Happy Bagels And Lox Day, everybody! Of the many random food "holidays" this month, today's is easily our favorite. Not that we need a reason to enjoy one of the delicacies that New York City does best (always have, always will: suck it, Montreal). But now that the big day has arrived (who knew!), anybody down for a trip to Russ & Daughters? more ›

After a decade of brisk business on the north side of Williamsburg, the Bedford Avenue location of the popular Bagel Store has moved on down to the neighborhood's Southside. The smaller location opened two days ago on the corner of South 4th Street and Bedford Avenue, and owner Scott Rossillo tells us he's still "doing old fashioned handmade bagels with state of art equipment." Rossillo also says he feels like he's "free" after over a decade at the old location, which is owned by local real estate mogul Yehuda Backer, whom Rossillo calls "a liar." more ›

New Yorkers have been trash-talking out-of-state bagels for decades, and in the below video, which the Brooklyn Public Library believes is from 1979, you'll see some sweet smackdowns, vintage style. As one wise man declares: "These people in the midwest, they wouldn't know a bagel from a doughnut! The only reason they ever saw a bagel is one fell off a truck. Four professors were dissecting it before they found out what it was all about." more ›

It's been a rough year for the carbo-kings at H&H Bagels, and it looks like things could be getting worse—the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the company may be evicted from their 639 West 46th Street mass-manufacturing plant. Is no bagel safe? more ›

And the twists just keep coming in the tale of beleaguered bagel institution H&H! Last night was the hotly anticipated "Save H&H" rally at Riverside Park, where about 25 people showed up, and there were not, as promised, free bagels. But there were some interesting hints about where the store might land next. more ›

Breaking bagel news! The Wall Street Journal is reporting that H & H Bagels, beloved Upper West Side carboloading institution, is closing—for good—tomorrow! more ›

A few months ago, we alerted you to a strange new venture undertaken by Larry King, in which the talking head purchased a Beverley Hills franchise of the Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. (Lest you forget, they're the Florida-based operation that "Brooklynizes" non-Brooklyn water by purifying it and adding back traces of the minerals and elements that you'd find in an authentic Brooklyn tap.) And now, The Daily has a video of the "King of the microphone" himself, touring the kitchen lab of the restaurant ("The truth is, I have no idea how this works") and slowly gumming his way through a bagel. Behold the grotesque vision: more ›

You know who gets our appetite going? Larry King. Yup, just one look at those oversized glasses and reptilian wrinkles makes us ready to eat whatever he is that keeps him looking so young. And apparently that's bagels. But not just any bagels—Brooklynized bagels. more ›

You may recall that in the summer of 2009, The Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. opened in Florida with an elaborate water filtration system (enclosed behind a glass wall in the restaurant) that was said to replicate water that flows from the tap in Brooklyn, thereby giving the bagels that distinctive NYC flavor and texture. "By the time it gets past our systems, it's Brooklyn water," declared the man who built the filtration system. But the bagels have proven so popular that now another company is using the system to make "authentic 'New York Style' pizza," and the owner of the bagel company is suing. more ›

While the bagel hasn't really entered the disturbing culinary school of thought that brought you the Krispy Kreme Double Down, there's a new Twitter in town dedicated to one-off bad bagel orders, fittingly titled: Bad Bad Bagel—but can one really make a bad decision when ordering a bagel? Well, it was inspired by a recently overheard (and questionable) order of whitefish on cinnamon raisin—but that could be a thing people like, no? In the name of research, we took to the local bagel shop and procured a variety of (unsliced!) bagels and cream cheese flavors, then paired them up with toppings like: tomato, radish, chocolate sprinkles, banana and Nutella. Without getting into the nauseating details, the definitive outcome is that you can do wrong when topping a bagel... but you can do no wrong when Nutella is involved. more ›

How much for that bagel in the window? Well, that depends on how you're taking it. Apparently State tax officials have started enforcing an odd sales tax law; according to the Wall Street Journal, while the sale of a whole bagels aren't subject to sales tax, sliced bagels are! more ›

Certain Brooklyn bagelheads have been heading to Mile End Deli in Boerum Hill today to snatch up some specially-delivered bagels from Montreal. The bagels, from St-Viateur bagel bakery, are $2.50 a pop (or a dozen for $22) and traveled overnight to get here. The folks at Brokelyn think this is très absurde, saying, "There are so many things wrong with this scenario that the mind reels trying to count them." They suggest hitting up the Bagel Hole for an 80 cent doughy delight. more ›

The owner of H+H Bagels was indicted on tax fraud charges today. Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau said that Helmer Toro collected payroll taxes from employees but didn't pay them to the government and also evaded unemployment insurance tax. more ›

Is Mayor Bloomberg's crusade to turn New Yorkers into healthy eaters really just a product of his own struggles with self-control, roller coaster dieting and poor body image? It turns out that the man who has banned trans fats, made us face calorie count signs on a daily basis and now has his squinty eyes aimed at sodium levels in restaurants and sugary soda drinks is the type of guy that "an unflattering photo of himself can trigger weeks of intense dieting and crankiness." more ›

