An H&H Bagels Imitation Comes to the Upper West Side

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — H&H Bagels is (kind of) back in the Upper West Side now that H&H Bagels Midtown East opened it's doors Thursday. Eater New York refers to this new bagel place as a "long lost cousin" of H&H Bagels, while Gothamist calls it a "Fake H&H Bagels." To make matters perplex, H&H Bagels Midtown East is in the Upper West Side, at 526 Columbus Avenue at 86th Street.

Though it's not a revival of the H&H that shuttered in 2011, H&H Bagels Midtown East is the closest the neighborhood will have to the real thing. Upper West Siders were distraught when the 40-year-old H&H, owned by Helmer Toro, closed. The bagels were featured on shows like "Seinfeld," "Sex in the City" and the movie "You've Got Mail." A New York Times article even said: "What many natives of the West 70s and 80s have long prophesied has come to pass: The neighborhood is finished."

Once H&H closed, new owners took over the business and opened up a new show on the Upper East Side. Toro — who later ended up in jail for stealing from his employees — sued the new owners to make sure they changed their company's name, Eater reported. So now it's known, confusingly, as H&H Bagels Midtown East.

If you want to stress eat post-election, give H&H Bagels Midtown East a try. Hopefully these bagels taste like the originals.

Photo courtesy of eater_ny/Flickr