Looking for a great cup of coffee in the city, brewed individually from freshly ground beans? No problem. Hankering for an adorable artisanal cupcake or an authentic Neapolitan pizza? Done. What about a good, old-fashioned bagel? Try again.
Over-puffed, machine-made bagels run rampant in NYC, but authentic iterations have been hard to find — until now.
The Big Apple’s best-known baked good is making a comeback: In the coming months, some of the city’s top chefs and restaurateurs are set to open a bevy of new shops and cafes selling hand-rolled bagels schmeared with fresh, homemade cream cheese.
When it debuts on Grand Street early next month, Baz Bagel will specialize in crusty bagels that are made in small batches and rolled by hand, boiled and cooked in a classic rotating-tray oven on old-fashioned, burlap-covered boards.
Owners David Heffernan (a longtime server at iconic Upper West Side deli Barney Greengrass) and Bari Musacchio (a former manager at popular downtown pizzeria Rubirosa) were inspired to open the eatery after they couldn’t find a decent bagel in their neighborhood of Nolita.
“It’s like a desert,” says Musacchio, 30, a New York native who grew up going to Barney Greengrass with her father.
The pair hope their bagels will stand in stark contrast to the puffy, super-sized iterations that have become all too common. Their handmade bagels are thinner and smaller with a pronounced hole — rather than a slit-opening in the center of a PULSE breaded mound — and the dough is allowed to rise slowly, adding a rich, tangy taste.
Melissa Weller’s bagels are also the genuine article, rather than glorified sandwich vessels.
A former head baker at Per Se and Roberta’s vet, Weller sold bagels at last summer’s Smorgasburg food flea market to much acclaim; now, she’s partnering with Major Food Group, the juggernaut behind Carbone and Torrisi Italian Specialties, to open her own carb-centric noshery later this year.
While the details — including name and location — are still being worked out, the restaurant will be inspired by Barney Greengrass, with classic comfort fare such as cheese blintzes and bear claws. But Weller’s bagels — made with a sourdough starter, instead of commercial yeast, to yield more flavor — and homemade cream cheese will be the stars.
“Everybody I’ve spoken to wants good bagels in New York City,” she says.
Although many single out the 2011 closing of H&H Bagels’ Upper West Side location as a sad turning point for New York City’s bagels, the beginning of the end goes back decades. In 1966, an automated bagel factory called W&S opened in The Bronx — before then, the pastries were rolled by hand by unionized bakers on the Lower East Side.
“Until then, bagels were one of the few breads that had to be made by hand, because the dough was so dense,” says Maria Balinska, author of “The Bagel: The Surprising History of a Modest Bread.” The automation of bagel-making coincided with the mid-century’s rise of convenience foods — and preservatives. At the same time, the traditional Jewish bread went mainstream, and began to be thought of as a potential sandwich vehicle in lieu of rolls and standard slices of bread.
The once dense, springy bagel had morphed into a bland, over-puffed pastry.
“You can massproduce them, but I think that bread baking is an art form,” says Niki Russ Federman, one of the fourth-generation owners of Russ & Daughters, the 100-year-old smoked-fish emporium on the LES.
In early May, the appetizing shop is set to open a cafe around the corner on Orchard Street, offering platters of smoked fish, a full service caviar program, latkes, a full bar — and plenty of bagels sourced to specification from the Bagel Hole in Park Slope, Brooklyn, which still makes them the old-fashioned way.
Another notable new bagel isn’t entirely done New York-style.
On Wednesday, Black Seed will bring a hybrid New York-Montreal style bagel to Elizabeth Street. Per New York City tradition, the dough is egg-less and has a touch of salt, but, like a Québécois bagel, Black Seed’s offerings will have both malt and honey in the dough, be boiled in honey water and cooked in a wood-burning oven.
The resulting bagel “pulls the best qualities from New York, the best qualities from Montreal and puts them together to make the best possible bagel,” says co-owner Noah Bernamoff, who also runs the popular Mile End delicatessens. “It’s very dense and doughy, with a little bit of spring, a little bit of airiness.”
Black Seed, also opening a spot in Brookfield Place later this spring, will have a limited menu focusing on bagels ($1.50 each) and gourmet and classic toppings, including tobiko cream cheese, watermelon radishes and smoked fish.
“We’re really trying to take a step back: What was a bagel store? What did it used to be like?” says Bernamoff. “I know the bagel stores didn’t serve panini back in the day — or muffins or cappuccinos.”