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One of Philadelphia’s most celebrated bagel shops is expanding from its original Fishtown location, adding a storefront in Old City.
Hot off being named one of the best in the nation by Food & Wine, Philly Style Bagels on Thursday soft opens its second location near 2nd and Arch streets. To start, the new shop will offer baked goods by the dozen, and containers of signature spreads, with a menu with bagel sandwiches rolled out gradually.
All baking will now take place in Old City, proprietors Collin Shapiro and Jonathon Zilber told Billy Penn, who confirmed they’d moved their giant oven to the new spot.
Also reopening Thursday is the original shop, just off Frankford Avenue at Columbia. It was closed for two months due to renovations around the oven move, sparking incorrect rumors it might be shutting down for good.
Orders at both shops are currently online-only, Shapiro and Zilber said, with no phones at either location.
The brand has been racking up accolades since the beginning. It started in 2014 as a pop-up experiment in the back of the tiny original Pizzeria Beddia location. Shapiro and Zilber honed their recipe — it uses Yards beer in the boil — using the pizza oven after hours.
Over the past seven years, the bagel scene in Philadelphia has exploded with a variety of options, from Montreal-style rounds at Spread Bagelry to NYC inspired editions at Bart’s Bagels to the whole wheat versions from Lost Bread Bakery.
But back when Shapiro and Zilber started popping out their goods, the city lacked anything like them, and the heft and chew of their plump, misshapen creations made them an immediate hit.
The duo opened their standalone Fishtown shop in 2016. That year, their “classic lox” sandwich with cucumber, tomato, and red onion scored the nod from Bon Appetit as one of the “Best New Sandwiches in America.”
Recently added to the menu at Fishtown are egg sandwiches with a spicy mayo made from fermented fresno peppers, which have been very popular, the bakers said. These are also promised soon at Old City.
