West 35th Street Bagel War: The Hole Story, Boiled & Baked

By Ralph Spielman

The Manhattan bagel wars have taken another turn and are cause to ponder how one block of West 35th Street has turned into a freshly boiled and baked battlground for hungry dough boys and dough girls alike.

First, opening in 2007, was the immodestly named Best Bagels and Coffee, which has one and only one location. Then came Liberty Bagels in 2017, though the Liberty itself dates to 1995, has four other locations and has franchise dreams. This past November, Apollo Bagels arrived, an intriguing decision given that their downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn locations are often thronged bagel pilgrims.

All told, for connoisseurs of the schmear and the sesame, West 35th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues has become a de facto holey land. The question is: who sells bagels better? Let’s strap on the old feedbag and find out.

Beware, sons and daughters of the borscht belt: none of these shops are much like your parents’ or grandparents’ aromatic appetizing stores, which offered New York bagels, smoked fish, cream cheese, and other items. Instead, these bagelries proffer an almost antiseptic variation of the Jewish appetizing tradition with notably fewer smells. While the beloved Russ and Daughters (who have a nearby location at West 34th Street and 10th Avenue) carry on the “World of Our Fathers” (and mothers!) tradition, on West 35th Street a different philosophy prevails. Much less kibbitzing, more social media. Not so much dried fruit and nuts, more on zany cream cheese variations.

As for red, white and blue, or rainbow-colored bagles, oy.

On a weekday morning soon before Christmas, this boychik of the bagel beat made the scene, ready to nosh. The good news? Walking was kept to a minimum. The bad? Every location had long lines to separate the famished from taking that first delicious bite

Best Bagel and Coffee

Just like a rock band might call itself Aardvark so they’re first in the record bins, any would-be Thucydides should begin at the beginning with Best Bagel and Coffee at 225 W. 35th St. It’s worth noting of the this block’s three bagelries, this was the only one uncovered by dread scaffolding, while the sidewalk outside was filled with Instagram-scrolling patrons seeking the bagel of their dreams.

With 21 different bagel varieties, 24 different cream cheese choices, the permutations available alone would scare any math student. Add in a mix of breakfast platters and lunch items, and this location seems more like a Jersey diner though there’s no tabletop jukebox for Tony Soprano to choose “Don’t Stop Believin’” from.

The ordering process was a little enervating wait in the line to order, pay, and then pick up the item, in this case, a plain everything bagel, $1.80. The pick-up seemed was somewhat chaotic and while waiting, one mother with daughter in tow returned to the pick-up area because they did not get what they had ordered. Meanwhile tourists with luggage at hand munching away at outdoor tables.

As for the everything, it wasn’t bad it didn’t seem that dissimilar from other Manhattan bagels. Is this what the critics call “schadenfreude”?

Apollo Bagels

This is the growing chain’s newest location. The menu here is spare, indeed almost spartan—everything, plain and sesame bagels, and that’s it, with six different bagel toppings (or eight if you include the cream cheese choices), no eggs, no grilled items, no wraps. Its bagels and bagles only, a focus upon which is to be commended.

The time from entering the store to first bite was about 15 minutes. You order, pay, and wait for your name to be called. Instead of behind the counter chaos, the workers exhibit nearly bovine placidity. This is great for reducing stress levels but a little worrisome when you’re starving. The cashier was very pleasant; and the the gentleman who handed me the bag maintained an airline pilot’s calm despite the hungry horde facing him.

Apollo’s sourdough bagels were revelatory! On the outside, a hard bagel, on the inside, it’s like they convinced English muffin guts to grow up. It was not doughy, but lightly firm with more fermentation than expected. If Renoir had made bagel, they might have been like this.

Having ordered butter on the side, this reporter was startled to see it was a better butter, a cut above most bagel slingers. Unlike many other bagel joints, this rounder had no partial sweet taste, making it a Manhattanite’s dream with black coffee. Listen to Peggy Lee sing “Black Cofee” to hear how sublime this was.

Liberty Bagels

Alas, your scribe, having already spent a half-hour in line, didn’t look forward to another 15-minute wait and bailed out. Conversation with Liberty’s line-wrangler was both pleasant and informative, however, so don’t be dissuaded from trying them. Their other locations are on the Upper East Side, Wall Street and another in Midtown.

Liberty offers bagels, salads, sandwiches, baked goods, grilled items, a large variety; a friend who works in the neighborhood told me that the wait is usually about 5 minutes, and it’s his go-to place for bagels and lunch.

This reporters’s New Year’s resolution? To give Liberty a try because any store who employs peoeple who can handle a long line in 32 degree with grace and humanity deserves some bites.