Unlike some Manhattan places, they’ll toast a bagel here if that’s what you want. I had to settle for poppy seeds, but it was still worth 30 minutes. I’ll usually settle for toasted, but a fresh, hot bagel with butter is like nothing else on earth. This means either getting it really fresh or toasting it. A bagel with cream cheese only needs to be warm to be good, but with butter it needs to be hot. ![]() My personal favorite is a simple bagel with butter - preferably with sesame seeds but I’m flexible. Utopia still makes them fresh, now in an elegant open kitchen, and they are some of the best I’ve ever had. Bagels are synonymous with New York City, but it’s getting increasingly hard to find good ones in the city. It took us nearly 30 minutes to get some bagels this Sunday, most of it spent in a long line that wriggled its way through the store and then out the door. The business has been stronger than ever since the early winter reopening and patrons can expect to wait in long lines to get their bagel fix during the store’s busiest hours.Utopia Bagels recently renovated and expanded, but it’s still insanely crowded on a weekend morning. Utopia pays such attention to detail that the 36-hour process is adjusted for each batch to create a perfectly crispy-fluffy-moist stock of bagels in which no two are exactly alike. He says not many bagels shops use old-fashioned production methods such as hand-rolling each bagel and letting it set for a prolonged time in a cooling chamber. ![]() “They don’t really make ‘em the way we make ‘em anymore,” Spellman said. Spellman has worked in bagel stores for most of his life and he says that Utopia Bagels are so beloved because the standards are so high and their bagels are superior. He answers the phone with, “Bagels, can I help you?” in a comfortable way which shows that he already knows what people want and expect from the neighborhood institution. Spellman has been managing the business for about a year to help with the changes, taking over for a longtime employee who stepped down into a less demanding role on staff. Spellman said the bagel store was long overdue for a makeover, but an offer to be included as a FreshDirect food vendor was the ultimate catalyst for change.įive-packs of Utopia Bagels can now be delivered right to a customer’s door, and all of the work and food storage spaces behind the counter were enlarged to accommodate the dramatic production increase. “People come in and they’re blown away by what we’ve done with the interior,” Spellman said. The interior seating area has also been expanded to have long, communal tables. The food offerings now include more deli options with many different kinds of smoked fish, a beefed-up sandwich menu with 10 new recipes and almost double the amount of refrigerator space for more drinks as well as a spread of bagels in both classic and innovative flavors. ![]() The 35-year-old business is now double its previous size with lots of new added features, according to store manager Scott Spellman. Whitestone‘s Utopia Bagels is back and better than ever since a recent renovation and an expansion into online food delivery with FreshDirect. << Back to News Popular Utopia Bagels reopened in Whitestone and now offers FreshDirect delivery
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |