By Gus Saltonstall
It is a week that will live in Upper West Side infamy.
While the permanent closure of Absolute Bagels is still not confirmed by owner Sam Thongkrieng (who has not returned phone messages from West Side Rag or other media), all signs and conversations point to it being the end of the bagel institution, at least in its long-standing venue.
On Thursday, the broker who first arranged rental of the space to Thongkrieng 30 years ago told the Rag that the closure was permanent and the space would be put up for a new tenant — hopefully, one who sells bagels. And on Friday morning, employees continued moving equipment out of the store as bereft would-be customers looked on.
The reaction to the shuttering scoop has been seismic. People appear heartbroken, flabbergasted, astonished — and maybe a bit hyperbolic.
As one West Side Rag commenter wrote, “if true, this is the biggest (and most tragic) West Side Rag story of the century.”
“This is possibly more upsetting than the election results,” wrote another. “[W]orse than the Notre Dame burning,” said a third commenter, while Michael Barbaro, host of The Daily podcast from the New York Times, wrote jokingly on X, “Tomorrow’s Daily: Are Bagels Over in NYC?”
Here’s what the Times wrote in their own coverage of the Absolute Bagels closure.
“And lo did a cry of anguish rise from a stretch of Broadway between West 107th and 108th. It spread quickly to West Side Rag, the local news site that broke the bombshell news on Thursday morning, and then downtown, on to Brooklyn, to New Jersey, and to bagel lovers everywhere.”
Earlier, we reported the news. Now, we will grieve with you, and share more of the comments that have flooded in.
Many people chose to simply express their emotions.
“So sad,” Tim commented, expressing a common hope that “someone reopens a bagel store.”
“Devastating,” multiple people wrote.
“Nooooooooo!!!!! No no no no no no no no no no no!!” Joe wrote.
“This is like a death,” said a commenter, while another’s reaction to the news was: “Just fell to my knees.”
And this: “Noooo (I can’t even eat there due to Celiac Disease, but it was so good when I could.”
Others claimed even more intense reactions.
“This is the worst day of my life,” Dan commented, while Brad wrote, “This simply can’t be true, and if it is, we need to step in and stop it, otherwise I will leave the neighborhood.”
Some called for political intervention: “Joe Biden do something about this,” and “NYC Mayor, I don’t go to Absolute Bagels because it’s the cleanest establishment in NYC … I go because it’s the best damn bagel in the five boroughs. #PardonAbsoluteBagels.”
And there were attempts at humor in the expressions of sadness.
“May it rest in cream cheese,” wrote Eric. Another reader focused on other recent events: “Forget the United Health Care Killer. This is important!” justcurious wrote.
Could the closure have something to do with the student protests at Columbia University? One commenter thought so: “This was likely an unintended consequence of the student uprisings at Columbia. A vacuum has now been created between West 107th and 108th streets.”
Different West Side Rag readers looked to connect the closure to the temporary change in line direction at Absolute Bagels following the closure last spring of the Garden of Eden grocery store next door.
“What about the line? Did no one think of the line? Oh the humanity!” swtcurran commented on the Rag article, while Nadnerb wrote, “They just had to tempt fate and change the line direction didn’t they??? I KNEW nothing good would come of that.”
The Rag checked back in with Absolute Bagels regular Gabriel Kramer-Garcia on Friday, who expressed his worry earlier in the year that the change in line direction would cause people outside to block customers moving in a clockwise direction within the business.
“That’s unfortunately what possibly took Absolute Bagels down,” Kramer-Garcia told the Rag. “I hate to say I told you so.”
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Certainly there is an UWS resident who loves bagels and knows how to overcome health code violations that can assist this small business?! This seems like a solvable problem. Please help Absolute re-open!!
Get over it!
Agree Joey
Those some some pretty awful health violations. Absolute needed the pied piper!
Longtime nearby resident here – Absolute Bagels had prior health code violations besides these most recent ones; as recently as last month I observed a bug crawling among the Everything bagels ( I immediately pointed this out to the gentleman picking bagels out for me but he didn’t seem to understand English, although possibly he was pointedly ignoring me). Personally I much preferred Lenny’s at 98th and Broadway (or was it 97th?) I preferred the texture and density of Lenny’s bagels (they weren’t rolled) and I was always thankful they stayed open throughout the pandemic shut down. Too bad they didn’t have a social media marketer on their staff, or maybe they’d be open today!
