Growing up in a Jewish neighborhood, I always felt that Desi and Jewish culture were similar. Unlike WASPs, we’re big into food, we have warm but meddlesome families, and we love to argue. So I was tickled brown to see a recent report of a desi bagel and bialy store owner named Ravi Agarwal who opened his third store in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He seems to make a pretty mean bagel, and his bialys are even better.
And no, it’s not a shanda for brown (non-Jews) to make Jewish food. Earlier we wrote about how a desi is the source for the perfect egg cream. And although it’s a different shade of brown, New York’s most famous bagel store, H&H Bagels, was founded by brothers-in-law Helmer Toro and Hector Hernandez.
My favorite aspect of this story — as reported by the Grey Lady — is that Agarwal’s ethnicity is never alluded to at all. It’s simply about how he, as a businessman from outside the neighborhood, goofed up in naming his bagel shop “Arena Bagels and Bialys”:
Mr. Aggarwal’s two teenage children had suggested the name after reading online about the planned new home of the New Jersey Nets. He thought it was a smart idea; the shop is in Park Slope, a few blocks from the site of the proposed Barclays Center arena, part of the [controversial] Atlantic Yards development…Soon, however, workers in the space began noticing negative reactions from passers-by… A few people even entered the shop to complain. And then a few more. In all, Mr. Aggarwal said, 20 or 25 unhappy people trooped in.
Mr. Aggarwal… quickly figured out that a word that is innocuous in Queens — he lives in Forest Hills, near one of his other two bagel shops — may be anything but innocuous in Brooklyn. [Link]
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p>The problem was that many locals oppose the Atlantic Yards project, including the Arena, and so they pressured the shop as their way of voicing dissatisfaction with the development plan.
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p>In this case Aggarwal screwed up because he’s an ousider, but by outsider the journalist means a businessman from Queens rather than an immigrant, a brown-man, or even a non-Jew. It’s just good local reporting.
[The original story in The Brooklyn Paper does mention that he’s an imigrant from Punjab, but only in the context of saying that he was a hard working man who worked his way up from dishwasher only to have his business get caught in a local battle over the stadium.]
Fun story. But I had to click to the Grey Lady to get the shop’s name.
As the Onion might like to say… “Area Bagel Shop loxed down by residents”.
Thanks – changing the story to provide more context.
It took me awhile to realize that it was the “Arena” part of it that was pissing people off — not something ethno-religious w/Bagels or Bialys. I was worried for a minute this might be another replay of the “Nazi” pizza place in Bandra (Mumbai) that Manish had blogged about a few months ago…
My suggestions for a title:
Bagel Bialy Bhai-Bhai Bagels and Bialys Balle Balle Apna Bagels Bagel Bagicha
On a similar note, I’ve seen several bagels shops in various parts of New Jersey that are run by Egyptians. (And yes, the bagels were very good.)
Amardeep, You may have inadvertently dissed Bandra snobs. Hitler’s Cross was at Kharghar, Navi Mumbai.
Other possible title: “Almost Bye Bye for the Bagel Bhai!”
This store is pretty close to my place, though I get my bagels elsewhere, closer to work. To explain the “Arena” to those not in NYC, many are against the Atlantic Yards project (part of which is a pro basketball arena) because of the way the politicians have handled the land grab, the new skyscrapers being planned, the change in economic and racial demographics that will ensue, the increased traffic, and the people who have been displaced because of eminent domain litigation.
Mr. Aggarwal (Ennis, the Brooklyn Paper writes his name with two g’s, not one) showed a great deal of ignorance by not assessing the feelings of the neighborhood towards the AY project. My two cents.
What’s a Bialy? And how do you pronounce it?
Thanks,
Ignorant desi from the boondocks
bee-yaa-lee
i don’t know how to decribe it – sort of like a chewy pita, but with the taste of a bagel? and it can have the flavours of bagels – e.g. onion, poppy, etc – but in most places the flavours are kept to the basic ones.
Shodhan,
Thanks. I was eating lunch as I read Amardeep’s comments and actually choked 🙂
Snobs or not – can’t see that happening in Bandra .In my schooldays, Navi Mumbai was not even considered Bombay .( ok, ok,snobs!)
Bialy description Bilay photo
ak, muchos gracias. I will have to try a bialy next time I’m in the city.
Thanks, Ennis. I’d like to open a place called “Bondas, bagels and bialys.”
My deepest apologies to all the BandraSnobs out there. I stand corrected!
(BTW Can one get bialys in Bandra yet? I smell a Business Idea!)
In his defense, a non-Mumbaikar can easily confuse Khar* w/ Kharghar. *almost Bandra, technically next station on Western Railway line.
Runa, Do I know you? Model Colony, Mumbai. Half my friends and family have identical resume.
Shodhan,
Its a small world .. you never know …Model colony itself is small enough that everyone knows everyone else.That’s why I am careful not to comment on threads like this one
🙂
There’s no degrees of separation at all. Bagels plus hitler reminds me of Max Bialystock.
