apple Tree, an avocado toast, and a tuna mix that Hun and Iqbal developed themselves. They also offer a pistachio-mango açaí bowl, a personal favorite for Iqbal.

“I explored the neighborhood a little bit and had an idea of what they don’t have and need, and came up with these fun sandwiches,” said Hun, Iqbal’s best friend and chef, who lives in New Jersey but commutes daily while they hire and train more staff. “A little Asian flair is nice.”

The pastries, including croissants, tarts, mousses, tres leches, and tiramisu, are made by Apple Tree’s French-trained culinary chef and her eight-person team. But the banana bread, baked from Zohal’s own recipe and available in three flavors, has long been one of their most popular items.

Of course, a café lives and dies by its coffee. Starz Coffee uses beans sourced from Brazil, Guatemala, and Ethiopia.

“We tested every blend until we found the right flavor,” Iqbal said. “And then for this space, we specifically did a blend designed for this one.”

They’ll soon be bringing in more help, but for the moment, Iqbal and Hun are the sole staff, and good coffee is especially important when you’re launching a shop that opens at 7 in the morning every day and doesn’t close until 8 at night.

Nick, who stopped in with his sketch pad, was one of several customers who noted the late hours as a plus.

“I live up on 47th Street and been here almost twenty years in Sunset,” said Nick, who’s witnessed the proliferation of cafes in the neighborhood firsthand and says he appreciates the additional third spaces where he can sit, draw, and meet people. “It’s funny how it started more down the hill. There was Judy’s, and before that Parquet, and there’s Yafa and Slimák, but now that we have this, it’s closer. It’s good.”