Try Orwasher’s or Zabar’s — or even Kossar’s.
What does having a social media marketer have to do with health code violations?!?!?!
Agree about Lenny’s! They were, imo, the best bagels I’ve ever tasted.
The UWS is now a bagel desert. The bagel, an institution to the identity of NYC no longer exits. There is nothing in the area that comes close to Absolute Bagels. A sad commentary to the lack of choices in the neighborhood. Why?
And Kossar Bagels…
So, open a bagel shop, Jeff. You’ll quickly learn how hard it is!
Broadway Bagels is solid…
As are Bagel&Co. and Bagel Talk.
It was closed by the Dept of Health on Dec 11.
https://a816-health.nyc.gov/ABCEatsRestaurants/?ref=hellgatenyc.com#!/Search/40392339
With all those violations over the years lucky you all didn’t get sick
just go to pop up bagels, make sure you mortgage your apartment first though, $97 for 3 bagels but free cream cheese!!
Live Rats & Roaches. The only thing “like a death” would be you in two weeks after the rat poison and droppings they found everywhere makes your organs stop functioning.
who cares, just go to dunkin donuts, enough with this UWS snob attitude, its not like we are in Paris with actual good bread anyway
Mystery solved. Huge shout out to WSR poster who gave reason why Absolute Bagels abruptly closed.
Quite simply NYC DOH shut place down as it was a serious health hazard.
1) Evidence of rats or live rats in establishment’s food or non-food areas.
2) Live roaches in facility’s food or non-food area.
3) Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
4) Cold TCS food item held above 41 °F; smoked or processed fish held above 38 °F; intact raw eggs held above 45 °F; or reduced oxygen packaged (ROP) TCS foods held above required temperatures except during active necessary preparation.
5) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan.
6) Pesticide not properly labeled or used by unlicensed individual. Pesticide, other toxic chemical improperly used/stored. Unprotected, unlocked bait station used.
7) Non-food contact surface or equipment made of unacceptable material, not kept clean, or not properly sealed, raised, spaced or movable to allow accessibility for cleaning on all sides, above and underneath the unit.
8) Anti-siphonage or back-flow prevention device not provided where required; equipment or floor not properly drained; sewage disposal system in disrepair or not functioning properly. Condensation or liquid waste improperly disposed of.
9) Establishment is not free of harborage or conditions conducive to rodents, insects or other pests.
Business Information
Closed
Name: ABSOLUTE BAGELS
Address: 2788 BROADWAY
Manhattan 10025
Food Type: Bagels/Pretzels
Permit Number: 40392339
Inspections
Inspection Date Result Points
December 11, 2024 Violations Issued 67
August 6, 2024 Violations Issued 26
April 2, 2024 Violations Issued 29
February 16, 2023 Violations Issued 13
February 7, 2023 Violations Issued 40
September 16, 2022 Violations Issued 27
July 6, 2022 Violations Issued 26
January 31, 2022
Maybe that’s why they were so good. Actually it is quite stunning to read this..The floors were never swept and the tables never cleaned. It’s a lot of work running a restaurant and so much depends on the employees.
Ooof, I only went in once and thought it looked gross in there.
This place could have made people very sick.
The lemmings lined up to feast on rodent droppings and roaches for a mediocre bagel and now bemoan it’s closing. Good riddance.
In both commercial and residential rental situations there is often only so much a tenant can do to control vermin issues. This especially true for rodents….
As with a residential apartment store owner can seal up holes, get rid of harborage issues, etc.. But rodents likely will still remain in basements and walls.
What needs to be done is a property wide rodent proofing and extermination. This would involve going into all levels of cellars to seal holes and other potential entry points and so on.
Simple fact of matter is rodents are everywhere underground in NYC. If they find or know there is food, nesting site and other favorable conditions unless actively kept out rats or mice will sooner or later return even after “extermination”.
It’s not been a very good year for NYC bagel places vis-à-vis NYC DOH closures.
H&H on UES was shut down earlier this year over health violations including rodents. IIRC one or more bagel places on UWS also were cited for same this year as well.
NY Post reported the _devastating_ DOH writeup:
https://nypost.com/2024/12/13/us-news/crowds-mourn-upper-west-side-favorite-absolute-bagels/
Not quite cataclysmic but what a shame and a shock. I hope this is not the end for Absolute Bagels (just recently ranked among the best bagel places in NYC by the Times, Eater New York, and others).
