[Photo by @wemakesomething]
The folks at Ess-A-Bagel have put up the coming soon sign on their new home — 324-326 First Ave. at East 19th Street… on the east side of the Avenue in the Shoppes of Stuy Town (in the former GameStop storefront).
No word yet on an opening date. The banner just arrived yesterday.
A quick recap: The bagel shop shut down its home of nearly 40 years on First Avenue at East 21st Street back in March… depending on who's telling the story, there was some sort of disagreement between the landlord and Ess-A-Bagel’s owners. At the time, the Ess-A-Folks vowed that they would open in a new storefront nearby.
As for the former Ess-A-Bagel space at No. 359 … today marks the one-month anniversary of Upper East Side favorite (uh, right?) Tal Bagels …
Tal replaced the former Rose Restaurant and part of Ess-A-Bagel. A Bank of America ATM center is supposedly taking the rest of the square footage and going in on the corner at East 21st Street.
Oh, and because multiple people pointed this out in the comments recently…
… the Moe's Southwest Grill has closed at 367 First Ave. …
Many thanks to @wemakesomething for the tip!
Updated 10/24
Here's more info on this location via the Town & Village blog… One of the owners, Muriel Frost, said that "the new location will be bigger, which will allow the bagel shop to do things that couldn’t be done at the old shop.
"We will do catering and also delivery, which we were not physically equipped to do before," she said.
No word about toasting.
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Report: Landlord forcing Ess-a-Bagel from its longtime home (46 comments)
1 week left for Ess-A-Bagel at its current 1st Avenue location
[Updated] Ess-A-Bagel has closed for now on 1st Avenue
57 comments:
Wow. I really didn't think it was gonna happen. It's crazy that it took so long, but I'm glad they'll be back.
Tal Bagels is great, they are very friendly, and they toast! I hope Ess-a-Bagel will learn from it's past mistakes and offer toasting. Everyone else has thrown in the towel now and will toast a bagel, I hope they got the memo: stop being so difficult, the people wantt toasted bagels,
I haven't tried Tal but I love Ess and David's. I hate the bagels in the East Village.
So now in a six block radius of First Avenue there's Bagel Boss, David's, Tal and Ess. Oy.
@ 9:22 am
your entitled attitude is pretty much exactly what is wrong with new york 2015
I disagree with Anonymous 9:22AM. Toasting should not be done, and I'll go even further and say that scooping out should also be denied.
For some reason, not sure about Tal but Davids, Bagel Boss and the old Ess-A-Bagel are all always packed. My friend likes Bagel Boss, I like davids.
I support this new Bagel Bubble so much more than the Cupcake Craze, the Froyo Frenzy, or the Juicebar Jubilee.
Listen to you dweebs. Because somebody likes a toasted bagel they represent "all that is wrong with New York". And then prattling on about how toasting and scooping out are non canonical. Jesus.
Waaa waaa waaa toast my bagel or I'll scream and throw my food around, mommy! Prediction: Ess-A-Bagel buries Tal and their toasted fucking bagels. STers and PCVers correctly love Ess-A-Bagel and hate to cross the avenue.
Dweebs or PURISTS??
I don't care for Ess-A-Bagel. They're not bad, they're just not my favorite. Anyway, we have Black Seed now, and it's closer.
I mean not toasting is one thing but that bagel better be freaking fresh.... SCOOPING is basically like ordering a hamburger and asking them to throw half of it away before they serve it to you... I mean I like it, but doesn't it feel wasteful to anybody else? Maybe they should offer "guts on the side" and you could then go feed your bagel innards to ducks or something....
@11:58am... Black Seed is not good.
THE RETURN OF THE KING!
Black Seed - home of the $15 tiny bagel. No thanks.
Rents have gone through the roof, buildings have exploded due to gas line tampering, new stores close down in record time and older stores can barely survive, and rats roam free in TSP in broad daylight. But people who want toasted or scooped bagels are the real problem? Question: what color is the sky on your planet?
Toast or no toast, this is a major coup for Stuytown, which makes up one of the sorriest stretches of retail in the whole city.
It's hilarious that there are people that can't just deal with not being able to get their bagel toasted.
Never thought I'd see the day when NYC residents would be fawning over Montreal bagels. Montreal anything for that matter.
I'm not a big fan of Canadian bagels but I do love the Canadian ballet.
Your life must be so hard. All that belly aching for toast?
@Jaz, even more hilarious about people getting their panties in a twist about OTHER people toasting their bagels.
An untoasted bagel is just a half-baked piece of round dough. Life is too short for untoasted bagels.
There is nothing better in this world than a HOT Ess A Bagel, buttered, straight from the oven ! Toasting is for day old bagels. Learn how to order in Ess-A. Say "what's hot ?" and go from there.
I just had my first bagel experience at the new Black Seed Bagels. I ordered an everything bagel with cream cheese.
Cashier: Do you want that toasted?
Me: No, not if it's warm.
