Brilliant! Black Seed Brings Back The Pizza Bagel.

It's not the most elegant foodstuff, but the pizza bagel combines two New York classics in one fun little dish. And now the brilliant bagel minds behind Black Seed are reviving* this offbeat snack from Thursday-Saturday, opening the popular Elizabeth St. spot from 10 p.m.-4 a.m. with a limited menu featuring two pizza bagels. According to Grub Street, the offerings are a $6 cheese pizza bagel with basil and a pepperoni version for a buck more.

Wait, you've never had a pizza bagel?! Let me tell you, they are ultimately one of the more satisfying things you can put in your mouth when made with care. (They can also taste like ketchup-laced cardboard in the wrong hands.) The chewiness of the bagel, the melted mozzarella and the tangy sauce combine into a sort of ur-mouthfeel, a flavor experience that has the brain-melting effect of fast food without the greasy aftertaste. Knowing that the Black Seed team also created Mile End, and having had their cute little bagels on sevral occasions, I can only imagine that these pizza bagels will be worth stumbling south of Houston on Thursdays and weekends. Viva la pizza bagel!

Black Seed, 170 Elizabeth St., New York, NY, 212-730-1950, blackseedbagels.com


*I say revive, but a place where I once personally presided over pizza bagels, Kornblatt's in Portland, Oregon, still has 'em on the menu. I'm sure a lot of other fine establishments around the country do as well.