A new midtown shop is putting pizza on a flattened bagel—and we're into it
Bagizza, opening May 15 on the corner of Madison Avenue and East 49th Strett, is billing itself as NYC's first-ever "pizza flagel" shop. That's right: pizza on a flattened, hand-rolled bagel, made from cold-fermented dough and finished in a wood-fired stone oven. Call it a culinary identity crisis, but with garlic béchamel and bacon kimchi jam involved, we're not mad about it.
The brainchild of restaurateur Michael Park, bagel savant Alex Baka and Chef Steven Cho (of Kappo Masa and Chefs Club pedigree), Bagizza brings together Montreal-New York hybrid bagel dough with globally inspired pizza toppings. These aren't your dorm-room pizza bagels—they're sheeted dough flagels made from a triple-cooked, kettle-baked base and layered with premium ingredients like Calabro mozzarella, house-cured ham and broccolini pesto.
The toppings list reads like a trip around the world: try shrimp toast with curry mayo and chives, caponata with eggplant and honeyed chili or an artichoke number with Yukon golds and anchovy. Fancy a custom creation? Spread on one of their chef-y schmears, from dill-and-smoked salmon to cinnamon-honey butter.
Bagizza's dough whisperer, Alex Baka, is a second-generation bagel roller who has hand-rolled more than 25 million bagel rounds over his career (yes, million). His bagels aren't just food—they're works of fermentation art. And the shop's broader menu is a serious upgrade from your usual corner deli, with braised short ribs, house-smoked meats and a coffee-and-juice bar slinging Colombian drip and açai bowls.
The 3,400-square-foot space is built for midtown's hustle—there's grab-and-go options, open-kitchen bagel watching and sleek seating if you're lingering. It's also open 24/7, because nothing says New York like craving a pizza flagel at 3am on a weekday.
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