Kossar's Bialys

The story

A union dispute and subsequent fire destroyed the original building, which is how Kossar's ended up at Grand and Essex Streets. Founded in 1936 by Isadore Mirsky and Morris Kossar, the bakery traces its dough to Polish Jewish bakers who arrived in New York in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, carrying with them the Bialystoker Kuchen of Białystok. Once, the bialy had its own union and an owners' alliance called the Bialy Bakers Association. Kossar's is one of the few remnants of that vanished industry — the oldest bialy bakery in the United States.