Warsaw bagel shop not yet ready for the fast-food lane
Last week I invited some WBJ news staffers to help me sample the wares at a place that opened late last year and has been on the tips of tongues across town ever since Bagels from New York.
This one is not related to the recently closed New York Bagels in Budapest, a favorite among ex-pats on the Central European tour. But the Warsaw bagel shop, located in the mezzanine shopping area in the Centrum metro station, does have a relative in Bialystok that bears the same name.
There's hardly a transplanted New Yorker who hasn't whined: You can't get a decent bagel (or substitute "pizza") in this town. I usually counter: You didn't move here for the bagels, (again substitute: pizza) did you? On the other hand, finding a good golonka on Park Avenue is a study in futility. But by calling it "Bagels from New York," this shop sets itself up for a high level of scrutiny.
The lineup of taste-testers included Capitalist Comrade, Harvey the bowling king, Iron Lady, and of course my constant companion Roxy. Winston, too busy back at the office to go, asked for a sample na wynos so he could vote by proxy (and receive a free lunch). The five of us worked our way through the labyrinthine galleria that protects, or rather hides, Bagels from New York and other retail outlets in the Centrum station from potential consumers.
Harvey was the first to proclaim that this metro stop was not a bagel shop in the American sense. It was not the place to go and order a dozen bagels to pack up and take home.
The offering, rather, was a la sandwich and as meals with beverage and salad. Four kinds of bagels plain, sesame, onion and poppy seed sold with your choice of four kinds of cream cheese spreads plain, salmon, vegetable, and chive for zl. 3.90. On the meal menu, you could order Zestaw Farmerski, Domowy, Tradycyjny and Firmowy for zl. 9.50, which refers to a specific bagel/cheese and salad combo, and your choice of beverage. A Junior meal was priced at zl. 8.90. Nonconformists can make, of course, for a higher price, with their own combo from any of the bagel and cream cheese spreads and selection of one of the vegetarian, Greek, American and country, or wiejska, salads.
Iron Lady, the only one among us who has been to the Bialystok shop said the eastern relative has a wider selection of hot foods. She chose the Zestaw Domowy, which features a sesame bagel with chive spread and a Greek salad. She asked for her bagel toasted but there was no toaster present. They also charged 10 groszy extra for her to substitute lemon tea for the choice of fruit juice or soda that came on the meal menu. It was, however, a good bag of Dilmah tea.
Roxy and I ordered the Farmerski, which featured an onion bagel with plain cream cheese, and the wiejska salad. Capitalist Comrade and Harvey went for Tradycyjny; a plain bagel with lox-flavored cream cheese and the vegetarian salad. Iron Lady inhaled her meal, uttering not a sound, then broke her silence with the announcement that she would gladly eat another. The rest of us were less impressed.
The main attraction, the star of the show, the reason for our being there, the bagel itself was stale. Baked, as we were told, by a famous baker in Lodz and shipped to the shop daily, they must have traveled a rough road. A toaster also perks up a tired bagel, but none was to be found. Fatigue aside, the bagel was airy and light, and too sugary. A far cry from a traditional New York bagel.
The salads came packaged in small, plastic, take-out containers. They tasted as though they were made from sound ingredients, but the packaging left me wondering how long they had been sitting, waiting to be sold.
Roxy and I definitely scored with the wiejska salad. Though it was small, it had generous chunks of ham with lettuce under a vinaigrette dressing. Capitalist Comrade and Harvey said their vegetarian salads were, in a word, tired. Good ingredients that had sat around too long, they said.
Winston was the most critical. He had the American salad that came with his Zestaw Firmowy. "I didn't try the salad," he said. "I opened it, smelled it, and thought 'No.'"
The famished Iron lady devoured her Greek salad and then announced that she would gladly eat another set. We convinced her to have dessert instead.
The only dessert on offer was a sweet, corn muffin with lemon peel (zl. 1.90), by which we expected to be disappointed. And we were not disappointed by the amount of disappointment we received.
Harvey was the first to notice that if you flicked your finger on the top of the muffin, it made a thumping sound similar to a small drum. Not quite firm enough for hockey, these parched muffins definitely needed something to wash them down with.
We sampled the coffee, which turned out to be the highlight of the meal. Harvey and I chose the po amerykansku (zl. 2.5), while Roxy and Capitalist Comrade were anxious to try the kawa niedrazniaca zoladka literally the "unannoying coffee" (zl. 3) a special blend designed to be easy on the stomach.
CC put it this way, "It annoys me that I can't find anything annoying about it." In fact she and Harvey got into an argument, each proclaiming that the other's cup was more bitter.
In the end, we all agreed Bagels from New York serves one of the best cups of coffee in town, and at about half the price compared to those found in fancy cafes and restaurants. Lunch for six with dessert and coffee totaled zl. 75.70 ($18.29).
With its meals priced for McDonald's pocketbooks, this new, fast-food entrant downtown will have to try harder to build a loyal clientele. For the time being and for those on the run, I suggest Oscar, the sandwich shop under Rondo Dmowskiego, for fresh ingredients on toasted bread.