If his shop is successful, Mr. Aggarwal will be opening up Gentrification and Rezoning Falafel down the street. I kid, I kid. He should get Coney Island native and do-gooder, “Starbury” to do a spot endorsing his wares. He might play for that other team but everybody loves a local boy done good.
The Hindooos are taking over 🙂 Move over Jews. Actually the best bakery in Forest Hills that makes the best hamentash pastries year round is Bonelle’s Pastry Shop owened by 2 Punjabi sisters who’ve ran this tiny but very successful business for the past 20 years. Their butter cookies are to die for. FH is very Jewish for those that don’t know hence Aggarwal’s other bagel shop which is on Continental Ave and very successful as well.
I once went to an Indian restaurant in Haifa, Israel, run by Jews from India–real Indian Jews whose families had lived in India for generations–I don’t remember if they were from Cochin, but they looked Indian, and also sort of Jewish. They were affable people, but the cuisine suffered in translation. Fortunately that doesn’t seem to be happening with the New York Indian bagel trade.
I actually have a very good friend who is Jewish from India from Mumbai and he happens to also be Maharashtrian. For all intents and purposes he is very Marathi and very Jewish. A fact that tickles me to no end 🙂
Please excuse me while I take this opportunty to indulge in some obvious, yet easily misunderstood irony:
A desi interpreting bagels?!??! Bagels are JEWISH. Respect Our Religion!!!1!!!! How would you Jew-hating desis like it if a Jew interpreted something of yours, like the Ramayana, huh? The the shoe would be on the other foot, wouldn’t it!! Oh ho but you wouldn’t be selling lox and schmeer on COMMUNION WAFERS or HALAL PITAS, no, but because bagels are JEWISH you think you can bake them and then sell them for money!! STEALING OUR CULTURE!!!because you think it’ll make you look ‘cool’!! ,and ‘interesting’!!!!!Well we Jews have taken enough of this anti-semitism! We’re the best victims ever, don’t even think you can rival us in that regard, WE SHALL DESTROY YOU WITH OUR SUPERIOR VICTIMHOOD!!!1!!
Irony continues:
Stay where you are, Nina. I’ll be right over with the camera. ;>)
Bagels plus hitler reminds me of Max Bialystock.
I was totally humming “Along Came Bialy” as I read the post. Damn you, Rahul…now I’ll never get that song outta my head.
i grew up in a jewish neighborhood. never once heard a racial slur. then i’d visit an indian friend who lived in an italian neighborhood. n-word this, n-word that…i was shocked. in college all my friends were wasps. i wasn’t aware of the differneces between them (they were all just “americans”–though i interestingly never thought of them as “white”–to me) until the two groups met at an nyc bar that happenned to be in a wasp part of town. all of a sudden, my jewish friends, who normally behaved like bill clinton at intern office party, were as limp as Ted Haggard at the playboy mansion.
so yeah, ennis is right…Desi and Jewish culture are similar.
In light of this discovery I wholeheartedly agree with:
AN ODE TO THE HINJEW You are cheap, so are we. You hate the Muslims, so do we You don’t believe in birth control, neither do we You got a country in 1948, we got it the year before You’ve got yarmulkes, we’ve got turbans You got mama’s boys, we got mama’s boys You call it a temple, as do we You are intelligent, so are we You have arranged marriages, so do we Your mothers are nagging yentas, so are ours You are rich, so are we Last but not least… You are very good looking, so are we!!
Now now don’t you all get your chuddies up in a bunch over this 🙂
Manju, You need a redhead gay to act as buffer between the Eyetailians and the Jews. {Link}
I got one of those forwards about Jewish moms some years ago and practically snorted coffee through my nose because there were so many “that’s a desi mom” moments. The one I remember most was “There’s a big controversy in Jewish tradition about when exactly life begins – for a Jewish mother a foetus isn’t viable till it graduates med school.”
seawhawks fan – de nada. i do recommend the flagel – an ingenius concept of a flat bagel. kind of like the muffintop version of bagels. i’m not sure they make them in many places – i’ve only had them at my local bagel place, whose motto, incidentally, is ‘you don’t have to be jewish to eat a bagel boss bagel.’ mazeltov.
please try to devise an ‘everything’ bonda for me when you open your place. and don’t go for any of those newfangled flavours. they would just take away from the bonda.
Unless you’re a very orthodox Jew and then your mother’s lovingly made ney appam and variety of sambol are nothing but polluted pellets prohibited by Kashrut.
Thanks, hema.
Your prayers were heard up above! Heaven sent you! Your Bialy!
you mean the redhead gay
It always amuses me to see Bombay frankie listed on desi restaurant menus. I mean, when did that go out of style in Bombay? Late Eighties, Sterling Cinema, Waiki fast food.?
… and I ended up with latkas instead of hash browns when making breakfast with a hangover.
Shodan,
The way India is going, can i guess the other half live in super model colony 😉
Everest Colony anybodies?
No Everest Colony in my urban metropolis of Jalandhar but yes we are proud to have the following: Model Town, Defence Colony and Urban Estate (the latter being really NRI-built monstroities (can’t spell) with little helicopter, turrets, viewing towers on pasturelands taken forcibly from the doodhwalas.
