[EVG file photo]
After 110 years at 176 First Ave., DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe closed its doors this past Dec. 5.
And news broke yesterday who the next retail tenant will be here between East 10th Street and East 11th Street: Black Seed bagels.
[Image via Facebook]
Per Zagat:
The new outpost, designed by the hOmE group, will maintain many of the original details of the iconic bakery including the tiled floor and handcut tile walls. The new space also feature a wood-fired oven like the flagship as well as original tin ceilings. Expect expanded sandwich and coffee options although no word on what those items will be just yet.
A Black Seed opened on Elizabeth Street last April ... and there were soon insane lines out front.
Here's Gothamist with more on the Montreal-NYC hybrid bagels:
Black Seed's bagels are smaller than most of those currently on offer in the city, boasting a bigger hole and more crust-to-innards than their puffier NYC counterparts.
Anyone else want to weigh in on Black Seed's bagels?
The East Village Black Seed location is supposed to open in the late spring.
The economy, age and health concerns reportedly weighed on their De Robertis family's decision to sell the building.
While the next tenant is known, there isn't any word just yet who actually bought 174-176 First Ave. The building had a $12 million price tag.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Ugh: The 110-year-old DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe closes after Dec. 5 (43 comments)
[Updated] 110-year-old DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe looks to be closing once the building is sold
174-176 First Ave., home of DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe, is for sale
Let's take a look at the DeRobertis in-house bakery
43 comments:
Finally, some good news; I was dreading what I thought would be the inevitable bar or stupid food concept, one which would have simply ripped out the interior and redone it to look more "modern", so for me, this is the best resolution that could come out of DeRoberti's giving up the space for someone else to occupy. Welcome to the neighborhood, guys!
It won't last.
Get with it Black Seed,please make cashew cream cheese. Soy free vegan.
I am cautiously optimistic about this news. For me the big draw to the bakery was its interior and I could see myself eating a bagel or sandwich in this place while taking in the period charm. This might be the best "good news" story of 2015.
Here’s hoping that “The Bagel Guy” from TSB chimes in regarding the details (how they are made, the quality, etc.) of these black seed bagels. And this new business, working with the past owners to preserve the legacy, is the best we can do in the current RE Industry “rules the world” climate we currently live in NYC. As Jeremiah Moss said at his Vanishing FB page: ”Chains are hurting neighborhoods, but so are upscale/trendy independent businesses. I'm not saying Black Seed is bad, and I'm willing to try them out, but they do look like the "Ace Hotel" style of indie business and I'm keeping a suspicious eye on that."
Like the so called 80/20 affordable housing ratio, which aids hyper gentrification as well.
The Black Seed bagel was good, but too small. I'm spoiled. Tompkins Square Bagels will continue to be my choice for a great NYC bagel.
Black Seed bagels are fine, a bit overpriced, but good.
I thought the 80/20 rule was to protect small businesses, and slow gentrification, at least thats my limited understanding from talking to the guy at that plant shop that closed off of Bowery.
I can't go to Tompkins because of the lines of suburban types who cannot LIVE unless they go there, however Black Seed is even worse! Yuppies wait an hour for a bagel sandwich, it's fucking obnoxious. I hope they don't have that fake authentic vibe. Ugh. I know what Crazy Eddie means about the "Ace Hotel" style of indie business.
The idea of keeping the interior though, is beautiful and welcome. And SANE.
This is very good news. Instead of losing the whole store or building in a gut renovation, Black Seed will keep the tile floors, tin ceiling and other elements and preserve some of our history. We also get a badly needed bagel place and bakery, two things which people have been asking for around here for years, and nice cafe to sit in for other baked goods and sandwiches.
It's too bad but DeRobertis had thrown in the towel years ago, which is why it was empty every time I went in there. Venero's renovated, to many people's horror, but it's packed every day. This is good news all around, now if TSB would just open a new place on 2nd Ave. the EV bagel drought may finally be over.
Cashew cream or tofu cream cheese gets my vote too - why selfish? It's about options and a lot of people want them - good business move!
Make no mistake here, this is no mom and pop indi shop. These guys are a chain backed with big money supplied by China Grill and Smile. They employ a huge PR firm which in return gets them Food Network air time and a mention in just about every bagel related article written. As for the bagel, I've been there, VERY TINY and VERY PRICEY. These guys will basically be the Empire Biscuit of the bagel business. Bagel literally fits in the palm of your hand yet costs 1.50 plain and 2.50 with butter. Read ab article not too long ago where the owner said he was embarrassed by bagel shops that sold flavored cream cheeses like walnut raison. Wasn't 'pure' enough for him or something. That 'holier than thou,' kind of attitude about a food as basic as an NYC bagel is kind of lame. Will it fly in the EV? Guess we will see.
