Bagel Palace Hub of Neighborhood Bagel War

After three decades in the deli business in New York City, Manny Klein and Joe Weiner decided to move south where the competition for authentic "Noo-Yawk" bagels was less fierce.

Klein and Weiner, married to sisters Susie and Robin, opened up Bagel Palace in 1993 in Toco Hill Shopping Center near the corner of North Druid Hills and Briarcliff roads.

But if avoiding competition was their objective, they got it wrong. Bagel-selling businesses now abound near their storefront. Across North Druid Hills Road, there's Einstein Brothers, part of a Golden, CO-based chain of bagel restaurants and coffee cafes. A block away is Dunkin Donuts, part of a national chain which sells bagels among the sugar-coated krullers. Starbucks is across the street. Bagel-hungry patrons can buy the ovoid items at the Toco Hills Kroger and Publix. And in December, the Atlanta-based chain of opened at the other end of the parking lot near Bagel Palace.

But so far, the North Druid Hills appetite for bagels hasn't waned.

"It hasn’t affected us one bit, so far," said Weiner of the competition. "I’m sure it might, but as of right now, it hasn’t."

“We thought we’d feel a little competition with Goldberg’s moving in, but apparently there’s enough business for everybody,” Klein said.

Shortly after Goldberg's opened, Bagel Palace, which has long advertised in the Savvy Shopper, offered a coupon via national coupon retailer Groupon. Most of the folks who bought the Groupon deal were new customers, Weiner said, and they’ve been coming in steadily.

If there's a Bagel war on then Bagel Palace is the David among goliaths. The family-owned business caters to regulars who enjoy Weiner and Klein's welcoming personality as much as the food. The other stores are part of corporate chains.

“All our customers are family,” Weiner said. “We know their names; we know their kids; we’ve watched them grow up. “

 “We call Bagel Palace our church,” said Shelley Brown, breakfasting on a Sunday morning with her husband David and three sons, Harrison, Own and Gavin.

Ira and Libby Levy drive to the Bagel Palace, which invites customers in for a “bagel, a schmear and a schmooze," all the way from Rome, GA.

“The ambiance reminds me of the delis I grew up with in Chicago,” said Ira Levy, a customer for a decade. “The owners are nice, and the food is good.”

“This is the closest thing to a real New York deli that you’ll find,” Libby Levy said. Other places strive for a cutesy atmosphere and try too hard, she thinks. “You can come here in your pajamas with a newspaper and nobody looks twice.”

In contrast, the other facilities have more of a corporate chain decor. At Goldberg's, that means huge rock star posters. Goldberg's is owned by a  South African immigrant, Wayne Saxe, who says (on his website) many of his recipes were inspired by his grandmother and her Eastern European cooking. (North Druid Hills-Briarcliff Patch tried to interview Saxe for this article, but he did not return our telephone call or e-mail.)

Klein said bagels at the Bagel Palace are boiled in water before baking, resulting in a chewy outside crust, Klein says. Other places put their bagels on racks and steam them, but they don't get "that tough chewy outside" that comes from doing it the old-fashioned New York way, Klein said.

Bagel Palace offers everything you’d expect a Jewish deli to offer – chopped liver, gefilte fish, pickled herring, corned beef – but it doesn’t keep kosher or follow strict food handling restrictions dictated by Jewish dietary laws.

Huge glass-fronted cases offer deli wares including platter-sized black and white cookies, chocolate "scrumptions" – a chocolate chip cookie with a chocolate truffle center surprise, almond horns, turnovers, baklavah, cheesecake and four flavors of “fabulous” rugelach – apricot, raspberry, cinnamon walnut and chocolate. The bakery also does wedding cakes.

Online you can order 22 different kinds of bagels including sun dried tomato, blueberry, egg everything and bialys (bagel-English muffin hybrid), and 22 different flavors of cream cheese, including peach pecan, scallion lite and lox spread. There's also flagel, a flat bagel. Driving home with a bag will fill your car with the lingering aroma of warm onion bagels.

“We’ve been here a long time,” says Klein, pausing to grin playfully at a customer’s baby. “We make a good product and have good service, and everything else takes care of itself.”