Dear Seahawk @ 13 BBB is common parlance in Bangalore for Bisi Bele Bhaath 😉
And don’t forget Bagel-a baath on your B-themed Brooklyn Beat.
Neale # 33,
Do you mean Waikiki fast food? Was there a branch near Breach Candy with the to-die -for Pav Bhaji?
So, if you’re in NYC, you obviously have to get your bialys at Kossar’s, which happens to be right around the corner from Bialystoker Synagogue.
Do you mean Waikiki fast food? Was there a branch near Breach Candy with the to-die -for Pav Bhaji
Runa,
I think there was a waikiki in breach candy, next to the clothing shop (Amar-something). they made incredible pav-bhaji, and had great pizza and burgers, indian-ishtyle. I am probably dating myself…its been a long time since I’ve been there!
Priya, Yep – Amarsons? – the Waikiki is long gone , I guess.
and there was a Waikiki ( maybe still is !) much smaller near Sterling. Also near Sterling a wonderful old Irani restaurant which had “privacy cubicles” on the upper floor with an electric bell where courting couples could decide when to summon the waiter 🙂 Alas ,I think it has given way to a Mc Donalds.
Sigh!
25 Manju “so yeah, ennis is right…Desi and Jewish culture are similar.”
As in “my son, the doctor,” or the quintessential arranged-marriage Jewish play, “The Fiddler on the Roof.” When the old couple finds out that their daughter has engaged in something new and peculiar called “love,” it makes them wonder if they have ever “loved” each other. What is love in an arranged marriage?
41 Runa: “Also near Sterling a wonderful old Irani restaurant which had “privacy cubicles” on the upper floor with an electric bell where courting couples could decide when to summon the waiter”
The privacy cubicles have now migrated to the internet cafes, which have been busted by the vice squad in many cities. On the references to Mumbai hangouts, this ex-Delhiite has the usual mainland envy to the oh-so-cool Bombaywallahs with their NYC west-of-the-Hudson-is-a-wasteland airs. I will be in Mumbai in a few weeks. Is Leopold worth a visit?
Desis have been involved in the bagel business for decades. This desi’s ad agency was in on the ground floor of bagel marketing back in the mid-eighties. When bagels started to move beyond the East Coast ethnic niche, bagel manufacturers, in order to widen the product’s usage, wisely reformulated it for sandwiches, which require a softer bagel that can be easily bitten into without shooting the meat and mayo off the sides. The original hard and chewy bagel, which is not common anymore, would not have found mass appeal. Downsizing the bagel was another fortunate move. Of course, the original size is back in vogue thanks to the popularity of the old-style bakeries.
Floridian, Name your cuisine and we can hook you up. Leopold is more of a historic landmark. Frequented by tourists and bewda advertising types. Not worth going out of your way.
Floridian,
Alas my recos will probably be out of date but a list of my past (South bombay) favorites : — Trishna /Mahesh Lunch home for seafood – Samovar – the cafe attached to Jehangir art gallery for artsy celeb spotting – The Irani restaurant in Ballard estate – cannot remember the name – for the biryani – Rasna the pub at Churchgate – Jazz by the Bay – Marine drive – Karims (sp?) for kababs at Gateway of India – the husband swears by this one
Shodhan, I have irretrievably dated myself – perhaps you have more current info.
Floridian, Samovar = Restaurant from Chhoti Si Baat. Runa, Your list is solid. Can’t go wrong w/ classics. P.S. My real fake name is Shodan. Not to be confused w/ Shodhan, 43 year old (apparently married) man looking for women (sic) for a friend.
Thanks for the tips Runa and Shodan. I love the city-never-sleeps character of Mumbai. Sometime in the late sixties, I was a young lad hanging out with friends in Mumbai and the locals took me to an all night street market called Khau Galli. I still remember what I ate that night – it was a masala dosa with a coconut water. I don’t know if my feeble NRI stomach can handle it anymore, but it sure would be fun to try.
Talking about old hang-outs…Does anyone know if McRonnells (sp?) in Bandra is still around? It was on Hill Road, I think, and my best friend’s dad would take us and our friends there for chicken sandwiches and chocolate cake. It was near my school, Carmel Convent. Anyway, just reminiscing.
Priya
IRani restaurant in Ballard Estate – are you referring to Britannia? I’ve preserved a napkin from there with a rooster on it and the slogan “there is no love greater than the love of eating” – words to live by!!!
Who remembers Kobe sizzlers, speaking of dating oneself?
Priya,
Do I know you? Ex -Carmelite here! Send me an email !!!
McRonnel’s was a favorite for 1)Lemon sponge cake 2) Pizza 3) chicken Rolls – I don’t know if its still open !
Oh, you took me down memory lane …..!!!
What a small world!
SP – yes ! Brittania !!! Yes, I remember Kobe – I am OLD
Runa,
I realised that you haven’t been to Bombay in a while because Jazz by the Bay is now “Not just Jazz by the bay“. 🙂