Kossar's Bialys

Kossar's Bagels & Bialys
Kossar's Bialys
Map
Restaurant information
Established1936 (1936)
Owner(s)Evan Giniger and David Zablocki
Food typeBakery
Street address367 Grand Street (and Essex Street), Lower East Side, Manhattan
CityNew York City
StateNew York
Postal/ZIP Code10002
CountryUnited States
Coordinates40°42′59″N 73°59′20″W / 40.716446°N 73.988792°W / 40.716446; -73.988792
Websitehttp://www.kossars.com

Kossar's Bialys (Kossar's Bialystoker Kuchen Bakery) located at 367 Grand Street (and Essex Street), on the Lower East Side in Manhattan, New York City, is the oldest bialy bakery in the United States.[1][2]

Background

Kossar's bialys hot out of the oven

The bialy gets its name from the "Bialystoker Kuchen" of Białystok, in present-day Poland. Polish Jewish bakers who arrived in New York City in the late 19th century and early 20th century made an industry out of their recipe for the mainstay bread rolls baked in every household.[3]

History

Kossar's Bialys, originally known as Mirsky and Kossar's[4] when Isadore Mirsky and Morris Kossar founded it in 1936, is one of the few remnants of what was once its own industry in New York City with its own union association and an owners' alliance known the Bialy Bakers Association, Inc.[5]

Originally located on Clinton Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side, Kossar's Bialys moved to its current location at Grand and Essex Streets in the early 1960s after a union dispute and subsequent fire destroyed the building.[5][6]

Juda Engelmayer, Debra Engelmayer, Daniel Cohen, and Malki Cohen purchased the bakery from Morris Kossar's son-in-law and daughter, Daniel and Gloria Kossar Scheinin in 1998.[7][8]

Kossar's Bagels and Bialys

In 2013, Evan Giniger and David Zablocki purchased the bakery from the Engelmayers and Cohens. After the sale, the new owners made a number of upgrades and changes to the store, including expanding the menu and making the decision to no longer operate as a kosher establishment.

Kossar's has a history of employing many female cashiers from the Philippines and employees from other countries as well. Many of these employees worked at the bakery for decades and still work at the bakery.

Kossar's Bialys was the starting point for former New York Times food critic Mimi Sheraton's research for her 2002 book, The Bialy Eaters: The Story of a Bread and a Lost World.[9]

Kossar's Bialys is on the Lower East Side and Lower Manhattan tour circuit.[7][10]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Food on the Lower East Side: Kossar's Bialys". Lower East Side Tenement National Historic Site website. Archived from the original on December 30, 2006. Retrieved December 28, 2006.
  2. ^ Colleen McKinney. "Profile: Kossar's Bialys". New York Magazine. Archived from the original on July 16, 2006. Retrieved December 28, 2006.
  3. ^ Paul Solman (WGBH-TV Boston) (April 5, 2001). "Baking History". The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Archived from the original on January 22, 2014. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  4. ^ Allegra Jordan Young (Winter 2006). "Roy Mersky and the Future of Libraries" (PDF). UT Law, the magazine of the University of Texas School of Law (Cover story, p. 26).[permanent dead link‍]
  5. ^ a b "Suspicious Blast Damages Bakery". The New York Times Business Financial section, Page 52 (abstract). February 20, 1958. The Local had been striking since Feb. 1 against Kossar's and six other bakeries, all members of an owner's alliance called the Bialy Baker's Association Inc.
  6. ^ Barry Popik. "Bialy". barrypopik.com (includes additional text from the New York Times article).
  7. ^ a b Claiborne Smith (November 10, 2003). "Guided by Cell Phone: An 800 number brings Lower East Side history to life". Newsday.
  8. ^ Nadine Brozan (February 3, 2002). "For Low-Cost Co-op, a Pricing Quandary". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 1, 2006. Juda Engelmayer and his wife, Debra, who jointly own Kossar's Bialys with their brother-in-law and sister, Daniel and Malki Cohen.[Photo caption]
  9. ^ Mimi Sheraton (2000). The Bialy Eaters: The Story of a Bread and a Lost World. Broadway. ISBN 978-0-7679-0502-2.
  10. ^ Anne McDonough (December 21, 2005). "Hear Here!". The Washington Post p. C02.

40°42′58.91″N 73°59′19.68″W / 40.7163639°N 73.9888000°W / 40.7163639; -73.9888000