Established 1936 | State New York | |
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Current owner(s) Evan Giniger and David Zablocki Street address | ||
Kossar's Bialys (Kossar's Bialystoker Kuchen Bakery) located at 367 Grand Street (and Essex Street), on the Lower East Side in Manhattan, New York City, is the oldest bialy bakery in the United States.
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Background
The bialy gets its name from the "Bialystoker Kuchen" of Białystok, Poland (at the time under Russian occupation). Russian Jewish bakers who arrived in New York City in the late 19th century and early 20th century made an industry out of their recipe for the mainstay bread rolls baked in every household.
Kossar's Bialys, originally known as Mirsky and Kossar's when Isadore Mirsky and Morris Kossar founded it in 1936, is one of the few remnants of what was once its own industry in New York City with its own union association, the Bialy Bakers Association, Inc.
Originally located on Clinton Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side, Kossar's Bialys moved to its current location at Grand and Essex Streets in the early 1960s after a union dispute and subsequent fire destroyed the building.
Kossar's Bialys was the starting point for former New York Times food critic Mimi Sheraton's research for her 2002 book, The Bialy Eaters: The Story of a Bread and a Lost World.
Present day
In 2013, Evan Giniger and David Zablocki purchased the bakery from Juda and Debra Engelmayer and Daniel Cohen.
The prior ownership, Juda and Debra Engelmayer and Daniel and Malki Cohen, had purchased the bakery from Morris Kossar's son-in-law and daughter, Daniel and Gloria Kossar Scheinin in 1998.
Kossar's Bialys also makes bagels, bulkas (small hero sandwich size loaves), pletzels, sesame sticks and other baked goods.
Kossar's Bialys is on the Lower East Side and Lower Manhattan tour circuit.