Heartbroken crowds flocked to the beloved Absolute Bagels store on the Higher West Aspect on Friday to mourn its sudden shuttering — which got here after the kitchen was taken over by rats.
Kitchen tools was being furiously carried out of the breakfast joint, which had landed on quite a few best-bagel lists all through its 30-year run.
A lone plain bagel filled with pink flowers was laid outdoors the entrance of the shop on Broadway between West 107th and 108th streets alongside an indication that learn: “Thanks to your patronage for 30 years however…we’ve to go.”
“I’m actually going to go house and cry,” Kathryn Swain, 53, instructed The Publish, noting that she had gotten the whole lot bagel with plain cream cheese and tomato from the store every single day.
“It’s the middle of this neighborhood. … Everybody inside — they really feel like a household,” Swain stated. “They’ve actually adopted me as their household. That’s what makes it particular. It’s not a giant enterprise. They know everybody who is available in there.”
Absolute Bagels shocked the Manhattan neighborhood Thursday by throwing a “We’re closed” check in its home windows with none warning to the general public — a spectacle first reported by the West Aspect Rag.
The store famously drew crowds every single day of loyal guests, together with state Assemblymember-Elect Micah Lasher, who stated he tried to attain the proprietor about protecting the enterprise alive.
However whereas the entrance of the bagel store was always buzzing with loyal clients, the kitchen was in a deplorable state, the town stated.
Town Division of Well being slapped Absolute Bagels with a whopping 67-point violation sheet Wednesday — a extreme report card that known as for the rapid closure of the store.
Rat droppings have been discovered within the meals preparation, storage and repair areas, and sugar packets beneath the bagel counter have been clearly gnawed by the pesky critters, inspectors stated.
Robert Miller
Even worse, the rodent’s lifeless our bodies have been left to rot in glue traps on prime of the walk-in unit, a consultant for the DOH instructed The Publish.
The meals itself was additionally not correctly cared for: The smoked salmon, for instance, was coated in a nasty layer of condensed wastewater that was dripping from the show case.
“We ordered a closure as a result of we discovered pest and meals contamination circumstances posing an imminent public well being hazard,” the Well being Division stated.
The shutdown isn’t the primary that Absolute Bagels has handled. It was quickly closed in 2013 and 2017 for comparable circumstances. However the most up-to-date DOH report card seems to be the loss of life knell.
Proprietor Samek Thongkrieng has reportedly not made any effort to start the reopening course of, which might contain one other inspection by the DOH, and even instructed the property dealer he wished to let the area go.
“Samek simply instructed the owner, ‘I’m performed. No extra.’ And that’s it, we by no means received an evidence,” Rafe Evans, who first rented the area to Thongkrieng in 1992, instructed The Publish.
For the reason that retailer first opened, Absolute Bagels has been persistently rated as among the finest within the metropolis and was particularly famed for serving an assortment of offbeat-flavored bagels and schmears akin to walnut cream cheese.
“It was contemporary. They toasted it proper. There was a great ratio of bagel to cream cheese,” stated Xavier, 35, a Harlem resident who grew up within the Higher West Aspect and had visited Absolute Bagels for twenty-four years, of the fare.
“Typically the bagel is just too huge and so they don’t put sufficient cream cheese, and generally the cream cheese is an excessive amount of and the bagel isn’t adequate,” he stated of different spots.
Ashna Arora, 27, gasped when she walked by the shuttered store and stated, “No” to herself.
“It’s so unhappy. They’re iconic. They’re the perfect within the metropolis. It’s actually unhappy,” she stated, including that her go-to order was an onion bagel with scallion cream cheese.
“It’s the top of an period.”
Equally, neighbor Christopher Wambu, 70, stopped in his tracks when he say the “closed” indicators.
“What is that this? Is that this a joke? Oh my goodness,” he stated.
After the shock wore off, Wambu realized he must break the information to his 11-year-old grandson.
“My grandson who lives in DC comes simply to purchase bagels,” Wambu stated. “That’s his favourite factor in New York, to eat bagels. Now I’ve to inform him they’re closed.”
Staff on Friday instructed The Publish that Thailand-born Thongkrieng was shutting the enterprise down as a result of he’s “drained and really previous.” The proprietor didn’t return The Publish’s request for remark.
“He stated it’s time to retire,” stated Jorge Naba, 55, who had been working on the store since its inception 33 years in the past.
“I really feel unhealthy for everyone. Each morning I see everybody. It’s like a household,” Evans stated of consumers and associates. I really feel unhealthy. All my life I’ve been working there.”
And vultures are already setting their eyes on making a revenue on the chef’s historical past.
“There’s numerous curiosity,” Evans stated of potential operators. “Different [types of business] are reaching out however [the bagel business] feels it’s the proper use for the area after 30 years of intense goodwill, so we’re going to lease it to a bagel place.”
However how quickly that may very well be seems up within the air.
“I don’t imagine that it’s in pristine situation … I don’t assume it’s a turnkey operation,” Evans stated.
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