I was invited to the Grand Opening of the Ess-a-Bagel FiDi location as a guest. All opinions are my own (and Steve’s, for this particular post)
If you ever wondered what a New York bagel party looks like, just picture a room full of people eating smoked salmon and cream cheese while “Macarena” blasts in the background. Add a tray of fruit, rainbow cookies, bubbly in plastic cups, and “Eye of the Tiger,” and you’ve got the grand opening of Ess-a-Bagel’s brand-new FiDi location. I couldn’t make it myself to the grand opening, so I sent Steve in my place and he really leaned into the role of bagel correspondent. Judging from the photos (and the steady stream of text updates), it looked like quite the party.
The buffet-style spread included everything from colorful fruit platters and dessert trays to bite-sized samples of the different kinds of bagels. The blueberry cream cheese on plain bagel didn’t do it for him (too sweet and not enough contrast), but the classic everything bagel with salmon, cream cheese, capers, tomato, and lettuce was excellent. Solid crunch, mild lox flavor, and really clean-tasting. He also tried a plain bagel with salmon and regular cream cheese, which got two thumbs up. I agree, you never go wrong with that. Oh, and apparently there’s now something called “Ice-a-Bagel,” only available at the Museum of Ice Cream. I don’t even know what that means, but I have questions. Did a little research online, and apparently, it’s a mini bagel with ice cream. Sounds interesting, curious about that one.
Anyway, shout-out to Steve for excellent reporting (and for not eating all the lox and cream cheese bagel bites before taking pics). Congratulations to Ess-a-Bagel on the new shop, can’t wait to check it out myself next time I’m back in New York.