- My name is Prez, and I work at Thrillist.
Around these parts, I'm known as the $5 Lunch Guy.
Every episode, I'm gonna put you guys
onto the very finest New York grub for $5 or less.
What do you mean the hookah spot with the wine glass?
What is this?
- Oh, you go to a hookah spot.
You inhale some smoke, you got the wine glass.
You got like halfway in, you can tilt it up.
- But does it--
Listen, Disembodied Hand.
Y'all gotta chill.
I mean, how you have two hands and no body?
C'mon, Hand!
All right.
Pizza?
Easy, we can get that anywhere.
Go down the street and get one.
Bagels?
Also too easy.
We can go anywhere and get a really good bagel.
But, if we combine them, it becomes pizza bagel!
Hey, let's do that episode!
Guys, you guys know where to get a pizza bagel?
- Yo, we working.
- Wow, OK, um, I'll just figure it out myself then.
Pizzas and bagels.
Separate, they're a heated debate, but together,
they're one of New York's favorite Frankenfoods.
Now, are we really about to do
an episode about pizza bagels?
Hell yeah, we are!
Not only am I gonna show you where to get them,
we're going to the legendary Kossar's,
who has one of the best bagels in this city.
So, they decided to put a pizza on top of it.
Let's go.
These are the rules of "Operation 5 Buck Lunch."
It's gotta be good, because nobody wants bad food for lunch.
No big chains, 'cause that's just too easy.
It's gotta be $5 or less,
and whatever I don't use today
rolls over into the next episode.
In the scale of more important to New York,
which do you feel is more important, pizza or bagels?
- Bagels. - Yeah, pizza.
- Pizza. - Pizza.
- Isn't New York one of the first places
where pizza was introduced in America?
- That's true. - I mean,
that's pretty quintessentially New York.
- What do you think about pizza bagels?
- It sounds processed.
- It sounds processed to you?
- When I think of pizza bagels,
I think of the soggy things that you would get
served in the cafeteria. - Get in the freezer.
OK.
You know the pizza bagel song?
Pizza in the morning.
- Pizza in the evening.
Pizza at suppertime.
- Pizza's on a bagel.
You can eat pizza anytime.
Thank you, you're the first person who knows that song.
That's how I know she's a real one.
Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo.
Bang, fun fact.
So, guys, Richard Katz of Katz Bagel Bakery
in Chelsea, Massachusetts, a third-generation bagel baker,
claims that his father Harry invented pizza bagels in 1970.
Only problem is, there's nobody out here
raving for Massachusetts bagels, so, no.
Almost stepped on poop.
We are in Kossar's, the world-famous bakery
in the Lower East Side, and as soon as you walk in,
you're hit with a proper bagel smell.
They're making it right behind me.
I'm trying to get me some of this pizza bagel.
Of course you can see all of
their different selections behind us,
but I'm here for one thing and one thing only,
and I'm trying to eat it right now.
Let's go.
- A bagel is a 24-hour process.
Like, we'll roll the bagels today for tomorrow.
- [Prez] Really?
- [Baker] Yes.
Bagels are boiled and then baked,
and they're baked upside down first
to get the crust on the bottom,
and then they're flipped over off the board
so they're baked on burlap-covered boards.
- OK.
- And then baked on top.
It's a bit of a process.
- We're here for the pizza bagel, which I see is $3.25,
but for all of the who are gonna be mad
that we came to Kossar's and only got a bagel,
could we also get a bialy?
Like, how much would that come out to?
- Comes out to about five bucks.
- About five bucks?
OK, OK.
Let's do that -- let's get both.
I'm starving and super-excited.
Let's do it.
How much does that come out to?
- That comes out to $5.06.
- OK, um, well, this is--
Oh, thank you so much, Disembodied Hand.
Shout out.
$5.06.
- Thank you!
- Guys.
Got my bagel, got my bialy.
Let's do it.
Get in nice and close.
Just a classic bagel, beautifully baked.
A Bagel Bite's a little, tiny, little bagel
that you stuff in your oven or your microwave,
and you nuke or burn the crap of in like two seconds.
This is a 24-hour process, this pizza bagel right here,
as I just learned, and they're not messing around.
This isn't like a fake pizza bagel
where they just drop some cheese
and maybe like a pepperoni on top.
This is, like, real.
Look, the cheese is, like, gooey!
The sauce is under.
If it's done right, it's tough and crisp on the bottom,
but then it's fluffy on the inside.
It's dense, but it's not too dense, you know what I mean?
It's the perfect balance.
A New York bagel is a balancing act,
and that's why we do it the best, you know?
Let's get into it.
Mmm.
Mmm, yup, yup, yup.
Mmm.
Now this sauce is like a sweet sauce
rather than anything else, and I love me a sweet sauce.
I like a sweet sauce.
I'm a second-wave pizza kind of guy,
so this is hitting it for me.
I'ma let you guys on a little secret.
You ever wanna know why our pizzas and bagels are the best?
It's our tap water.
Shout out to New York City tap water.
Y'all made our industry fantastic.
Like, look at this.
It's beautiful.
It's crunchy, but it's soft at the same time.
Now, my favorite part of the pizza bagel
is that you get to eat it twice.
So I have to say that this is my favorite Frankenstein food,
but sometimes I think to myself,
"What else could I put together
to make something delicious?"
Maybe like a sushi burrito?
Philly cheesesteak donut?
Bacon, egg &cheese sauce?
That'd be good, right?
Get a look at that.
It's steaming, it's smoking, it's fresh.
Last bite.
The last morsel.
I love you.
Today is a good day.
Today's mission: pizza and bagels.
Man, two things that are equally loved in New York City.
Now, I don't know if it's something in the water
or the mountain of tradition.
I mean, it's not something that we're gonna solve today,
nor am I gonna try, but we came down to Kossar's
to have what I believe is the best bagel in the city,
and they took it up a notch by
putting some pizza on top of it.
Come down here and try it.
I 100% co-sign this.
Now.
We've hit every single one of our points.
Mission success.
It's in budget, not a big chain, and it's damn good,
which is the most important part.
Guys, try this.
Really, try this.
Now I'm gonna take my bialy and eat it for dinner.
See you guys later.
Yo, just sing better.
I don't understand what the problem is.
Oh, hey, guys.
So, we have an Instagram now at @5dollarlunchguy.
Hit us up in the comments.
Send us DMs as to where we should go next.
Follow, like, share, subscribe,
and I'll see you guys next time.
Byeeee!