Well, that was quick: the Upper West Side location of H&H Bagels reopened this afternoon, after being seized by the government for non-payment of taxes early this morning. The State Department of Taxation and Finance this afternoon told the CityRoom that the retail location of H&H and its Hell's Kitchen bakery owed more than $100,000 in back taxes. Clerks at the UWS bagel store have returned to laying out lox slices and buttering those poppyseed selling plain, unadorned bagels like there's no tomorrow, and have been specifically instructed not to talk about the temporary seizure. A woman at H&H's flagship (identifying herself as “Blanca, just Blanca”) said the seizure was “a misunderstanding that has been cleared up." The tax department differs; CityRoom explains, "so many tax warrants, or liens, had piled up by Friday that the department was still struggling to provide a full accounting to reporters." H&H hopes to have everything cleared up by today, so that no more locks will be hoisted upon on the House of Lox. more ›

The cold masses in DC for Barack Obama's inauguration will get a little treat from NYC tomorrow. The Daily News reports that a fifth-generation East Village bagel maker has been hard at work preparing 1 million bagels to hand out to folks, free of charge. Adam Rosner of Bagel Boss and 200 of his employees began the dough-making process last Thursday "at their 14 shops in Manhattan and on Long Island." Today they begin their journey to the nation's capital, riding down on 14 trucks, and tomorrow 50 employees and Young Dems will pass out the...day old bagels (beggars can't be choosers!), which will come in a variety ranging from honey whole wheat to sesame. As for the total bill, Rosner spent tens of thousands on the delicious donation, and told the paper that while he backs Obama now, he actually voted for McCain! more ›

Tired of squandering your mornings laboriously spreading cream cheese on your freshly defrosted bagel? Kraft Foods, Inc. is here to blast you and your breakfast into the 21st century, with their new line of frozen bagels that come pre-filled with cream cheese! more ›

“It’s horrible. I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Arye Lewkowitz, owner of Daniel’s Bagels on Third Avenue, recently told Metro. “We’re going to have to sell a bagel for over $1.” Lewkowitz isn’t alone; bagel and bread prices are soaring nationwide due to the skyrocketing cost of wheat, which more than doubled in the past year in New York, from $5.31 a bushel to $14.22. more ›

Time to dress up and play "I have my own food television show!" If you've ever thought you had it in you, now's the time. Epicurious.com is hosting a contest for the best video on holiday food and entertaining. Submit your entry by January 2, 2008 and have a chance to win prizes including Michael Chiarello cookware and Epicurious.com editors' favorite cookbooks. And if you're quick about it, the first 25 people to submit videos... more ›

The Comedians of Comedy are performing at Irving Plaze on October 27th at 6 and 10:30 PM. Both shows will be hosted by Patton Oswalt, who will be joined by Brian Poshein, Maria Bamford, Eugene Mirman, John Mulaney, and some yet to be announced special guests. Last year's surprises included performances by David Cross, Nick Swardson, Jon Benjamin, and Jon Glaser. With such a line up, the event is certainly a night not to be missed. Gothamist got a hold of Patton to get his opinion on some of his past roles, politics, and where he likes to eat when he's in town. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a suspicious fire in the area of Ludlow and Stanton Sts. in Manhattan, a crane vs. overpass incident at Westchester and Prospect Aves. in the Bronx, and an armed robbery on Shell Rd. in Brooklyn.
• Musician/actor Jon Bon Jovi is suing the maker of an energy drink for selling a coffee-based beverage called Mijovi. The owner of the NJ beverage company says that the name of his product is derived from that of his girlfriend, Jovita. No word yet on whether the rocker will be suing pastry chain Cinnabon.
• A 13-gigapixel interactive panorama of Harlem taken from a neighborhood rooftop.
• Brooklyn is undergoing a building boom of hotels and completed ones are running high occupancy rates.
• A man was found guilty of a 2003 murder today and faces 25 years to life in prison for forcing a man who was dating his ex-girlfriend out of a 5th story window on the Upper West Side, and the man fell to his death.
• A Jersey City woman whose home is in the flight path of Newark Liberty Airport found an inoperable rocket launcher in her front yard this morning. The FBI said the launcher was part of an AT-4 anti-tank weapon.
• The owner of a Brooklyn bagel store near Bruce Ratner's proposed Atlantic Yards project thought it would be a good idea to name his new business Arena Bagels. After widespread criticism of the massive real estate project, and in turn his store's name, the store has been renamed A.R.E.A Bagels & Bialys.
• Time shares are a growing market in NYC real estate, for vacationers who want to own a portion of a city apartment and occupy it for just a few weeks a year.

There must be something about the morning shift at WABC. After just four days on the job as the permanent replacement for Steve Bartelstein, Ken Rosato, overslept and was late for the 5 a.m. edition of Eyewitness News. We think it is pretty safe to assume that he just overslept, since he probably hasn’t adjusted his body clock fully to the new hours, and that he wasn’t spending the night out clubbing like his predecessor. We wonder if he brought bagels to smooth things over. more ›

Earlier this week Gothamist had the chance to attend the taping of Len Berman's 20th Anniversary of Spanning the World special at NBC’s 30 Rock studios.. The show was filled with some of the best clips of the past twenty years and a visit by the always fun Al Roker. During the breaks in the taping Len answered questions from the audience, including several interesting hockey related questions from a young Rangers fan which he handled with aplomb. Hopefully everything else will make the final cut when the special airs on Saturday at 7:00 p. m. on WNBC. And nobody got hurt. more ›

The Grasshopper Bar at Baked is the more portable version of the eponymous cake that the Red Hook bakery also sells, a 3x3 inch paean to the ultimate Betty Crocker housewife kitchen caveat, an old-fashioned, unholy marriage of Cool Whip, Crème De Menthe, and a little brownie mix. more ›