Absolute Bagels Reopens After Revolting Health Reports — But Can It Recover?
Iffy Ingredients: Can we confirm there’s nothing extra in this everything bagel topping? Image by Flickr/apasciuto
By Liza Schoenfein November 1, 2017
If there’s one day of the year when New Yorkers have a high tolerance for all things gross and unappetizing it’s Halloween. So it’s fitting that Absolute Bagels reopened that day, after being cited by the Department of Health and temporarily closed October 26 for a number of revolting violations.
These included “evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas” and “filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.”
Absolutely Overflowing: The bagel shop in better days. Image by Flickr/Lora Frisch
So how loyal will New Yorkers be to the place that produces what Grub Street just last week dubbed the 2nd-best bagel in the city? That remains to be seen, but we might gain a better sense over the weekend, when there are usually lines out the door of the shop on the east side of Broadway between 107th and 108th Streets.
Almost as cringe-worthy — but more entertaining — than the violations themselves was a post in a neighborhood blog about the closing: “Tears were schmeared across the Upper West Side this weekend, as locals were in-caper-ble of going to Absolute Bagels to Pump-a-nickel into the cashier’s hands to perform their favorite hole-y ritual. Lox of luck indeed,” West Side Rag reported.
Frankly, New Yorkers never seemed to mind the unsanitary appearance of the place, which was called out in May of 2016 when Grub Street’s Joshua David Stein put Absolute Bagels on his “Best of New York” list, offering the following faint praise: “Let the fancies have Black Seed or Sadelle’s. Absolute Bagels is a filthy little store with sublime bagels.”
Sublime once trumped filthy. Let’s see if it can do so again.
Liza Schoenfein is food editor of the Forward. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @LifeDeathDinner
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
