Pizza Bagel

I tried looking up online the difference between a NY bagel and a Montreal bagel.

I read a lot of different variations, but it appears that Montreal bagels are smaller, boiled in honey/sugar water before being baked and the holes are slightly larger.

Black Seed makes (from what I can gather online) a hybrid of both kinds of bagels. Here’s what I’ve copied and pasted from an online interview with the co-owner Noah Bernamoff (a Montreal native):

“It’s basically a New York bagel dough, which means the combination of unbleached, unbromated high-gluten flour, water, malt, salt, sugar, vegetable oil and yeast with the addition of honey and pre-ferment (ie. old dough). That is then shaped and cooked in the Montreal style, which means shaped laboriously by hand, poached in a honey-water-filled kettle, heavily seeded on all sides and baked at a high temperature in a wood-burning oven.”

If you peruse Yelp, you’ll see a few whiners out there. Prices too high, bagels too small.

I’m always baffled when people bitch and moan about the price of stuff in NYC. Everything here is overpriced. I’m not going to fault a company for charging a bit more so they can make their exorbitant Soho rent on time.

The problem lies with the fact that you can find super cheap bagels around town. Whenever a restaurant opens that sells something normally found for very cheap (bagels, pizza, dumplings) people freak out and judge it much more harshly.

If that slice of pizza doesn’t change my entire life after the first bite, it’s the worst thing I’ve ever put in my mouth. All because the place had the nerve to charge $5 when I can get a $1 slice at the shithole near my apartment.

Black Seed (I’m assuming that refers to poppy?) seems to specialize in their very pretty beet-cured smoked salmon sandwiches but since smoked salmon isn’t my thing, I went for the 1 year anniversary special “Pizza Bagel”.

This thing was DELICIOUS! Plenty of gooey mozzarella, chunky tomato sauce and fresh basil. Made all the more perfect by my addition of pepperoni.

I came back another time and ordered the #13 (Egg, Cheddar and Ham) which was even tastier. Mind you, the thing is small in size but backs a flavorful punch.

Normally the lines at this place are pretty horrific (per more of my exhaustive online research) but they were fine when I showed up around 9ish on a Sunday. While the bagel wasn’t as ginormous as other places, I was actually glad I didn’t have pizza bagel belly after my meal.

For those uptown chicks who hollow out your bagel, Black Seed is the place for you.

And for those gluttonous foodies who need a bagel the size of an inner tube? Consider this place a wake up call. A reminder of just how small the human stomach is and this is all the bagel a human should need.

170 Elizabeth St
New York, NY 10012
b/t Spring St & Kenmare St
(212) 730-1950
blackseedbagels.com

Pizza Bagel

#13 – Baked Egg, Cheddar and Ham (on Everything bagel)