Plus, Queens Tourism Council Official Foodie Joe DiStefano thinks Utopia Bagels is the best in the borough.Įditor’s note: This blog maintains that Food & Wine could fill the entire list with Queens establishments only. Then, the result is a wonderful combination of chewy, crackly, twisty, and soft. A hand roll, a kettle dip, a flip on the boards, and some quality time in a 1947 carousel oven. In business at 19-09 Utopia Parkway since 1980, this classic, recently expanded place distinguishes itself with a longer-than-normal ferment time right after employees shape the dough into ropy circles. Whitestone’s Utopia Bagels is the other local store in the article. And it has a secret recipe with a tasty hint of malt.

Located at 183-12 Horace Harding Expressway, this store has been serving pleasantly soft, handmade, all-natural bagels since the 1960s. As to be expected, New York City dominates the list, which features two Queens places.īagel Oasis in Fresh Meadows comes in third, although it’s an alphabetical list so rank doesn’t mean anything. Both sell dreamy products.Īfter an exhaustive, coast-to-coast search, Food & Wine recently published an article on the 50 best bagel shops in the entire United States. The business has been stronger than ever since the early winter reopening and patrons can expect to wait in long lines to get their bagel fix during the store’s busiest hours.One is an oasis. Utopia pays such attention to detail that the 36-hour process is adjusted for each batch to create a perfectly crispy-fluffy-moist stock of bagels in which no two are exactly alike. He says not many bagels shops use old-fashioned production methods such as hand-rolling each bagel and letting it set for a prolonged time in a cooling chamber. “They don’t really make ‘em the way we make ‘em anymore,” Spellman said. Spellman has worked in bagel stores for most of his life and he says that Utopia Bagels are so beloved because the standards are so high and their bagels are superior. He answers the phone with, “Bagels, can I help you?” in a comfortable way which shows that he already knows what people want and expect from the neighborhood institution. Spellman has been managing the business for about a year to help with the changes, taking over for a longtime employee who stepped down into a less demanding role on staff. Spellman said the bagel store was long overdue for a makeover, but an offer to be included as a FreshDirect food vendor was the ultimate catalyst for change.įive-packs of Utopia Bagels can now be delivered right to a customer’s door, and all of the work and food storage spaces behind the counter were enlarged to accommodate the dramatic production increase. “People come in and they’re blown away by what we’ve done with the interior,” Spellman said. The interior seating area has also been expanded to have long, communal tables. The food offerings now include more deli options with many different kinds of smoked fish, a beefed-up sandwich menu with 10 new recipes and almost double the amount of refrigerator space for more drinks as well as a spread of bagels in both classic and innovative flavors.

The 35-year-old business is now double its previous size with lots of new added features, according to store manager Scott Spellman. Whitestone‘s Utopia Bagels is back and better than ever since a recent renovation and an expansion into online food delivery with FreshDirect. << Back to News Popular Utopia Bagels reopened in Whitestone and now offers FreshDirect delivery

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