I hope they change the interior though. The current scheme is too depressing.
Could be worse, but it will never be the same again. Just another chunk of the EV we all love, and came here for, gone forever. And the beat goes on.
Anon 10:16 - In defense of Black Seed - their bagels are "Montreal-style" bagels which are smaller than NYC bagels. They have their own appeal and do tend to be tastier.
As for flavored cream cheese - the owner can sell whatever he wants. IMHO, you eat a bagel with birthday-cake flavored cream cheese you ought to sit back a moment and try and figure out exactly when your life went tits up in a ditch. Not having a million choices is exactly the spirit of this neighborhood. It's cream cheese - not fahkated ice cream! Have some goddamn dignity and not eat an everything bagel with chocolate-chip cream cheese!
anon 10 39
Dignity is a word that should be used when discussing a human beings character. Are you kind? Honest? Did you raise your child right? Were you a loyal friend? That's dignity. Applying the word to in a conversation about what type of bagel someone eats symbolizes everything that's gone wrong in the EV and food biz over the last 20 years. Cupcakes, pork buns, bagels, have nothing to do with judging someones dignity. Silliness.
From what I gather, the line inducing, much-hyped Black seed bagel is a Montreal/NY fusion bagel. Small like a Montreal bagel, but dense like a NY bagel. Bagels are $1.50, but sammiches are pricey.
The Black Seed bagels are good. On the downside, they do attract the lines of annoying foodies eager to Instagram every second of their Black Seed experience.
Any way you slide it, more bagels are better than what we have in the EV right now. I never understood blueberry bagels or strawberry cream cheese, but everyone has their own taste. I like blueberry Pop Tarts but that's another story. As long as they have traditional flavors and are fresh and delicious I'm sure no ones day will be ruined if they can't find their specialty flavor.
Of course they have financial backing, anyone opening a place in the overpriced EV would be crazy not to have a VC or a very rich uncle behind them. The days f the truly indie places are over for now. at least the bathrooms will be clean I still have that smell in my nose from the last time I was in there.
of the many things that could have moved in here, an "in" bagel place that will preserve some of the old world vibe and that has some backing and staying power is an excellent result.
With that said, my intimate relationship with David's Bagels will not be affected. David's move from 13th Street all the way up to 16th Street was a trauma but sometimes long distance relationships do work.
Agree with 10:16 am. Noah Bernamoff prides his businesses and hides behind about being an indie mom-n-pop shops, but they are anything but. Plus, he doesn't take criticisms too well. Their PR reflects on who he is -- self-entitled, grandiose, deluded narcissist.
https://twitter.com/mileenddeli/status/489845131034382336
http://ny.eater.com/2014/4/3/6249843/mile-end-defends-itself-against-angry-patron-on-twitter
https://twitter.com/mileenddeli/status/489840313846886400
And is a microcosm for what’s happening to the neighborhood. -- "gentrification and the emperor’s new clothes hype effect it’s had on maintaining a successful enterprise"
News flash, mom and pop businesses cannot afford the inflated rents in this hyped up "hip" neighborhood which is becoming nothing more than an annex of Kips Bay. If you thought for a moment an immigrant family would open shop in this space you have not been paying attention the 8 years. Get use to it folks, it's more foodie shops, sports bars, chains store's, bank branches, nail salons, and Starbucks coming for now on. If you want your favorite old school EV spot to survive try patronizing it as much as possible and maybe they will survive the next rent increase.
If they are like Montreal Bagels which I have had many times they do not compare. The clown Noah who owns Black Seed has figure out how to rip off the know-nothing Hipsters. Small Bagel for a $1.50.
This place will be a smashing success. Remember there is a sucker born every 18 years or so and they wear Beards, tattoos and ear-piercings.
Anon 12:42: Most of those complaints involve people who work at, or people who run, Valleywag. Run for you life...
I feel sorry for anyone who tries to google "black seed" with the parental filters off.
Won't matter if Black Seed bagels are small - the people who patronize that kind of shop don't actually *eat* normal amounts of food; they just Instagram their food.
@1:53pm: Yes, there are suckers born every year, and after 18 or so years some of them attend NYU, thus guaranteeing a new batch of suckers will graduate from NYU every May, assembly-line style.
Question: Without an ongoing supply of NYU students funded by mom & dad's money, what would retail in the EV look like?
Those bagels are hilarious in the photo! It reminds me of the talking bacon-wrapped shrimp that made an appearance on the Jon Stewart Show. Talking food is the newest on-trend thing ever. They may even talk you out of eating them and fox trot off the counter over to Avenue D to become a sesame-infused tostone.
