The 85-plus-year-old bialy shop Kossar’s is working to debut its fourth outpost in the Upper West Side. The team is aiming to open in the spring.
Its flagship was debuted by Isadore Mirsky and Morris Kossa in the historically Jewish neighborhood of the Lower East Side in 1936. It primarily focused on serving handcrafted bialys, described as a “kind of awkward cousin” of the bagel, using techniques that date back to 17th century Eastern Europe. However, the team also perfected the more popular Jewish bread, the bagel, too. Billed as the oldest operating bialy bakery in the United States, the team has since expanded with outposts in Hudson Years and the Upper East Side. Now, the team is working on opening up shop in the Upper West Side.
“It’s thinner and lighter than a bagel,” its new owner Evan Giniger told Tablet. “Some people call it the Jewish English muffin.”
“It’s baked—unlike a bagel, which is boiled and then baked—and it has just four ingredients: Flour, kosher salt, water and yeast. Traditionally it’s filled in the center with roasted onions or garlic, but we now have flavors like sundried tomato and pesto and olive.”
The Tablet piece’s author, Marjorie Ingall, wrote: “You can see how Giniger was influenced by Russ & Daughter’s—the shop feels old-school, but it’s spiffy and clean and has a sense of humor.”
Russ & Daughters is another decades-old Jewish joint that is the product of late 19th to early 20th century Jewish immigration to the Lower East Side. The city has also seen the rise of new age Jewish delis like Edith’s rise in popularity in recent years.
