Cafe Allegria Closed: Bagels for St Marks near Franklin: June 2013

Beer does make many things better.

Consumer surveys may be biased toward Allegria as a result.

Only when consumed in sufficient quantity.

Only time and a Brooklynian taste test can answer these questions.

I predict he will have beer August 1st, at the earliest. However, they both seem like they will start serving bagels before then.

This could allow for a control group.

he seems pretty into bagels. maybe the beer will be there to guarantee the selling of bagels. and he has never spoken of the beer.

Yes, at the mtg I attended, he described all the food he was going to serve.

It would not surprise me if he just served cans and bottles. No Tap/keg.

System.

Mr. Bagel Baker was dining with his family in his yard as I passed by. He states that beer license is in hand and the bakery/cafe will open after July 4th. Is there a conspiracy that bagel stores have to open in July? i.e. Lula, and also saw new sign on Nostrand bagel between Atlantic and Pacific, although they seem miles from being anywhere near to being ready to open. WE WANT FRESH BAGELS!

Tsarina-

July 4th has come and gone. Lula on Nostrand has gotten their act together and opened.

What is the deal with Café Allegria?

He told me the 14th and that has come and gone. WTF???!!! I guess the guy doesn't need the money, or maybe its just too darn hot.

tsarina said:

or maybe its just too darn hot.

It is too darn hot!

Being that I have no idea what religion, sexual orientation or race this aspiring bagel maker belongs to, I am going state that him promising to give us bagels and then not providing them is totally typical of that religion, sexual orientation or race.

They are lazy bastards!

[readers who tend to get excited over such statements, in this instance, should not]

The grand opening was today! I walked by around 1:30pm and they were open with a "Grand Opening" banner, a sign describing a couple of the items they sell with the "Cafe Allegria" name in small print, and a lit up neon "Hot Bagels" sign.

Terrible start to the day with the rainy weather, but on my walk home they were still open just before 7pm. Wish I had known before I had eaten my breakfast at home, just down the block

August 3, 2013.

Thanks vick5y!

Hopefully someone will try it out soon and post a review.

Verdict: Great bagels. I've eaten some of the "top ten" bagels, and I think this is up there. It's small, chewy, savory, just the amount of crust that I like-- delicious.

The store is pretty large, and an explosion of colorful mismatched kitsch and antique and snacks and drinks. Lots of seating, including a cushy window-seat. The drink display cooler thing is really loud, kind of like in Lily & Fig. They could have a better speaker set-up, which would help. Outside, there are a couple tables, very pleasant to sit near ivy-covered walls and spend a morning with a book and a bagel.

I wonder how they're going to do with minimal foot-traffic. You can't see it from Franklin. Maybe a sandwich board, and word of mouth? I'll do my part: GREAT BAGELS!! TELL YOUR FRIENDS!!

I have decided to post these photos of bagels that I found on the internet, so people who don't read well infer that this is a picture of yummy bagels from this store:

actual photo of actual bagel store, complete with part of dog's tail (bottom, center).

Attached files

Went in today. Extremely friendly service. They seemed to want to toast my bagels by default, I had to ask them not to, and they still ended up toasting one of them. I can understand why, because although the style of bagel is correct, they didn't seem particularly fresh. Kind of what you might expect from a bagel that came in a bag. The toasted one was delicious, but I hate the way toasted bagels turn the cream cheese to a sauce.

They did have delicious hush puppy like things that were definitely fresh and still warm. They gave me a tasting of one for free and I ended up walking out of there with four.

I'm usually happy to take the trip to Bagel Hole to get bagels, since we're fans of neither Bergen Bagels (bagels too large and too sweet) or the ones on Vanderbilt (place is a zoo, I went once and it was enough). But I want to support a local effort, so I'll be back for more.

Agreed the service was really friendly. My bagel was okay, got a bacon egg and cheese. I tried to order sausage, egg, tomato but they didn't have sausage or tomato. Between Lula Bagel and Cafe Allegria, I'm still hoping the bagel store on Atlantic will carry tomato, bacon and sausage in one place. They were so friendly though, I'll be back.

press:

http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2013/09/crown-heights-cafe-opens-in-a-house-just-off-franklin-avenue/#comments

Walked by this morning and there's a sign that says, "Closed. Property Sold." The windows have newspaper covering them. Too bad, I really liked that place.

Noooooo!

That's unfortunate. It seemed like that couple put in a lot of work to get that place running.

They refused to stock tomatoes, coffee was burnt, service was slow, and the last time I ordered an egg sandwich it arrived swimming in a pool of dish washing liquid at the bottom of my plate.  They will not be missed by me.  Hope we get a local competent bagel spot to replace them.

I'm not defending how they operated the shop, but I think their struggle to open the place is well documented (on this site, if I remember correctly). Perhaps such struggle was a mere foreshadow of how the shop would operate.

I, too, asked for a tomato once and heard a lecture about freshness and why tomatoes could not be stocked and why didn't I want the roasted pepper hummus?

Very strange place. Surprised they never adapted.

They had great fresh-squeezed OJ and the backyard was a great play date spot. I'll miss it.  

Their selection of bagels was limited, so I walked to Luna on Nostrand, where they had more.

I understand the service complaints, but the wait never really bothered me. I thought their bagels were good, and I just really enjoyed the couple that owned it. Regular people, always nice and courteous, pretended to recognize me even if they didn't. Their side/backyard was very nice, not to mention the ability to bring your dog with you. I guess the atmosphere just seemed slightly different than a lot of the other places in the area, and I liked it.

We should note that it may been profitable, and may have been sold at a profit.


Photo not taken by me.

Oh no! I loved this place! Good bagels and coffee, spacious, a great baby playdate locale and the owners were very nice and accommodating.

I've been coming here literally every week since it opened. This is a travesty! I can't echo the complaints above. Nothing but deliciousness from this place. Sometimes slow, but always friendly and their bagels and lox spread were great! I might have to move neighborhoods.