Black Seed Chef Specials

Black Seed Bagels recently finished up another spring full of chef collaboration bagel creations, and despite our intentions to try most (or a lot) of them, we kept forgetting and only made it there to get the first one of the set. The same thing happened last year too, when we only made it there to try the squid ink bagel sandwich through their Mission Chinese collaboration (although we never got around to writing about it). We liked that one, so we were pretty excited for the new ones this year as they all sounded so good.

The first bagel special this year was designed by Chef Sara Jenkins from Porchetta. It was supposed to be a za'atar bagel with labne (strained yogurt), turnips, cucumbers, radishes, and mint. We headed down to the East Village shop (our first time at that location) at the end of a food crawl since the special was supposed to be available all day. Unfortunately for us, when we got there and ordered it, they let us know they were out of mint, but offered to substitute parsley and dill. Even though that wouldn't be exactly as designed, we went with that, since we thought it would still be good, and then we could still try everything else. What we got looked nothing like what we had seen on Black Seed's own Instagram though.

M's review: This bagel sandwich was supposed to be Turkish-inspired and it sounded so fresh and clean, full of yogurt and refreshing vegetables. What we got was heavy on the creamy yogurt, missing a vegetable (A and I disagreed at the time on whether it was the turnip or the radish, but it was the pretty pink colored one from the Black Seed picture), and generally nothing special. Would it have been better if we had been able to get it with mint? Probably, but the dill wasn't a bad match for flavors like that, and I'm not sure that was really the issue. (Despite agreeing to parsley and dill, we found no parsley.) It was fine to eat, but mostly disappointing because of what we were expecting to get. Had they told us they were also missing vegetables in addition to mint, we probably would have just gone back another time or gotten something else. In the end, it just felt like what we got was nothing like what it was supposed to be, and like we had wasted our time since we went specifically to try that. Maybe we hit the East Village location on a bad day, but the Nolita one seemed better run from what we remembered. It was a little disappointing, especially since in the end, this was the only special we actually got this year.

A's review: I'm not really sure where to start with this. Of all of the collaboration bagels that Black Seed had announced, this was one of the ones we definitely wanted to try. We're both fans of Turkish food and flavors, but this was a complete disappointment which had nothing to do with the planned bagel. We arrived later in the day, and when we asked if they still had the collaboration bagel they said yes. However, they did note that they had run out of mint but could substitute in dill and parsley to try and mimic the flavor as best as possible. We thought that sounded okay so we paid and started waiting. After getting the bagel, we noticed that so many of the other ingredients were also missing, and they never even bothered to let us know. Had we known about all of the missing ingredients we would have just said no. In the end, the combo they put together didn't really work. The labne was supposed to be paired with mint, but since they had run out they subbed in dill and parsley (supposedly). The dill was okay, but even after saying they would sub in parsley, they forgot the parsley. Also, the other missing ingredients just made the bagel seem bland and empty. In the end, the flavors just didn't shine through together, and all of the missing ingredients or subbed ingredients just made the whole thing seem like a mish-mosh of flavors instead of the composed combination it was meant to be. Complete disappointment.

Back from PDX

While we were out in Portland for Thanksgiving week last year, NYC was in a deep freeze. We kept checking the weather and back home it was mostly in the 20s with low wind chills. It wasn't hot in Portland and I was still wearing my down coat, but 40s and 50s felt wonderful when we thought about what faced us at home.

When we left the airport in Newark, it was a lovely 25 degrees with a "feels like" temperature of 14. Brrr.

I only mention the weather because our original plan had been to go home, drop our bags, and take advantage of the fact that we had a red eye flight by going out for breakfast. We were thinking maybe we would bike down to Russ & Daughters since it would be early enough to beat the crowds and we're usually not up at 8 am. But with wind chills of 14? Not going to happen. The furthest we were willing to walk was the short distance home from the train station. And breakfast? We picked it up along the way from the nearby Bread Factory Cafe. The best bagels and cream cheese? Definitely not. But it was a nice filling breakfast to calm our tummies after our travels and welcome us home.

I got a toasted onion bagel with scallion cream cheese, and A got a whole wheat bagel with scallion cream cheese. We really do love bagels and cream cheese. It was a satisfying end to our PDX trip.

Taste of Jewish Culture

I don't know what it's like in other cities, but one of the ways you know it's summer in New York is an endless barrage of street fairs. Avenues and streets closed one or both days of the weekend with many of the same vendors showing up week after week. Some are different like the Ninth Avenue International Food Festival which has a lot of local vendors, and sometimes there's just something special in the middle of a regular fair, like today's Taste of Jewish Culture put on by The Workmen's Circle.

We were really excited about the vendor list as there were some great places lined up, and one place we knew we wanted to stop was Taim. We keep meaning to bike down to one of the shops, now that the truck doesn't stop by us anymore, but haven't found time this summer. Their truck was at the first corner we got to, so we immediately ordered a falafel sandwich to share.

Their special today was harissa falafel. I had never tried it before, but A had it once before. The harissa falafel is a little zestier and a little spicier than the regular green falafel, but just as delicious. We got it with everything, so they loaded on the vegetable toppings and the s'rug. We don't remember there being any pickles or amba (chutney sauce) though.

