Kossars Bialys

• You’ve met the New York bagel, probably become close friends. We’d like to introduce you to its more reclusive but equally loveable cousin, the bialy.
• Let’s clear this up right off the bat: What’s a bialy?
  • It’s a flat roll, with an indentation in the middle rather than a hole. Traditionally it’s sprinkled sparingly with finely chopped onions that caramelize during baking.
• Why’s it called a bialy?
  • Bialys originated in Bialystok, Poland.
• When Morris Kossar opened his bialy bakery on nearby Clinton Street in 1936, there were so many bialy bakers in New York that they formed a union called the Bialy Bakers Association.
• In fact, rumor has it that the Bialy union was behind a suspicious mid-century explosion at Kossar’s original location, which led the shop to move to its current digs on Grand Street. Here’s what went down:
  • Around 6:30am on Feb. 19, 1958, an explosion wrecked Kossar’s plate-glass windows, and blew the bakery’s iron basement door wide open.
  • The police traced the blast to a 50-foot wire in the bakery’s basement that was connected to a 9-volt battery two doors down at 141 Clinton.
  • Why? Well, nobody can prove that the Bialy union blasted Kossar’s, but let it be stated for the record that Kossar had recently abandoned the Bialy Bakers Association and joined the Local 3 of the Bakery and Confectionery Workers Union.
  • So, all that to say, Kossar’s moved to 367 Grand in the early 60s.
• Today, Kossar’s still turns out bialys from the same storefront. It’s the oldest bialy bakery in the US, but it’s no longer run by anyone named Kossar.
  • Kossar’s passed from family ownership in 1998 and was most recently renovated in 2016.
• The bialy recipe is the same, but the menu’s different.
  • Today at Kossar’s you can get everything from the classic onion bialy to the sundried tomato bialy (also fish, baked goods, etc.)
• It’s also the first time that bagels are billed before bialys at Kossar’s.
• The shop is now called – gasp! – “Kossar’s Bagels and Bialys.”  Is this as explosive as the situation in 1958?? We think so.
• Regardless of the name change, we still still think the bialys are great as do the location scouts of Showtime, as they recently featured Kossar’s in an episode of Billions.

By: Lucie Levine