Oh and a word of thanks to the Rag’s Gus Saltonstall, who broke this story–as acknowledged by The New York Times today!👏
Not so long ago Emerald Inn was closed for health violations and everyone was trashing them in this forum. I can’t believe the obsession with bagels and this place in particular. I know someone posted in the previous thread that they represent NYC…but really?
There is never a good excuse for not operating a food establishment according to NYC DOH regulations which exist for good reasons. Businesses that violate them should be trashed.
The violations for these two places aren’t even comparable, plus Emerald Inn did comply at great expense and they’re still in business. There was absolutely no need to trash someone who was doing his best to keep the place up and running when his father was no longer able to do so.
Older generations stop being able to run businesses of all kinds. That doesn’t mean that those who try to keep them going should be cut any slack, especially if they’re food establishments and people’s health is at stake. Emerald tried taking shortcuts by asking friends to help clean up when they had no knowledge or experience in DOH requirements. OTOH Bagel Talk cleaned up the right way and has a plan to improve over what it’s already done to remain open and viable.
I will miss them. Always happy.
That place was disgusting! Most of these old stores you gotta be very careful, I’d rather not buy anything in most of the old stores on the UWS & UES. Close them all up!
This means the entire building needs pest control.
Nussbaum + Wu, this is your time!!
I always felt that Absolut bagels were overrated, but they were the “last man standing” so the lemmings of the UWS with time on their hands lined up for so-so bagels. There will probably be more to the story what with the all-cash, no website, rat infestation issues, and the no response from the owners (have they left the country?) H and H at 80th and BW closed suddenly like this with big tax problems…good riddance
I went tnere once after reading about it. I was not impressed . Glad I never went back. I buy my own bagels at Whole Foods, my lox and lite cream cheese at Trader Joe and make my own. I also grind and brew my own coffee in the morning.
To me it is till doesn’t make sense. Why closing for H&S violations? Had bad was it that they can’t just fix the problems? Also, how it is possible that none wants to buy the business? Employees know their job, the brand is more than established, why not selling the business if – like someone said – the owner wants to retire?
Closing for good and goodbyes not make sense…
Did you not read the laundry list of health code violations?!
You wanna know what’s sad? That the owners of the years-long literal shitshow known as Absolute Bagels didn’t respect his customers enough to run a safe, clean, healthy establishment.
So Bagel Talk was closed by the Health Department for numerous health violations (since reopened) and Absolute Bagel was closed by the Health Department for numerous health violations and all the Upper West Side Instagrammers hair is on fire! Am I missing something here????
Absolute has a long history of health violations going back years.
After reading some of the details of health dept. report, I would hate to think what was stuck to the outside of an everything bagel. I had a bagel there once to see what all the excitement was about. It was good, but life will go on.
Congratulations, Gus S., on your scoop. (Of cream cheese?) You beat both the Times and the Post on this world-shaking story.
Please. This is a first world problem. We got through H&H’s disaster okay. Go to Zabar’s and wait for a fresh batch to come out of the oven.
Actually I’m still mourning the demise of H&H…
Their popularity was always a mystery to me. Tasteless bagels, as are most on the UWS. It’s hard to get a NY bagel in NYC.
Can we please stop with the “save Aboslute Bagels” rhetoric? These are major health code violations and can’t be solved with simply putting down a handful of rat traps or spraying for roaches!
While I understand and appreciate the nostalgia involved, these issues put the customers’ health in jeopardy.
As a native New Yorker even I have trouble understanding the lamentations over the closure of a business that has allowed for an infestation of rats to occur. Frankly it’s pretty gross and hopefully a business that rule cares for its customers and their health will replace this. Kudos to the Health Department for shutting it down.
I lived on W107th between Amsterday and Broadway from 1972-1992 before moving to Harlem. I always thought, this will be my retirement location; a home away from home. I will sit in the morning at one of their small tables with my NYT before starting my retirement day.
I was amused when I returned to the UWS in 2018 at the lines of, mainly young people socializing on line in anticipation of buying a bagel with a schmer. It seemed to be the first stop of the weekend for hundreds of people. So, yes, I am in shocked that an era has ended, includiing the the Garden of Eden’s closing as a result of a huge increase in rents.
