Bagel shops are booming across the country. Black Seed Bagels officially opened its 9th shop in New York City, located at 252 Schermerhorn Street in Boerum Hill (at Bond Street), connected to the Ace Hotel Brooklyn.
The shop operates daily from 7am to 3pm. At more than 700 square feet, it features an ordering counter, a pick-up area with a separate entrance from Bond Street, three eat-in counters with indoor seating for 17 people, and a dedicated merch area. There is also an entrance from the Ace Hotel lobby.
The northwest-facing storefront has tall windows that bring bright light into the space, easily blending into the aesthetic of the hotel’s wooden and concrete exterior. The shop’s interior is accented with warmly hued walnut wood, white subway tile, plaster walls, concrete floors, ribbed glass, custom shelves and fixtures, linear pendant lamps, and round sconces. This is the third location designed by Rebecca Cohen-Scharfman, who also oversaw the creation of the Chelsea Market and Williamsburg shops.
Black Seed utilizes a hybrid of NYC and Montreal baking techniques to create its unique bagels. Proprietors Noah Bernamoff, Matt Kliegman, and James Beard award-nominated chef Dianna Daoheung co-founded Black Seed in 2014, opening the first shop in Nolita. Since then, Black Seed has expanded to Battery Park, the East Village, NoMad, Rock Center, Chelsea (reopening late summer 2022), Bushwick, and Williamsburg. Later this year, Black Seed will open its 10th and 11th locations, situated in midtown at 200 Park Ave and 630 Lexington Avenue.
In addition to their bagels and housemade pastrami and smoked turkey, Black Seed sources ingredients and other products from small, local producers endeavoring to be the best at what they do, using:
- King Arthur high gluten flour from Vermont
- Stumptown Coffee roasted in Red Hook, Brooklyn
- Cage-free eggs from the Hudson Valley
- Cream cheese from Ben’s in upstate NY
- Milk from Battenkill Valley Creamery
- NY state honey
- Smoked salmon specially made for Black Seed by Catsmo Smokehouse
- Gluten-free bagels procured from Modern Bread and Bagel (Upper West Side)
- And even recently collaborated with Raaka on a special, limited edition Black Seed-inspired chocolate bar.
Recent updates to the menu include seasonal specials such as ramp cream cheese; a strawberry, basil, and black peppercorn cream cheese will be on the menu for summer. Black Seed also makes signature “upcycled” cookies by incorporating milled bagel chips in its house-baked chocolate chip cookies; $1 from the sale of each cookie is donated to a rotating list of non-profit organizations.
In addition, Black Seed introduced new frozen packaged bagels with Whole Foods as its exclusive retail launch partner; the bagels are now available in Whole Foods stores around the NYC area.
Black Seed encourages customers to order via its platform and app, via which they can receive loyalty perks and discounts, and place orders for delivery and pickup up to three days in advance.
