Just in case you missed yesterday’s farewell to H & H bagels on the Upper West Side in the Times, we wanted to draw your attention to the article, which touches on some our favorite subjects (other than carbohydrates), those being food and memory and food and tradition.
“When Karanja Muigai, 21, heard, his heart went out to his sister, who lives nearby. “My sister goes to the gym around the corner, and she cheats before boxing with a little bite of bagel,” a customer told the Times. “That’s what New York is, these little traditions that you try to uphold.”
The store at 2239 Broadway (between 79th and 80th Streets) is open until Sunday, and you can read the story here, as well as a follow up piece in the City Rooms blogs about the state of the bagel with insights from food writer and former restaurant critic Mimi Sheraton, who speaks knowledgeably about the disturbingly massive size of modern bagels.
We only wish we’d managed to do a profile of the round bread in our Iconic Foods column before the shop shuttered. Speaking of, if readers have any suggestions for fine specimens to include in that piece, we’re taking notes now! It also has thinking that perhaps next year we’ll make the bagel one of our Seven Ingredients of The Week for Eat Drink Local Week, our celebration of locally sourced foods and food artisans that begins this year on Friday, with strawberries. They’re no bagel, but hey, whatyougonnado?