Our student populatin and folks who can afford million dollar co-ops has changed the UWS. Our mom & pop stores are gone. People need a watering hole to schmooze and congregate without spending a fortune. The pandemic and privatizing of our curb space with for-profit Lyft owned citibikes has further eliminated middleclass families, artists and those who made up the diverse fabric of the UWS.
Sad.
The NIMBYs fighting any new construction for decades have driven rents sky high. Sad.
Before this it was Columbia Bagels or H& Bagels that closed and the UWS community was in “outrage” (insert eyeroll here). I agree with “get over it” because there will be something else that will replace this. Whether its new or rediscovered. At the end of the day its a NYC bagel shop, there will be something new in a couple of weeks.
Any food business with such serious health violations doesn’t deserve to operate. The owner had a total disregard for his customers though many of them remain loyal to him in spite of the fact that they now know they have been purchasing food in a filthy establishment. There are other bagels on the UWS where the managers respect the law and health of their customers.
It was a gluten gulag.
I pity any bagel establishment that moves into the space. They will be in for a very rough time of it!
GROSS!!! Live rats?! This has prompted me to look up the Dept of Health scoring on all the other places I buy fresh food. So far, every place else seems to be in compliance. If there were previous violation it seems it was leaving eggs out at room temp. But no place had freaking live rats and multiple vermin violations noted. Sorry but looking at the long wrap sheet of violations for Absolute this place it seems they were absolutely EXTREME in their filthiness. Good riddance.
Plenty of other good bagel places: Tal and Broad Nosh being the closest substitutes.
I think this whole health department thing is just a schmear.
Someone listed them on eBay!!
It’s a BAGEL, not the end of the world. Get over it. Plenty of other bagel emporiums. The owner obviously did not give a rat’s a– for the code violations, with insects crawling over the bagels on display.
Truth be told, they had okay bagels at best. I think people lined up there because that was one of the only few bagel places in the area.
@Maxine DeSeta. Garden of Eden did not close because of high rents. Quite the reverse. The landlord worked with them for years trying to work out a deal that would keep them afloat.
Who ever owns the real estate between 103 to 108 is way too greedy! Guess what, now they are earning NOTHING because no one can afford to have a business there. All empty store fronts. Their greed has screwed the entire neighborhood as well as the small business owners who worked so hard to make the area special. So disappointing 😞
Can there be no discussion without the “real estate owner” boogeyman? Absolute closed because they failed repeated health inspections and decided to quit. There is lots of great stuff on that stretch.
On Wednesday night they gave me a bag of raisin bagels. I have 5 in my freezer. Feeling very lucky!
Those were the bagels next to the dead rats?
Frozen rat poop raisin bagels, yum!! Dude, throw the tainted bagels away, nothing is worth deliberately eating cockroaches and rat feces over.
I dissent. There are lots of reasonably good bagels, and it appears that, if anything was “catastrophic”, it was the sanitary conditions.
The owner would rather shut down the business than clean up his store. He said we keep the rats with the roaches or we all go down. He choose to go down. Sad.
H&H was filthy also.
This may sound crazy but rodents can make food taste better
Gary’ Whole Foods is closed?
Go to broadway bagels on 100th and broadway. way better bagels, a lot cleaner, and the line moves fast. i never got the hype of absolute bagels. you wait in line for a mediocre, at best, bagel and you HAVE to pay in cash??? crazy lol all that hype because of a few new york times articles. you will experience a way better bagel once you try broadway bagels. they deserve your business and are CLEAN. lol
Born and raised in the neighborhood and I still don’t understand what the hoopla is with Absolute. The place was dingy and the Health codes violations were visible to anyone with sight. There was ABSOLUTEly nothing appetizing about this place and the visible filth in it. If they return I hope someone helps them renovate the place and clean up the mess.
Don’t know why people are sitting shiva for this place, by all accounts it was a filthy vermin infested shop were owner and or staff couldn’t even be bothered to dispose of trapped dead rats.
Over years Absolute Bagels had several other issues with DOH involving vermin and other violations. This recent event was thus not their first time at rodeo.
“Among the violations found were rat droppings in the food prep, storage and service areas; sugar packets gnawed by rats; dead rodents found on glue traps; live roaches; and smoked salmon contaminated by condensate wastewater dripping onto food in the display case.”
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/manhattan/nyc-absolute-bagels-closes-rat-feces-roaches-dead-rodents-violations/6068776/
This is a place people cannot live without? What is this? Hester Street in 1910?