I'm wondering why anyone desires "Montreal" bagels while living at ground zero for bagels. It's like wanting Chicago deep dish, here in the home of pizza. It is NOT like wanting Tex-Mex, or gumbo, or poutine, or whatever!! I just do not understand why anyone desires some subpar bagel style in the home where bagels were born. Hey, have you guys tried that fantastic Miami-style falafel?!! No, because you're not insane.
Frankly, New Jersey kicks NYC's ass at the bagel game these days. Yeah I said it.
Also, before we all get excited about the DeRobertis place being maintained, please note: "[Black Seed] will maintain many of the original details of the iconic bakery." Many. Not all. Not most. We'll see.
wonder how the neighbors will react when confronted with the 20 hour wood burning oven ''where's-the-fire-should-we-call-the-fire-department?'' smell.
nothing compares to inhaling carbon emissions on the incoming breeze!
such is the situation on elizabeth st.
Didn't Varvatos also "preserved" the inside of CBGB? Just because they're preserving the interior of De Robertis doesn't mean it'd be like De Robertis. Difference is De Robertis catered to everyone and anyone. Black Seed on the other hand, much like Varvatos, will cater to those who has self-illusion of selectivity.
#SIoS
Black Seed is very good but super overrated, and they're actually not small, they're size of bagels we had in the 80s-90s, ppl are just used to the supersized ones that the coffee stand guys buy from costco or TSB. TSB is probably even more overrated they dont hold a candle to ess a bagel or H&H.
nygrump said...
always the fucking vegans its all about MEEEEEEEE
Well, fuck you: not everyone can eat dairy, and it's not just about being lactose-intolerant these days. Only about 3% of humans are vegan at this point; what you're really saying is, "Why doesn't everyone talk about MEEEEEEEE for a change?"
Anonymous said:
I'm wondering why anyone desires "Montreal" bagels while living at ground zero for bagels. It's like wanting Chicago deep dish, here in the home of pizza. It is NOT like wanting Tex-Mex, or gumbo, or poutine, or whatever!! I just do not understand why anyone desires some subpar bagel style in the home where bagels were born. Hey, have you guys tried that fantastic Miami-style falafel?!! No, because you're not insane.
No, Montreal bagels aren't "subpar," they're just different. I haven't had them in over 20 years and I'm excited to actually get to taste them again; is that okay with you?
H&H Bagels are loaded up with white sugar and insanely overrated.
IMO Essa and TSB are superior bagels, made the proper way, with Absolute and Murray's second and a distant third respectively. Brooklyn Bagels are also good. Montreal Style bagels bare little resemeblence to anything produced in NYC in the 80's and by the 90's bagels had mostly gone to hell in a breadbasket .
For my money - David's makes the best bagels, none of this child-like flavored cream-cheeses and no selfies with a bagel.
Since we're talking about other bagel shops, does anyone remember Zooky's Bagels, on Third Avenue just below 17th Street? They were my all-time favorite.
These days it's David's.
"Didn't Varvatos also "preserved" the inside of CBGB? Just because they're preserving the interior of De Robertis doesn't mean it'd be like De Robertis."
Like De Robertis as in mostly empty and forgotten and unable to attract the new people living in the EV?
"Difference is De Robertis catered to everyone and anyone. Black Seed on the other hand, much like Varvatos, will cater to those who has self-illusion of selectivity."
Maybe just maybe their customers will look up from the iPhones for 2 seconds and actually see a real "vintage" interior and think "hey maybe it's cool to preserve some of the past".
Ugh, Canadians. So touchy about your sad little bagels.
You know what else are good? Kobe and Wagyu beef. Blue-fin tuna. Alba White truffles. Kumamoto oysters...
Black Seed is just a bagel that is trying to elevate something ordinary and necessary and affordable and convenient to something "special" and socially superior and exclusive and elitist such as those aforementioned. Now bakeries have become destinations in themselves. Next thing you know, they'd do the same thing to a broth or juice or coffee or ramen or pork buns or bike riding or a hybrid of croissant and donut... oh, wait.
Ah, Black Seed Bagels, hopefully they won't pollute neighboring apartments (like they have on Elizabeth Street) with their throat-burning fumes from their unfiltered charcoal baking fumes from 11pm to 4am. Good luck neighbors!Sleep well and don't call 311 - it's just your bagels baking!
If they get rid of Di Roberti's fluorescent lighting that will be a step up. The food will improve, too. The LES (that's what the neighborhood was 60 years ago) could use good bagels.
This is about as good an outcome as could be expected.
The "Montreal" thing means boiled with honey in the water, FYI.
right, avoiding animal cruelty is so selfish
If that's really happening, it should be reported to the health department.
Carnivores are the ones who are all about "me".
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