Jan 21 2005
New Restaurant Alert: F Line Bagels
OK, maybe I’m stretching the restaurant definition a bit here, but the new bagelry does serve omelettes and sandwiches, in addition to bagels and muffins and some Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The bagels are baked on the premises (according to the clerk) and they are gigantic. Not my favorite kind of bagel–too big and too bready–but an acceptable one. The real charm lies in the store’s extremely thorough homage to the subway and the Smith and 9th Street stop. Blue tiles spell out the stop among the white subway tiles on the wall, and various signs about the store reference the F train. There’s even an F-Lines sandwich with beef salami, tomatoes, olive oil and basil. Though only open a week or so, the store was doing a steady business this morning. Will the skanky coffeeshop across the street go out of business? Is this another small step in Smith-9th gentrification? Or will the shop’s fresh and shiny surfaces soon be covered in neighborhood-appropriate graffiti?
7 Responses to “New Restaurant Alert: F Line Bagels”
Usually I’m not a fan of the big-ole-bagel but these were good. They have that nice shine you see on any bagel prepared properly. Brooklyn Bread Co. boats their bagels are cooked in a brick oven. That’s not really a bagel.
F Line had a good lox spread, better than Le Petite Cafe.
You might have already seen this, but the bastard MTA is alleging that F Line Bagels violates its trademarks:
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/41078.htm
You would think the MTA would have better things to do than harass a small business owner.. Things like, fix the leaky roof at Smith and 9th. Build the 2nd Ave subway (which probably won’t happen now).
The MTA got too big..and sucks..so does New York City, the state of California and the crowd in DC. Big business and big government put more effort into rubbish than accomplishing anything worthwhile, and the bigger the bureacracy the worse it is. Ed
Ed.. The problem is inefficient government, not big government.
Being a Native New Yorker (Born & Raised in Harlem) and now living in Calif. The MTA don’t have anything else better to do than to harrass somebody over some subway stuff. If you ask me they(MTA) need to fix their own problems like why they’re closing so many token booths, raising the fare, cutting back on service ETC. Leave this guy alone and let him do what he has to do and that’s making a living just like everyone else. It’s not F Line Bagels fault that the MTA don’t have enough money.
Fight the MTA!!! If the MTA was working perfectly with no problems I could understand, (not agree with) them wasting time and $$ on this issue. The MTA should be thanking your business for the free advertisement that you are providing them… This is an example of city agency heads that are out of control and out of touch!!
God speed.