14 The QUEE NS Courier • MARCH 3, 2016 for breaking news visit www.qns.com POPULAR UTOPIA BAGELS REOPENED IN WHITESTONE AND NOW OFFERS FRESHDIRECT DELIVERY By Alina Suriel asuriel@qns.com/@alinangelica Whitestone‘s Utopia Bagels is back and better than ever since a recent renovation and an expansion into online food delivery with FreshDirect. The 35-year-old business is now double its previous size with lots of new added features, according to store manager Scott Spellman. The food offerings now include more deli options with many different kinds of smoked fish, a beefed-up sandwich menu with 10 new recipes and almost double the amount of refrigerator space for more drinks as well as a spread of bagels in both classic and innovative flavors. The interior seating area has also been expanded to have long, communal tables. “People come in and they’re blown away by what we’ve done with the interior,” Spellman said. Spellman said the bagel store was long overdue for a makeover, but an offer to be included as a FreshDirect food vendor was the ultimate catalyst for change. Five-packs of Utopia Bagels can now be delivered right to a customer’s door, and all of the work and food storage spaces behind the counter were enlarged to accommodate the dramatic production increase. Spellman has been managing the business for about a year to help with the changes, taking over for a longtime employee who stepped down into a less demanding role on staff. He answers the phone with, “Bagels, can I help you?” in a comfortable way which shows that he already knows what people want and expect from the neighborhood institution. Spellman has worked in bagel stores for most of his life and he says that Utopia Bagels are so beloved because the standards are so high and their bagels are superior. “They don’t really make ‘em the way we make ‘em anymore,” Spellman said. “There’s no shortcuts.” He says not many bagels shops use old-fashioned production methods such as hand-rolling each bagel and letting it set for a prolonged time in a cooling chamber. Utopia pays such attention to detail that the 36-hour process is adjusted for each batch to create a perfectly crispy-fluffy-moist stock of bagels in which no two are exactly alike. The business has been stronger than ever since the early winter reopening and patrons can expect to wait in long lines to get their bagel fix during the store’s busiest hours. Utopia Bagels will likely be around for a long time to come and its second generation of proprietors is beginning to learn the ropes to keep the business running. Owner Anthony Pantaleo’s 21-year-old son Michael has been helping out with the FreshDirect rollout in his first month of employment at the shop. “I do love bagels and it is my dad’s business,” Pantaleo said, “so I would like to learn it and expand on it even more.” Longtime Utopia Bagels patrons are glad to enjoy the new space and to support the considerable success of the local business by buying their favorite sandwiches for years to come. “They’re absolutely fabulous,” said Ben Poverelli, a customer for 20 years. “It’s a great neighborhood place.” A TALE OF TWO TOWN HALLS On Feb. 29, Mayor Bill de Blasio visited Bayside for his first town hall in the neighborhood since taking office in 2014. The forum, hosted by local Councilman Paul Vallone at the Clearview Self-Help Senior Center, was a chance for residents to ask the mayor their favorite questions on everything ranging from potholes to prostitution in massage parlors. Interestingly though, two separate events took place that evening. The main stage, where the media was invited, included the mayor with his commissioners, taking questions from some of Queen’s best-known and well-respected civic and community leaders. These leaders were, for the most part, cordial and well mannered in front of the mayor, even if there was an underlying policy disagreement somewhere in the mix. The other event, far more raucous and cantankerous, took place about 200 feet outside the main auditorium, inside an overflow room that broadcasted a closed-circuit video of the mayor Queens Politics & More BY MIKE FRICCHIONE in front of a steady flow of about 100 of Queens’ rank-and-file residents. These residents were far less shy about expressing their displeasure for some of the mayor’s policies. For example, there was more than obvious discomfort in the overflow room when de Blasio defended the $35,000-a-year pay hike for City Council members. “They work hard and many work all day long like Councilman Vallone here,” said de Blasio in defense after being asked the question. “Yeah, I work hard too,” yelled Frank from Flushing at the television screen, “and I never heard of anyone ever getting that kind of raise before.” “They are now limited from earning an outside income,” de Blasio almost seemed to say in response to Flushing Frank, through the television. But Flushing Frank, not be outdebated, shot back by saying, “That’s because half these people couldn’t hack it in the real world.” Having spent time in the main room insulated by cadre of political staffers and local politicians, I much preferred the other working alternative, which included wild bursts of unbridled passion that often straddled the line of appropriateness. When de Blasio punted on the issue of local residential zoning permits and the proliferation of “McMansions” saying, “It’s something the administration would look at,” Queens civic leaders quietly accepted the response fully knowing what that really meant, while the grunts took hold like a pack of pit bulls and voiced their displeasure amongst each other. Just another night in the world of Queens politics. THE COURIER/Photo by Alina Suriel
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