After taking a break in a public atrium with our falafel sandwich, we headed back out to the fair and checked out the other food options. The most interesting one was from Shelsky's, a Brooklyn smoked fish and appetizing shop. They were serving stuffed latke boats topped with your choice of either chopped liver or smoked whitefish salad. They both sounded delicious.

We opted for the potato latke topped with smoked whitefish salad and sriracha. This was so good, and we quickly wished we had opted for the 2 stuffed latke boat deal (saving $1) so we could have tried the other variation. The latke had soft creamy potato inside and the fried exterior was just crispy. The whitefish salad was fantastic, and it's clear why Shelsky's is known for their fish. The salad wasn't fishy at all. It just delivered great smoked fish flavor mixed with some vegetables like celery. The bit of sriracha on top gave it a good bit of tangy spice. This was a really delicious treat.

Instead of going back for another latke boat, we stopped by Baz, which has a restaurant located in the Little Italy area. They opened earlier this year and we were excited to try the food since the sample plates on the table looked good.

We opted for the sampler of bagel bites so we could try as much as possible. Each sampler came with three mini bagel halves (it looked like plain, poppy and pumpernickel), and they were topped with nova and onion, cream cheese and cucumber, and egg salad and tomato. The bagels were pretty good, a little chewy, and the toppings were tasty. Our favorite was the nova, followed by cream cheese, and finally the egg salad. It was a little pricey though, for 3 mini bagel halves (much like their regular restaurant menu).

One great part of the fair was that, while we ate our tasty lunch treats, they had performances from various musical groups on stage. The music was fun. 

Overall, our visit to the cultural fair was good. We were hoping to get a bialy but they weren't selling them solo, only in packs of 6. That was disappointing. We didn't go to the food fair to shop for food, just to eat lunch. But we had some really tasty treats, especially our favorite falafel sandwich and that delicious latke boat.

Breakfast at Newark

We left home at the absurd time of 4:45 am to travel to Newark Airport in time for our morning flight to Portland, Oregon. Since it was so early in the morning, there were few trains running, and our only options were to get to the airport with a little over two hours or barely one hour to spare. We're trying to change our bad habits of getting to the airport late, so we got there really early and decided to have breakfast.

For breakfast at the airport, M would normally go for non-breakfast foods like hot dogs or sandwiches, but this time, she needed something starchy to cushion a painkiller and went for a relatively boring toasted plain bagel with plain Philadelphia cream cheese. Everywhere in our part of Terminal C seemed to offer bagels and cream cheese for the same price, so she went to the one which looked like it had the most patrons and therefore the best turnover.

The bagel was fine but nothing special. There weren't a lot of options for the types of bagels or cream cheese like you would get in a regular bagel shop, but it served its purpose for breakfast.

A went to the best option in our part of Terminal C - Smashburger - to grab breakfast.

All morning A had been smelling and craving bacon, but when it came time for him to order he ended up switching gears and getting a Taylor Ham, egg, and cheese sandwich. The sandwich itself was tasty if a bit heavy. The ham is apparently something special in NJ, but A thought it just tasted like deli ham. The fried egg and cheese were tasty, and the sandwich was really filling. In the end, though, A had buyer's remorse as he still wanted some bacon.

Unfortunately, both our bagel and breakfast sandwich were pretty filling, so we didn't eat the sandwiches we brought from home to eat on our flight and they went to waste. We probably should have just eaten those for our breakfast, but with the smell of ham and bacon pervading the terminal food court area (which was right next to our gate), breakfast foods were on our mind. Next stop: PDX!

Milk n' Honey

The next stop on my block by block challenge was Milk n' Honey. On the block, you hit that before Karam, but since I went on a Friday and they were already closing for the weekend, I skipped that last time and knew I had to go back. Knowing it was next up, I was, however, having some trouble figuring out what I would get there. Milk n' Honey has a lot of the same things as the other generic midtown delis that I don't frequent very often - breakfast, sandwiches, make your own salad bar, pizza, sushi, etc - except that it's a kosher (dairy) place. Their prices are also higher than most generic midtown delis (I'm guessing this is because they're kosher and that either increases expense or pushes price up because there is less competition).


One thing I did notice is that they had "handrolled bagels" (which seemed to get good reviews) and those were only $1.25 (same price or cheaper than a lot of the generic delis). This morning, I got an early start (and did not eat an appropriately larger breakfast) so it seemed like a good day for a mid-morning snack/second breakfast bagel. I went for a toasted onion bagel (with no cream cheese or toppings, since I know I'm having Italian food for lunch in a few hours).

Handrolled bagel
Look at all those yummy onions!
Thumbs up! My first impression was that the bagel was a nice size and very generously covered with onions on BOTH sides. Usually onion bagels will have less onions on the bottom but this was like having two top halves in one bagel (unless they "messed up" and gave me 2 top halves, which I would not complain about). The bagel was soft and doughy on the inside and the outside was chewy and crispy, all like a good bagel should be. I don't know if I would go back for sandwiches or salads (since they still seem too expensive to me unless I used the groupon or google offer there), but I would definitely go back for a bagel (and maybe next time with cream cheese or fish)!