The bagel, the food that arguably embodies New York City the most, didn’t really come into Andrew Martinez’s life until quite late, but this little ring of bread that comes out of his oven is now regularly hailed as the one of the best in the megalopolis.
“Sometimes when I walk in here I think I can’t believe this is my life,” he told AFP. “It’s New York. It is extremely difficult to succeed here. »
Born in New York’s Queens borough, this catering professional got into the industry by chance after being hospitalized for two months in 2014, fed by a tube.
He had decided that the first thing he would do when his health was restored would be to enjoy a classic New York bagel, the ultimate of which combines a crispy exterior with a spongy heart.
Xander Johnson, left, of Bagel Tours and the Messenger family from San Francisco drive around Midtown Manhattan to sample the best bagels in New York, Aug. 17, 2023. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP)
Back home in Harlem, he unfortunately realizes that no shop worthy of the name is located nearby and taking the subway to satisfy this desire strongly displeases him.
Neither one nor two, he embarked on in-depth research on the bagel – which arrived in New York via the Jewish neighborhoods of southeast Manhattan. He reads everything that comes to hand, traces the history of the bagel, talks with experts.
After about six months of experimentation, he manages to design a bagel similar to his childhood bagel.
Taste of childhood
The interior of a bagel prep room pictured while on a bagel tour through midtown Manhattan to sample the best bagels in New York, Aug. 17, 2023. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP)
“People eat with their memories. I dreamed of the bagels I ate as a kid in Queens and this is the taste I was looking for. »
What started as a personal quest turned when family members inspired him to think bigger.
With his wife Ashley Dikos, they started with a market stall and then, in 2017, they opened a 110 m2 store in West Harlem: Bo’s Bagels. Immediately, a queue forms.
But the adventure encountered some pitfalls.
Employees prepare bagel dough balls at Bo’s Bagels in New York on July 12, 2023. (Yuki Iwamura/AFP)
Like the day before the first market.
The couple are awakened in the middle of the night by the sudden opening of the refrigerator door – the family kitchen serves as a workshop – where there were hundreds of raw bagels.
“It had become a giant ball of dough” under the effect of the yeast, remembers Dikos.
False start therefore for this first market and hours of cutting the dough to evacuate it by pieces in the garbage chute without arousing the suspicions of the staff of the building.
Creating the perfect bagel starts about 48 hours before it’s baked, when flour, yeast and water are mixed together and then left to sit for a few hours. To slow fermentation, the dough is refrigerated overnight and then boiled for two minutes.
Behind the stoves of BO’s Bagel, the baker is busy with all these tasks, sprinkling the various seeds and other assortments, monitoring the rotation of the four ovens, turning the bagels and finally removing them when they are ready.
the hour of glory
But some manufacturers don’t take the time to go through this laborious process, often resulting in mushy, stuffy, and/or flavorless bagels.
Andrew Martinez, owner of Bo’s Bagels, boils bagel dough before the opening of his store, in New York City on July 12, 2023. (Yuki Iwamura/AFP)
“There are a lot of mediocre bagels out there,” acknowledges Sam Silverman, executive director of BagelUp, pointing out that despite everything, the bagel is living its heyday with historic players like Ess-a and Utopia Bagels.
BO’s, a newcomer to this arena which has received many accolades from specialized journals Food & Wine et Eatercredits its success to its manufacturing process, quality ingredients, and choice to make a crispier, smaller bagel.
It produces around 3,000 bagels daily but is expected to double production after opening a second store this fall in Washington Heights, in far northern Manhattan. The couple’s ambition is to open some outside of New York.
Once the basic bagel was developed, it was necessary to design a satisfying menu that was both purist and innovative, preferring to experiment with blueberry or three-cheese options.
Xander Johnson, off camera, of Bagel Tours takes the Messenger family from San Francisco to midtown Manhattan to sample the best bagels in New York, August 17, 2023. (Yuki Iwamura/AFP)
“Nowadays you have to provide a lot of variety for all kinds of people,” said Dikos, responsible for this task. But there is no question of resorting to “artificial” like green dye for Saint Patrick.
According to her, the recipe for the gluten-free bagel has not yet been finalized to soundtrack standards.
2023-08-22 14:08:00
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