A Second Generation Of Ess-A-Bagel Bakers Returns To Brooklyn

NEW YORK CITY —Ess-A-Bagel, New York City's emblematic purveyor of the pillowy carbo-centric delicacy, is now in Brooklyn. And that marks both a milestone and something of a return home for the family business, which left the borough nearly 50 years ago.

For the uninitiated, Ess-a-Bagel is renowned as a multi-generational enterprise now being run by relatives determined to see their legacy thrive.

The story of their inception has been repeated so often that it's practically local lore to New Yorkers. Sometime in the mid-'70s, the family baking business lost their lease on a Brooklyn doughnut shop, and with three children in tow, the clan began an odyssey that's led to what some consider the best bagel on the continent.

The doors to Manhattan's Ess-a-Bagel were first opened by Florence and Gene Wilpon and Florence's brother Aaron Wenzelberg at 21st and 1st Avenue in 1976. They were of Austrian ancestry, where the art of crafting dough into edible dreams had been already baked into their DNA for generations. Because the process of making doughnuts has so much in common with bagel preparation, the bakers decided to switch. And after all, as family spokesperson Melanie Frost says with a laugh, "they both have holes."

An early baking experiment led to the accidental creation of a bagel large enough to fill a dinner plate, and it caught on immediately. Within two years, the shop was voted the most popular in the Tri-State area.

In order to satisfy demand, Florence expanded their operation and Ess-A-Bagel debuted a second location in midtown. When Florence died in 2013, her sister Muriel and her niece Melanie stepped up to fill the void.

Now, after leaving Brooklyn nearly a half century ago, the family business has returned — this time to the Time Out Market at 55 Water Street. It's not only a homecoming to the borough where the family began as bakers, but a celebration of restaurants' return to economic life after the pandemic shutdown.

That's quite a journey in itself, since in April of 2020, Frost saw eateries across the city closing and wondered how Ess-a-Bagel would continue. No one knew how long the lockdown would last and whether science could actually deliver a viable vaccine by the end of the year. They may have entered the pandemic as one of the city's great taste ambassadors, but Frost knew they would have to do some quick thinking to make up for missing walk-in business.

"So we picked ourselves up, and we prevailed." Frost explains. We asked, 'How are we going to overcome and expand the business?' So we expanded our delivery zone to the Tri-State area and the Hamptons, and our shipping exploded."

As the pandemic began to abate, the family was asked if they'd like to be a part of the food hall as Time Out Market reopened. "The return to Brooklyn is a nice coincidence," Frost admits. "I happen to be born and raised in Brooklyn, so we're thrilled, because this is actually great business opportunity."

Of course the family's arrival back where they began has not gone unnoticed by their loyal following. According to Frost, "It's actually the comment we hear the most. 'We're extremely excited that you're here, because we've been getting our bagels from you for years and years, and now I don't have to go all the way to Manhattan anymore.'"

"So it is kind of touching, really," she says. "Especially when you put that together with the fact that we're all really coming back now, back from the pandemic to regular life from all that time we spent apart."

You can find Ess-a-Bagel in Time Out Market on the first floor, where they're open every day from 8am-4pm.