Tompkins Square Bagel Bakery, East Village: 7 am Order Guide

Tompkins Square Bagels, at 165 Avenue A, is the original shop of a small Manhattan bagel group that started on this East Village block in 2011. The pitch is old-school and simple: hand-rolled, kettle-boiled bagels baked in brick ovens, more than twenty house-made cream cheese flavors, and named breakfast sandwiches that regulars order by nickname. It sits a short block from Tompkins Square Park, so a warm everything bagel can turn into a bench breakfast within two minutes. Here is how to order well, when to arrive, and what to eat once you get there.

The shop grew out of a Brooklyn apprenticeship. On the company About page, the founder describes getting his start as a teenager at Bake City Bagels in Gravesend, working beside people who later opened The Bagel Hole, The Bagel Store, and Court Street Bagels. The lesson he carried to the East Village was to sweat the small stuff, down to scraping out the barrel dough mixer by hand. He calls TSB his love letter to the neighborhood, built by local craftsmen and artists so that a college student, a writer, a toddler, or a taxi driver would all feel at home. Christopher Pugliese is listed on the website as Owner and Operator of the Avenue A shop. What began as one storefront in 2011 has since grown into five Manhattan locations, but this room remains the flagship.

Walk in, read the boards, and order at the counter, where everything is made to order in an open kitchen. Pick your bagel first, then the spread or sandwich, and say whether you want it toasted. The line can stretch on weekend mornings, though one customer review on the shop page notes that it moves fast. If you would rather not queue at all, the website points to online ordering through ChowNow for pickup and delivery. The FAQ says most orders are ready in roughly 15 to 20 minutes, with longer waits during busy weekend stretches. Breakfast is served all day, so an egg sandwich at two in the afternoon is completely normal here. Gluten-free bagels come from Sunshine Bagels, usually in plain, sesame, everything, and cinnamon raisin.

The breakfast sandwich board is where TSB shows its personality. Murray the Cop stacks pesto, eggs, roasted peppers, and fresh mozzarella, and the shop page quotes a regular calling the house-made pesto worth the wait. The Weezer piles bacon, chorizo, egg, cheddar, and any cream cheese you like. The Koch pairs hot pastrami with egg, scallion cream cheese, and red onion, while The Jersey keeps it to Taylor ham, egg, and cheese. Triple Crown goes big with Canadian bacon, apple smoked bacon, scallion cream cheese, a spiced honey maple glaze, egg, and cheese. Lighter options include The Kaitlyn, with egg whites, avocado, and scallion cream cheese, and Chuck D, a sirloin, egg, and American cheese build. Vegans can go for Beyond Delight, made with Just Egg, Beyond Meat, Stockeld cheddar, and a sriracha drizzle.

More than twenty cream cheese flavors are whipped in small batches, and the menu flags a handful as popular. Scallion is billed as the most requested, and a quoted customer calls an everything bagel with scallion perfection. Savory regulars also lean toward jalapeno cheddar, fresh bacon scallion, lox spread, olive pimento, sun-dried tomato, veggie, chipotle avocado, and cucumber dill. The sweet side is where the shop gets playful, with birthday cake, chocolate chip cookie dough, espresso, and peanut butter with Nutella. The menu suggests pairing those with cinnamon raisin, French toast, or blueberry bagels, and the Avenue A page singles out strawberry cream cheese on cinnamon raisin as a customer favorite. Plant-based eaters get a full tofu lineup too, including scallion, veggie, spinach artichoke, sun-dried tomato, plain, and garlic herb, served with vegan bagels.

The shop itself gives the clearest advice: come on a weekday morning, or get in before the weekend rush builds. Doors swing at 7 am every day, and the first hour is the calmest window, when commuters grab a bag and go and the tables are still mostly empty. Saturday and Sunday mornings are the crunch, when brunch crowds from around Alphabet City and visitors from the park converge on the counter. The FAQ warns that popular items can sell out later in the day, especially on weekends, so a mid-afternoon visit trades a short line for a thinner selection. If you have your heart set on a specific flavor or sandwich, order ahead online and walk past the queue to the pickup shelf. Late mornings on weekdays are a reasonable compromise for anyone who sleeps in.

Once the bagel is gone, the blocks around Avenue A reward wandering. Tompkins Square Park is the first stop, with its dog run, chess tables, and constant neighborhood traffic. Head west and St. Marks Place unfolds with vintage shops, tattoo parlors, and Japanese restaurants, roughly five minutes on foot by the shop's own estimate. East of the shop, Alphabet City and Loisaida hold community gardens, murals, and small galleries, and La Plaza Cultural is one of the gardens worth peeking into. Coffee drinkers can compare notes at Ninth Street Espresso or Abraco nearby. If you want more exercise, keep walking east to East River Park, where runners and cyclists use the waterfront paths. Coming back west, Veselka and Russ and Daughters are classic detours for anyone extending the morning into a full East Village food crawl.

Getting there: The closest train is the First Avenue station on the L line, a walk of under ten minutes south and east along First Avenue and then over to Avenue A. Riders on the 6 can use Astor Place station and walk east along St. Marks Place, which doubles as a scenic approach. The Second Avenue station on the F line is another option from the south, followed by a stroll north through the Lower East Side. Several crosstown and avenue buses run nearby, including the M14 routes on 14th Street and the M15 on First and Second Avenues. Citi Bike docks are scattered around the park, so cycling in from elsewhere in Manhattan or Brooklyn is easy. Street parking is scarce, so leave the car at home and plan to arrive on foot or by transit.

Tompkins Square Bagels, at 165 Avenue A, New York, NY 10009, is the East Village flagship. Phone: (646) 351-6520. Hours: Monday 7 am to 5 pm, Tuesday 7 am to 5 pm, Wednesday 7 am to 5 pm, Thursday 7 am to 5 pm, Friday 7 am to 5 pm, Saturday 7 am to 5 pm, and Sunday 7 am to 5 pm. Breakfast and egg sandwiches are served from the first bagel to the last. Online ordering for pickup and delivery runs through the website, and catering orders are taken there as well. Indoor seating is first-come, first-served. Gluten-free bagels are stocked, along with tofu spreads and vegan bagels. Coffee comes from Mongo's Coffee. If this shop is crowded, the group runs other Manhattan locations, including one on Second Avenue.