“Dear Gluten, We don’t ‘knead’ you anymore,” read the staff’s t-shirts at Modern Bread & Bagel, a popular gluten-free and kosher bakery and cafe which has soft-launched at 1427 Third Avenue (between 80th and 81st streets).
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The owners leased the space back in 2022 and have finally opened their first location on the UES, third in the city (the other two are on the Upper West Side and in Chelsea), and the nation’s fifth (with two locations in the Los Angeles area).
Modern’s first location opened in 2019 on the Upper West Side, and since then, it’s been praised by the media and general population alike, scoring features on Live with Kelly and Mark and Us Weekly and even winning the ranking of third-best bagel in New York City (and second-best in Manhattan) by bagel reviewer Mike Varley.
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Orly Gottseman founded Modern Bread & Bagel when her husband was diagnosed with celiac disease. She was inspired to create a product that he could eat but that would also be delicious. Gottesman also owns the Upper West Side restaurant Thyme & Tonic and created a gluten-free wheat replacement powder called Blends by Orly, which she uses in her own baked goods.
You can find breakfast, lunch, and dessert at Modern Bread & Bagel. In honor of the Upper East Side’s soft launch, all menu items—from the drinks to the bagels to the pizzas to the donuts and cakes—are free through Saturday. They will most likely be closed on Sunday but will have their official opening on Monday.
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Want to take advantage of the free items during soft launch? We suggest getting there as early as possible. Items will run out quickly, as we learned on Thursday. We enjoyed the shredded coconut-covered French toast sticks. One of them was slightly undercooked, but overall, they were sweet, crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside. They came with sides of coffee caramel sauce and vanilla coconut custard.
According to their Instagram, some popular items at Modern Bread & Bagel include the salt bagel with cinnamon bun butter, the breakfast grilled cheese sandwich, and the Twix babka filled with chocolate and homemade caramel.
