Bell Bialy

I’m reviewing only Bell’s bialys and bagels that are bagged for sale; not anything sold at the bakery. And frankly I’m astounded by the reviews I see here. My first experience was with the bialys. They were pretty good except for one thing: ALL of them were WET inside. When I sliced them, a thick scum of raw dough coated my knife. That meant insufficient baking or insufficient rising or both. I wrote to Bell’s and they promptly replied asking which bialys and where I bought them. I told them regular bialys bought at Jack’s in Manhattan. They apologized and sent 2 dozen as replacements – both the regular and ‘traditional’. I liked the regular better than the trads, but the same problem affected both: wet inside, though not all were affected. At their best, the regulars tasted like real bialys. The trads were forgettable. Upshot: Bell’s has consistency problems. Bialys should never be wet inside, period. Now as for the bagels, that’s a different story, and again I’m amazed by the reviews of others, for Bell’s ‘REAL’ Brooklyn Bagels are unbelievably bad, deafeningly bad, inexcusably bad, criminally bad. OK, they are round and have holes, but otherwise they’re virtually anti-​semitic. I eaten bagels through most of my 73 years and the only other time I had one as bad as these was in the ‘breakfast snack’ on Delta Airlines. There is virtually no crust, and it’s a pale, pathetic brownish color. Inside it’s tasteless and textureless.
On the other hand, MAYBE a REAL Brooklyn Bagel is a actually an entirely different and separate different species, one that bears no resemblance to the real thing, as duck in no way resembles Bombay duck.

I grew up in Canarsie & now live in south Florida. I had Bell Bialy then, when they were located at their original Canarsie store on Flatlands Avenue & E. 81^st Street, and continue to eat their products that are distributed to Florida today. I have nothing but good things to say about their bialys & bagels as well as the Bell family that has operated the company for over 65 years. Thank you Bell Bialy!

Everyone I know that I visit that’s left NY wants me to bring them … I buy a dozen for myself too… we all freeze them. They are the best… I was unhappy to learn they use
fructose (the other review), that’s a disappointment, so I took off one star.

Bell bagels & bialys still taste great but I’m taking back 2 stars. They lose one star because I recently discovered that the bagels contain High Fructose Corn Syrup (for info on HFCS, Google it). They lose the other star because we specifically asked about ingredients and the management told us «sugar». They assured us it is not HFCS. But one day when we were shopping there they were receiving a clearly-​labeled industrial-​sized delivery of HFCS. So if this matters to you, now you can make an informed choice.

Marvin you make a fine bialy and great bagels keep up the good work

This place is a warehouse in the middle of nowhere. It looks like they’re strictly a center for distribution, until you walk in a little bit and see a counter on your left. After you’ve stood there like a schmuck for a minute or 2, someone from the office will realize you’re there and come out to help you. The only thing you can get all the time are the basic bialys themsleves, which are a dozen for $ 5. For eveything else (onion jacks, pletzels, etc.), you have to call at least a few days ahead and place an order.
Regardless, I was refered here because Bell supposedly makes the best bialys in NYC (and consequently the US I guess), and they didn’t disappoint. The bialys themselves aren’t huge, but 12 for $ 5 is a great deal. You get them FRESH, right out of the oven and hot as hell. I couldn’t eat them until they cooled off a bit 5 minutes later, and even an hour later they were still warm. They were perfectly soft, with a subtle onion flavor that came out more in the thin center than the doughy ring. Simply put, they kicked ass.
This place is worth the trip out to Canarsie alone, but with the other interesting things nearby, I will definitely be back. Next time, I think I’ll call ahead and see what else they can do.