A Sign of the Times

So this is what the world has come to... 



Bagel Bites at Nino's Pizza, St. Mark's Place

A few weeks ago I found myself at Nino's Pizza on the corner of St. Mark's in the Lower East Side.  This street alone, an icon within an iconic city, is a bastion of excess and wild style.  I hope that what I found at Nino's is not a symbol of the apathy that is quietly seeping into the corners of the Greatest City in the World. 

Because now, a relatively decent by-the-slice NY pizzeria, has slumped to buying, cooking, and selling 6-for-$4 Ore Ida brand Bagel Bites.  Yep.  I cannot make this up.  The rather proud red t-shirt wearing pizza jockey behind the glass touted "6-for-$4!" when I remarked about the mere presence of the Bagel Bites in the front row.  He even offered to smile widely and get into the picture.  It's not that he didn't admit they were Bagel Bites.  He did.  He thought they were a smart addition to the line up.

For his own pride, which he will lose at a later date when he realizes the offense he has committed, I have omitted him from the photo.  It is straight up NOT OK to sell Bagel Bites in a pizzeria, anywhere, especially New York.  People here are not supposed to kowtow and give up like this. 

If it's any sign of hope, the line at Grimaldi's in Brooklyn is still long and the pizza is still worth waiting for...