Cashier (whispering) : You better toast it because they've been sitting around for awhile and they get pretty hard.
Me: Ok Toasted.
The bagel was like the East Village in the 80s: small, hard, burnt tasting, and It left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth. When they tell you you better toast the bagel because they're too hard, that's the first sign that you might want to head over to Tompkins Square Bagels, which I will do the next time.
What makes a NYC bagel a NYC bagel is the water. Unless Black Seed's water is coming from Montreal, they're NYC bagels.
Someone please go into Black Seed bagels and try to order a Montreal bagel in French. I bet they won't understand a word you're saying.
Agree with 3:26. Toasting an oven-fresh Ess-a-Bagel is gilding the lily. But for the bagels that have aged a little, toasting is like CPR. It makes a huge difference. Always thought their no-toast policy was too idealistic.
People toast, or scoop because the bagel is soggy. It's not an authentic bagel with a hard crisp crust and soft doughy inside. Today bagel stores sell sandwich bagels or middle east bagels that are soft, so you can chew it without breaking your teeth and fill it with meat or cheese or eggs or lox(I'm making myself hungry... all ready.). Also the doughy center will absorb the juices or spreads. Actually the best bagel in the area is at the East Village Cheese. $.85. The crust is semi crusty, the dough is somewhat dry and it's smaller than a manhole cover. Try it.
Russ & Daughters doesn't have a bad bagel; no idea where they get them, tho. Small, dense and chewy, sorta like a real estate developer's heart.
Bagels at Tal are excellent, maybe better than Ess-a-Bagel. I'll have to do a taste test. Black Seed is not bad. I would try them again.
Russ & Daughters get their bagels from a place in BK called Bagel Hole.
I'm in the business since the 80s. Toasting or not toasting is about one thing and one thing only. $$$ Don't let anybody else tell you different. It takes 90 seconds to 2 minute to toast a bagel in a commercial toaster. The best ones hold 3 bagels tops at a time. Now think about a line of 10, 20, 30 people trying to get food on a weekend morning; The morning most shops use to pay their rent a huge payroll that goes along with any shop worth its weight in flour. You're talking about much longer wait times. Workers can't even start sandwiches until their turn on the toaster line comes up. And you can't simply add one or two more toasters. These are 220 or 440 lines we are talking about. 2 in a shop and you're tripping fuses all day. 3 can cause mayhem on any NYC building (most are old and have crappy electric) So the owner makes his choice; Tick people off by not toasting and go for volume OR toast and tick people off with long wait times ( people never put 2 and 2 together). Option two equals less money but a happier guest. In the case of Essa, the size of the old spot on 1st Ave simply made toasting not feasible. People would've been packed in waiting like sardines. In Murray's case, you're talking 6th Avenue. High volume business crowd. They wanted a bang bang operation and chose to go for the volume. TSB toasts. They have huge lines. But that's deceiving. 90 percent of those kids insist their bagel be toasted. Being they had no competitor, they could afford to say yes and hope that people would wait.. But make no mistake, it's not about some purist or pious holy than thou bagel law. This is about money. It's business. The only other thing I can add is that when you toast a bagel fresh or recently out of the oven, it burns or becomes hard after 2 or 3 minutes. Think about it; you're taking a 500 degree piece of bread and running it through a toaster. That's a mistake and will tick a bagel worker off. Aside from that it's about $$$. If Essa's new spot is larger I bet they will toast.
Well, can't believe no one has mentioned this but, hallelujah! Moe's is toast. They should've had burritos or fajitas in a bagel, toased or un-toasted, instead of tortilla. And they thought they can turn that part of town into Times Square.
I have never seen Bagel Boss packed in 25 years. What day did this happen? David s is very good. Excited that Ess A Bagel is back!
Hear! Hear!
Yup, Moe's is like airport food.
7:44PM---GREAT ANALYSIS---i owned a BAGEL NOSH from 1977-1989 (5th avenue and 35th street)--we NEVER/EVER toasted a bagel----would have been a nightmare :)
Je voudrais un bagel grillé avec du beurre s'il vous plait...
Waaa waaa waaa they'll toast my bagel but waaa waaa waaa the line is too long, mommy!
This is the foodie capital of the world, we have restaurants that can make anything, toasting a bagel isn't rocket science. The fact that so many places do manage to toast bagels proves this isn't so hard to do. It's the places that don't toast bagels that are losing the most business. If customers want a toasted bagel and the place can't figure out how to do it they will lose customers. The proof is that Murray's Bagels refused to toast bagels for years, and now even they are toasting due to the lost business. The rents are too high to lose customers over a single issue like toasting.
Plus, people really don't appreciate the snooty attitude that these schmear joints give you when you ask for a toasted bagel. If it's really about speeding up he line then don't give people that snooty attitude about ruinng your precious little round work of art. It's just a friggin' bagel, now toast it and give me my coffee, I'm late for work.
