One of my favorite places to go in Raleigh is New York Bagels & Deli. It’s operated by real New Yorkers who use real New York bagel-making techniques – just about as authentic as it gets. They have just about every kind of bagel and bagel formation – everything from a bagel with nova lox, egg, and onion to your classic bagel and cream cheese – all made in-house.
I gravitate towards places like this because I love being reminded that there’s somebody out there who loves something enough to want to evangelize it. Everyone has those things that make them tick. They remind us of home, bring a much-needed sense of nostalgia. We need these things like the air we breathe.
I’ve only been in NYBD (their clever abbreviation) a couple of times, but both of those times, I was not the only one in the store. There were other bagel-craving patrons, who, like me, probably went out of their way to ingest a piece of New York, rather than go to Starbucks or Panera Bread, which might very well have been more convenient.
People will indeed travel out of their way for a commodity that has been made in love. Even if it is not widely familiar at first, Quality catches on. At first, only a few might venture in out of curiosity, or because they just happened to be in the area.
But soon, word will spread. If you bake the bagels… they will come.
