Monday, January 6, 2024
Cloudy. High 35 degrees.
Temperatures will be chilly this week, with most days sitting between 20 and 37 degrees. It is still unclear if New York City will get any snow, but there is a possibility of snowfall on both Monday and Saturday.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
Tuesday is Orthodox Christmas Day. Thursday is the national day of mourning for former President Jimmy Carter. Friday is Asarah B’Tevet.
Congestion Pricing began on Sunday.
Upper West Side News
By Gus Saltonstall
On the topic of snow, the New York City Department of Sanitation has issued a Winter Operations Advisory that begins on Monday at 6 a.m. and will continue until midnight.
Current forecasts indicate that the city is likely to receive less than an inch of snow on Monday, but a “very small change to the track of this storm would bring up to four inches of snow to NYC.”
This means that the city is pre-treating roadways and bike lanes with brine on Sunday.
“Whatever amount of snow we get, one thing’s for certain: it’s going to be incredibly cold,” Mayor Eric Adams wrote about the incoming cold front and possible storm. “Dress in layers when you’re outdoors, and call 311 if you see anyone in need of shelter. Our Code Blue will be in place over the next few days to get more of our vulnerable brothers and sisters off the streets and inside.”
A bagel guillotine might be an unfamiliar term to some, but Zabar’s rendition of the lesser known home good got some attention on social media this week after one X user posted a photo of their product.
Those who have sliced a bagel will know that it is not always the smoothest operation when using a knife, especially if the bagel isn’t toasted. It also opens up the possibility of accidentally cutting yourself as you slice through the bagel in a circular motion.
Here’s how Zabar’s describes the gadget.
“So this is a highly specialized kitchen gadget that, since 1994, has done one thing very, very well. Apparently, a couple of thousand people injure their hands every year in BRI’s (Bagel Related Injuries),” Zabar’s wrote on its website. “Stable base section self-centers the bagel while the pointed stainless steel blade first pierces and then slices the bagel in half as you simply push down. Clear view protective finger guards safely isolate fingers from slicing action.”
We’d like to know how many West Side Rag readers have a bagel guillotine at home.
In November, West Side Rag reported on a tiny fire hydrant we found on the lawn adjacent to Sheep Meadow in Central Park. It turns out that the tiny Central Park fire hydrant, which seems ripe for some sort of animated movie storyline, has a partner fire hydrant of the same size on the east side of the park.
This fire hydrant is located near Wollman Rink, and appears even smaller with the backdrop of the Central Park South towers.
One commenter suggested the small fire hydrant near Sheep Meadow was a nod to “vertically challenged pooches.”
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Unlike many Orthodox Christian communities, the Greek Orthodox celebrate Christmas on December 25.
I own a Zabar’s bagel guillotine. It’s great except when I order bagels from a place the makes them extra thick. Then they don’t fit into the guillotine.
Have had one since the 90’s (not sure why Zabar’s claims them?). Agree that thicker ones are a bit more difficult. If I’m slicing one or two bagels, I’ll use a serrated knife primarily because the guillotine is a bit of a pain to clean properly. Otherwise, they’re the best!
Same. Had one for years (since even before Zabar’s characteristically claimed credit for it). It’s stuck at the back of a shelf — the way bagels are being made these days, they are nearly always too fat to fit into the guillotine.
That said, fat bagels tend to be easier, and therefore safer, to cut with a knife since they are easier to grasp. YMMV, of course, so always make your own judgment about kitchen knife safety.
I also have a non-Zabars bagel guillotine – in the back of a shelf somewhere. Only used it a few times and then retired it. I find a serrated knife works just as well….
You’ll start using it again once you cut yourself with that serrated knife.
I avoid more accidents by not having a lot of clutter on the kitchen counter than using a knife, serrated or not. Less is more.
Not if you know how to use a kitchen knife.
Greek Orthodox Christmas is celebrated tomorrow, January 7
That’s true for many national Orthodox groups, but for Greek Orthodox it was December 25.
Happy first weekday of congestion pricing! Based on my admittedly small sample size walking through midtown it already seems marginally less packed. If only the original $15 toll had stuck it might be having even more of an impact.
UWS Dad,
As the priority must be mass transit bus and subway, City DOT needs to end Open Streets on avenues (such as Amsterdam & Columbus) with buses and which force bus detours and lack of access to essential bus transit.
Glad we agree that mass transit should be prioritized over personal vehicles, sounds like you must be a big supporter of congestion pricing as well.
But…what’s the impact on the UWS, which is outside of the area? Concerned it will make things MORE congested up here.
Again, its early days but the UWS looked less congested than usual as well. I even walked past a bunch of open parking spots on Columbus.