Something I haven't seen anyone write is that toasting bread converts the carbohydrates to sugars. That's why toast tastes better than a regular slice of bread, and why toasted bagels taste better than untoasted.
@ 10:56 am you are a disgusting human being. take your business degree, shove it up your entitled ass, and go back to iowa where you belong. jesus christ.
Schmear@ Anon 10:56 Ha. You're first mistake is using 'Foodie' and 'Schmear joint' in the same sentence yet not putting 2 plus 2 together. As I said in my previous post, I've been at this for quite a while. I've personally met/been employed by many of the shops mentioned in this post. Also worked for the late great H&H. . Bagel shop owners are a no nonsense lot. Very old school. Most I've met consider Foodie's, The Food Network, and all forms of food related social media a bunch of pretentious non-sense . Bagels, they would say, are about as unpretentious as an NYC food there is ,was, or ever could be. They're protective of bagels going the way of the cupcake or , as one guy once told me, going 'Bourdain.' Bagel shops require a fair amount of dirty physical work. These guys are grunts. They're tough. Most started out working hard long hours rolling 100 pound bags of dough in giant bowl mixers in a sweaty basement. They are not the type to kiss your ass over a toaster. Trust me, the owner of Murray's or Essa aren't losing any sleep because some self entitled transplant wants to toast a freshly baked bagel ( not my words friend) Their attitude is , we make a good product , we serve it , if you don't like it , go somewhere else. They are entitled to run their places however they like. Now to again, Essa on 1st did not have the space to toast. Not possible. Murray's did not bend to any trend or clientele type. They finally got permission from DOB and their landlord to add the 220 lines required for these large industrial toasters. You might think you sound cool saying things like 'it ain't rocket science' and 'figure it out' but that's not their reality. When the building your business is in was built in the early 1900s , you need to make tough choices. Bagels are a tough business. That's why per NYC square mile, you see very very few compared to say a pizza place or a cafe. PS if your really worried about being late for work, don't toast that bagel ;-)
@7:20 PM: Didn't you think those H&H bagels were too sweet to be the real deal?
bagel authority @ 7:44 PM: Why don't they put a toaster on a table for the customers to use, like they do at a million hotels? Then we can buy our cold bagels, cream cheese or butter, and toast away.
Pfft, no such thing as NYC water. We let you take water from upstate so you can keep making the bagels. Just keep the bagels coming.
Real New Yorkers always have and always will want toasted bagels. Having lived here my whole life, I and everyone I know likes them toasted, so please get off theyDr. Ben Carson "transplant" nonsense about how only people from other places like them toasted. A toasted bagel can actually taste better than the original, especially after it has gotten cold. And lifelong New Yorkers have always toasted them. There isn't a law against toasting bagels, if there were half the population would be on Rikers Island or aggravated toasting.
Claiming that it took Murray's 19 years to get a DOB permit to change the electric is ridiculous. Murray's bragged about not toasting, it was part of their elite positioning (like Black Seeds wood fire oven) Then the rent went up and customers went elsewhere and they were forced to toast. If Murray's really believed in their anti-toasting philosophy they would have stuck with it and so would their customers. They didn't. Now when you go into Murray's you see plenty of customers asking for toasted bagels. They somehow suddenly figured out how to do it, because it isn't rocket science, it's toasting!
Saying that H&H didn't toast misses the point--they sold whole bagels to go, they didn't make sandwiches. It was like a bagel factory, especially the one on the West Side Highway which looked like a factory. You got a dozen warm bagels and took them home. I would eat them hot out of the bag. By the time they cooled off they were perfect for toasting. The spinoff of H&H on the Upper East Side is different, they do make sandwiches, but they are not the original H&H. And guess what? They toast.
HOORAY, ESS-A-BAGEL IS REOPENING! I am so happy to hear it. Also I'm a real New Yorker and in all of my many years going to Ess-a, it never once occurred to me to be upset because they don't toast. I take my bag of bagels home and I eat them untoasted or I toast them, who cares. This is not an actual issue.
The East Village isn't dead, it's toast.
I like the bagel authority guy. Toasted bagel people on the other hand, come off as really really annoying on this thread.
Toasting takes labor and time. Why should a proprietor of a foodshop have to like, expend effort to prepare food the way their customers want it? That's for suckers.
It has nothing to do with being so difficult, it's a way of eating a fresh bagel. Maybe do some research. @10:14 you're so right. @9:22 do what everyone else is doing? You must be another conformist , adding to the deterioration of a once great New York City.
Good news. I took a peek inside the shop as the contractor was moving equipment in. It looks like the oven is already installed and the studs were up for the walls. I can't wait for their bagels to return to this neighborhood. Tal bagels are god-awful and not the real deal.
Tal Bagels are great, probably better than Ess-A's and without the snooty attitude. And they toast.
Is Ess-A-Bagel going to open? Unless it did so quietly in the past few weeks... It's been over almost a year since announcing it will re-open. What's the story
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