World Series, Violence, Presidential Debates, Refugees…. all pressing news, but the news that touches me the most is the $2 bagel in NYC.
I am a fan of Absolute Bagels on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. It recently made local news by raising its prices to $1.25 per bagel. I can’t blame them, though. Rents are rising, as are flour prices.
But who is Sadelles? They are charging $2 a bagel plus tax. This is even 30% more than Montreal-style Black Seed Bagels in NoLIta.
Sadelles opened about seven weeks ago in SoHO on West Broadway, adjacent to several art galleries. The upscale Jewish style deli bakes about 1,200 bagels a day, and its ovens are led by Clearwater, PA bred Melissa Weller (of the Methodist Weller’s, not the Jewish ones). Her bagels are petite and use high end ingredients. You may recognize them from her hip SmorgasBurg/Williamsburg Brooklyn food booth where she sold her homemade cream cheeses and nearly 28 dozen bagels each weekend.
When I bought two bagels at Sadelles on Sunday, they came individually wrapped, with a fashionable tote bag. At $2 a bagel, I made sure to eat every last poppy and sesame seed that fell from the crusts. (The gluten free bagels are $3.50 each). I also kept the cherishes paper tote.
Sadelles is a new ventures from Jeff Zalaznick, Mario Carbone, and Rich Torrisi, who run Major Food, a restaurant group that owns Carbone and Parm. The salt bagels use Icelandic sea salt. For $2, I would have liked to see Himalayan pink salt, personally. The onion bagels use dehydrated onion, leeks, and chives. (It is a falsehood that the pumpernickel uses squid ink.)
Was it worth it? Well, I wish them good luck, and I will recommend it to foodies who appreciate good ingredients, but for me… I will stick with my beloved, NYC by way of Bangkok-style Absolute Bagels.
