A standard-issue Ess-a-Bagel tends to be inflated to the point of obscuring the hole. The origins of one of Manhattan’s most venerated shops trace to 1976, after co-owner Aaron Wenzelberg lost the lease of his Brooklyn doughnut shop and regrouped on the East Side. It may have more in common with something like tong yod, a yolky Thai sweet, than a bagel, but it’s still a must-order.Ģ35 W. The egg variety is buoyant, even orblike. While other places imbue an assembly-line sameness to their repertoire, Thongkrieng’s bagels seem to have distinct personalities. In a nod to Thongkrieng’s heritage, they order Thai iced tea over coffee, and while some opt for the cream cheeses in goofy throwbacks like pimento-olive, most get the fat-dappled salmon or smoky whitefish. Regulars consider Absolute’s overhead ductwork and general grime as points of pride. Beneath the topcoat of seeds and salt on any given variety - mini-bagels shine here, too - there’s a blistery crust with old-school verisimilitude in spades, a given thanks to owner Sam Thongkrieng’s early work at Ess-a-Bagel. What more can be said about Absolute Bagels, beyond its succinct logline here as being a “filthy little store with sublime bagels” and the requisite mention that it’s nabbed just about every accolade of bagel-worthiness in its 27 years of business? For starters, standbys like sesame and chewy onion have dapper, almost pinwheeled crusts. Miniature versions are also available, and it’s worth getting a sampler of each kind. The result is smooth-mantled bagels with plenty of crackle that come in twisty wreaths, an undervalued metric for spotting the real thing in the wild. Workers at the 36-year-old Queens institution ply dough into loose, ropy circles, which get an extra-long rest and leisurely ferment before a kettle dip and a flip on the boards. Try the brown-and-yellow brindled egg-everything or the lopsided and nicely chewy plain or the fantastically roasted, tangy-surfaced salt flavor, which has a perfect ratio of buttery and astringent and is what a soft New York pretzel wishes it could be. Inside, purists may as well put on blinders in the presence of shaggy, coconut-festooned piña-colada bagels. 19-09 Utopia Pkwy., at 19th Ave., Whitestone 71įrom the outside, the mini–shopping center looks like a place to score discount Venetian blinds.
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