Sunday

The Simits Take Manhattan

11 Comments November 29, 2009 – 9:30 am | Permalink |  Print This Post |

We recently posted about the arrival of the simit — the sesame-encrusted  bread ring that it is a Turkish street food staple — in Manhattan, where it is being baked on location at the newly-opened New York outpost of Gulluoglu, an Istanbul baklava maker (not to be confused, as we initially did, with the legendary Istanbul baklava house also called Gulluoglu). When we first posted about it, we (half) jokingly suggested that the simit might give the bagel a run for its money. But now it turns out that the Gulluoglu simit’s biggest competitor might turn out to be….another simit!

From tipster S.R. we just got the news that another spot in Manhattan — downtown’s newly-opened Ashley’s European Bakery (96 Chambers St.) —  is serving up freshly-baked simit. In fact, Ashley (née Asli) is not only baking simit, but also other Turkish breakfast pasteries such as pogaca (poh-ah-cha) and acma (atch-mah). The bakery had run out of simit on the morning our tipster’s visit, but she did have a spinach and cheese filled acma, which she said was “delicious.”

Are more simit joints in New York’s future? We’ll keep you posted.