And now, the cragel craze

New York City eateries are always looking for the next new angle to grab that elusive and somewhat jaded Manhattan palate. Last spring, it was the cronut. In the summer, it was the ramen burger and frozen S’mores. This season, another hybrid creation is set to create long, insane lines, launch dozens of copycat creations and start black-market purchase negotiations.

The “cragel” is the latest bread hybrid from Brooklyn landmark, The Bagel Store, which consists of a whole flaky, buttery croissant baked inside a bagel. Sold only at its two locations in Brooklyn for $2.95 (P130+), the cragel was the concept of owner or “chief bagel officer” Scot Rossillo, who took nine months to develop the recipe and waited for the right time to unveil it. “In 2013, with all the different hybrids out in the food scene, I didn’t want to follow in other people’s footsteps or ride on anyone’s coattails. It’s not my style. My plan was to wait and make it fabulous in my laboratory.” 

And, like they say, patience is indeed a virtue.

The joy of baking

As a child, he grew up behind a local bagel shop. “My fondest memories were on Saturday and Sunday mornings when I’d wake up to the aroma of hot fresh bagels as it wafted through the house,” he recalls.  He also grew up watching his great grandfather’s daily routine of hand-cutting onions for the special sauce that accompanied the hotdogs in his food cart. If he wasn’t watching a family member prepping or cooking, he spent his time watching episodes of Julia Child or The Galloping Gourmet.  He later enrolled in the French Culinary Institute’s International Bread Baking Arts program, where he learned how to channel his passion for food. He worked for the food industry for several years and went into other bagel ventures before he eventually decided it was time for him to start his own bagel business.

Rossillo calls himself “The World’s Premier Bagel Artist.” Using nothing but the freshest ingredients as his medium and with dough as his canvas, he has turned the usually plain and dense bakery product into delightful edible masterpieces. Over the last 16 years, he has made hundreds of bagels with interesting and delicious flavors such as French toast, Super cinnamon-raisin, Tex-Mex jalapeño cheddar cheese, German pumpernickel, apple cider, pumpkin pie and gingerbread.

“The “Bacon, Egg And Cheddar Bagel” is one of my favorites. It is full of flavor and who doesn’t love bacon? That bagel has been featured on the Food Network, The Cooking Channel, and The Chew.”

A cragel is born

“The concept of the cragel bagel was a vision I had years ago after making the English muffin bagel, bialy bagel and bread pudding bagel,” says Rossillo. He made four or five prototypes of the cragel and let his customers try it. “It was to get feedback as well as reformulate the recipe to make it better,” he adds. His children are also part of the creative process, joining him when they have sessions on the next big bagel idea. “Taste, texture, mouth appeal and functionality are the forefront of my passion to create the world’s best bagels.”

As for customer reaction, some love the cragel’s fantastic combo of squishy buttery goodness while others say that in a Cronut vs. Cragel smackdown, the cragel should win, hands down. Rossillo recommends eating it with a sweet spread like blueberry cream cheese, Nutella or his limited-edition Champagne cream cheese, which is only sold to customers who are of legal age.

I had my cragel smothered with cream cheese and it was spectacular. The sweetness of the bread complemented the sourness of the spread. My friend, Warren, devoured his cragel with Nova Scotia lox and said the texture was softer than a regular bagel. “It wasn’t as dry compared to the regular bagel and was very tasty.”

The cragel has become such a treat that people don’t mind lining up in sleet or snow (like I did) just to get their hands on it. There is also such a huge demand that customers are only allowed to purchase six cragels per order.

The future of food

Since he was able to successfully create other bagel hybrids in the past, Rossillo continues to dream up other pairings to satisfy one’s bagel palate. “In the spring, you will see a ‘lagel,’ which is a hybrid of lasagna and a bagel. I have other delicious ideas in the pipeline this year and I’m very excited to do them. It is always my goal to see my customers enjoy my bagels. It is very humbling and flattering all at the same time.

“Food hybrids are very exciting and sexy right now,” he adds. “It’s a great time for all us foodies to use our creativity. Like the old saying, ‘Everything old becomes new again,’ I get the chance to repaint food masterpieces in a new, creative fashion. I ‘bagelize’ them. It’s very cool.”

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For more information, visit www.thebagelstoreonline.com, follow them on Twitter @thebagelstore and the author @alexeivee.