Which shouldn’t be too surprising because the idea that someone is going to drive in, look for parking on the UWS, and then take the subway downtown and back to save $3 (after 2x subway fares) is a bit farfetched.
Maybe … just maybe … the appearance of less congestion today has something (just something?) to do with the fact that air temperatures today are sub-freezing and it’s snowing?
Just a little bit? Maybe??
Same thing again today, I don’t know about you but at my work we don’t take days off for cold weather or snow.
I bought a bagel guillotine when I had shoulder surgery, thinking it would allow me to slice bagels with one arm. I had limited success. If the bagels are fresh, the blade tends to squash them too much. Plus, it was hard to get the sliced bagel out of the contraption. I haven’t used it since regaining dual-arm capability. Bread knives are much more effective.
I’d love a bagel guillotine but I like to cut my bagels in thirds. More room for the cream cheese and lox!
More than 70 years of bagel slicing experience without a single casualty. Don’t need no bagel guillotine. (Could not survive without Zabar’s sable, however.)
Best comments ever! (when I posted, the count was 12)
I was gonna buy one of those bagel slicers, but Zabars didn’t have an unbranded one.
Dakota gingerbread house wins at the Museum of the City of NY. https://nypost.com/2025/01/06/us-news/julia-kiskie-wins-great-borough-bake-off-crown-for-dakota-creation/
Have had a bagel g. for many years…without the Zabar’s logo. They seem to give the impression that they invented it which they certainly did not.
Well, give credit where credit is due: Zabar’s *did* invent the bagel, as well as lox.
Didn’t they?
And Zabar’s still have the best food on the UWS! Decent prices and everything you need right there!
We have a bagel guillotine!
I have never owned a guillotine but back when I worked at Riverside Church, they had a cafeteria in the basement and I would buy lunch there. They had a guillotine for their bagels and it was one of the funniest parts of the day. Plus. You could kind of get an ab workout, pushing down on the guillotine.
I still have a scar from the five stitches I received following a bagel injury thirty years ago. When that happened, someone bought me the predecessor of the guillotine, a holder with a slot for the knife. NY bagels never fit in these contraptions so I don’t have one. Instead, I watched the pros at the bagel shops and learned to slice bagels flat with a bread knife held parallel to my hand. Works like a dream.
I had one of those box bagel holders things with the knife slot too! It was wooden and easy to clean but just as you said, the increasing girth of the bagels forced me to pass it on to another household years ago…now if someone could just invent an adjustable one of that type- with bonus points if it could come apart for easiest cleanup!
Beautiful photo of the SEA LION (not seal) exhibit at the Central Park Zoo
Of course I have one! But – to be fair – think I brought it with me when I moved to NY in 1991 – probably got it at Ashkenaz – that iconic Chicago deli –
I used to have a bagel guillotine – not sure why i don’t know, hate cutting bagels!!!! Thanks for reminding me i need to get one!
1. I’ve had Zabar’s bagel-cutting gadget for about 25 years and it’s definitely worth it – no matter what they charge for it. It’s probably the reason I still have 10 intact fingers.
2. There’s also an abandoned lovely little fire hydrant near 5th Avenue in the high 80s or low 90s. In the nice weather, it’s in the midst of a sea of overgrown grass, and is painted aqua on top, with distressed coral-orange paint on the bottom. It’s almost lifelike. I don’t see your software permits the attachment of a photo.
The Sharper Image (RIP) sold bagel guillotines nationwide as far back as the early 1990s, but theirs wasn’t branded with a logo.
Ours is a Sharper Image bagel guillotine as well. Man, I miss that store.
I thought it was a cute idea to buy a bagel guillotine …. but I don’t buy that many bagels to do that and some bagels don’t fit into the guillotine when I was looking at them at Zabar’s.
As for giving it away as a present, it’s a hit or miss. You gotta be sure to the person you’re giving it to are into bagels.
I’ve seen these bagel guillotines for about 25 or 30 years and always thought they were for the non-New Yorker, non-bagel-eating-public at large for whom slicing a bagel at home might be a novelty. In my home, growing up, bagels were an everyday staple. Not a novelty item. Not a Sunday-only foodstuff. Breakfast before school or a snack after school, with butter or margarine or cream cheese or peanut butter and jelly, with or without fish. But that was the family I grew up in, the food we were served handed down from the previous generation.
I think it’s a gimmick. I don’t know any respectable Jewish family from anywhere on the east coast where they don’t just slice it with a large bread knife, cuts or no cuts.
I own a bagel guillotine (not Zabar’s branded) from the ‘90s. Use it mostly in high volume slicing situations.
My sister discovered the bagel guillotine decades ago and also bought one for my parents. I think it was the first thing someone grabbed when they passed away.
A cutting tool to avoid a BRIs, eh?