Ess-a-Bagel Bagel Bakery, Midtown East: 6 am Picks to Order

Ess-a-Bagel, at 770 Third Avenue on the corner of 47th Street, is the new Midtown East flagship of a family bakery that has been hand rolling oversized bagels since 1976. The shop moved three blocks south from its longtime Third Avenue address and celebrated a grand opening on July 16, 2026. Doors open at 6 am all week, which makes it an easy breakfast for Turtle Bay residents and office workers heading toward Grand Central. Here is what to order, when to arrive, and how the walk around the block fits together.

Florence Wilpon, her husband Gene Wilpon, and her brother Aaron Wenzelberg founded the business in 1976 with a first shop in Gramercy. That original corner of First Avenue and 21st Street held its ground for nearly four decades before a rent fight forced a short move down the block in 2015. Midtown joined the family in 1993, and the Third Avenue store became the one most office crowds knew by heart. The 2026 relocation to 47th Street marks the brand's 50th anniversary. CEO Melanie Frost described the new home as being just three blocks from the longtime Midtown location, so regulars kept their commute while gaining a larger room. The new store anchors the ground floor of the Buchanan, a residential tower that went up at 48th Street and Third Avenue.

The rhythm is simple once you see it in action. Pick your bagel first, then name a cream cheese or spread, then add fish, salads, or deli meats if you want a full sandwich. The house menu lists thirteen standard bagel styles plus pumpernickel raisin, ranging from plain, sesame, and poppy to garlic, salt, pumpernickel, and whole wheat everything. Every bagel is certified kosher by Tablet K, and the menu notes that they contain no additives or artificial preservatives. All major credit cards are accepted at the register. If the room looks crowded, the official ordering site and the Ess-a-Bagel phone apps handle pickup and delivery, and the Ess-a-Perks rewards program collects points on repeat visits. Online orders let you skip deliberating at the glass case.

The ordering site lists the Signature Favorite at $21.05, a bagel layered with sliced Nova, scallion cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and capers. Melanie's Favorite runs $22.30 and swaps in whitefish salad alongside the Nova. For something greener, Mr. Nova Lova costs $19.75 and pairs Nova with avocado, red onion, and avocado garlic cream cheese. Non-fish eaters often land on the NYC BLTA at $14.90, built with crispy bacon, avocado, lettuce, and tomato with mayo or Russian dressing. The Pepe stacks hot roast beef, bacon, and melted American cheese, while Tuna Turner keeps things classic with tuna salad and cucumber. These sandwiches are enormous, so splitting one between two people is a reasonable plan if you also want a cookie.

The schmear list is long enough to slow down even regulars. Savory options include scallion, vegetable, herb, everything herb, jalapeño, olive, sun dried tomato, avocado garlic, and lox. Sweet fans can choose raisin walnut, banana nut, apple cinnamon, blueberry, strawberry, peach, chocolate chip, or Oreo. Lighter versions of scallion and vegetable are available for anyone watching calories. Tofu spreads come in plain, vegetable, scallion, herb, raisin walnut, and lox for dairy-free diners. A good first test is an everything bagel with scallion cream cheese, the combination that sits inside the Signature Favorite. A second round could be pumpernickel with olive, or cinnamon raisin with apple cinnamon for a sweeter, almost dessert-like breakfast that still travels well in a paper bag.

Weekday mornings bring the heaviest traffic because nearby offices feed straight onto Third Avenue. Arriving close to the 6 am opening gives you the calmest counter and the widest choice of fresh batches. The pre-work commuter wave fills the room quickly, so an early start or a mid-morning visit after ten tends to feel smoother. Lunch brings a second wave built around sandwiches rather than plain bagels. Weekend mornings move at a more relaxed pace, and families often turn up later with bigger orders. If you plan to take a Baker's Dozen home, ordering ahead online keeps you out of the queue entirely. The ordering site lists a Baker's Dozen of thirteen bagels at $31.20, which is the smartest buy for a crowd.

Most visitors treat the shop as a grab-and-go stop, carrying sandwiches toward offices, hotels, or a bench in a nearby plaza. Beyond bagels, the case holds knishes, potato pancakes, side salads like health salad and pasta pesto, and a full bakery shelf. Look for rugelach boxes, chocolate or cinnamon babka, challah, linzer tarts, and hamantaschen. The large black and white cookie costs $5.10 on the ordering site and makes a fine souvenir. Hot drinks run from brewed coffee and lattes to matcha and chai, sold in 12, 16, or 20 ounce sizes. For office breakfasts, the catering menu covers bagel platters with cream cheese, butter, and jelly, plus whitefish and Nova platters, and a coffee box serves ten people.

The new corner sits where Midtown East shades into Turtle Bay, a residential pocket of brownstones and quiet side streets. Walk east along 47th Street and you reach Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, a leafy public space that hosts a weekly greenmarket. Continue toward the river and the United Nations Headquarters comes into view along First Avenue. Heading north, Greenacre Park hides a small waterfall between Second and Third Avenues and makes a good spot to eat a sandwich outdoors. South of the shop, the Chrysler Building rises over Lexington Avenue, and Grand Central Terminal is an easy ten-minute stroll for anyone catching a Metro-North train. Pairing breakfast with a walk past these landmarks turns a quick bagel run into a relaxed Midtown morning.

Ess-a-Bagel, at 770 Third Avenue (47th Street), New York, NY 10017, is the Midtown East flagship. Phone: (212) 980-1010. Opening hours are Monday 6 am to 6 pm, Tuesday 6 am to 6 pm, Wednesday 6 am to 6 pm, Thursday 6 am to 6 pm, and Friday 6 am to 6 pm. Weekend hours are Saturday 6 am to 5 pm and Sunday 6 am to 5 pm. Getting there: the 6 train stops at 51st Street station, a short walk north, and Grand Central-42nd Street station serves the 4, 5, 6, 7, and S trains about five blocks away. The E and M trains stop at Lexington Avenue-53rd Street station. Customers who used the former location farther up Third Avenue should place pickup orders for this address now.