‘Insanely grateful,’ this NY-style bagel shop opened in Boise with ‘a line out the door’

When Goldstein’s Bagels & Bialys had a soft opening on July 18, Jamie Goldstein and her partner, Lucas Nash, were hoping for a “light stream” of curious Idahoans.

They got a flash flood.

Goldstein’s served about 2,500 bagel sandwiches in its first six days. “We aren’t even officially open yet!” the downtown Boise store marveled on social media.

“It was REALLY wild!” Goldstein admits. “We had felt enthusiasm from people leading up to it but had no expectations. We quietly opened the doors with a casual mention of it maybe a day or two before on Instagram.”

“Crazy as it was,” she adds via email, “it gave us real-time feedback. As a new business, to see a line out the door on day one is a dream, and though we were hoping to have a few quiet days with a small trickle of passersby en route to the Greenbelt, or our neighbors from the Afton — WOW, Boise had other plans for us! We’re so insanely grateful for the support.”

Schmear time

Goldstein’s took over the former home of Kiwi Shake & Bake, which shuttered in December 2020. Located on the street level of the Afton condos at 611 S. 8th St., the corner shop has limited hours for now: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. (or sold out) Mondays through Saturdays. Eventually, they hope to expand those hours, along with the menu and bagel production. But there’s no concrete timeline yet.

You can buy bagels and bialys in bulk at Goldstein’s. But the restaurant aspect is the fun part — the ability to build your own sandwich out of a bagel ($2) or bialy ($3). Just add a schmear of cream cheese ($4) or another mouthwatering spread such as peanut butter ($3.50), Nutella ($4.50) or Bonne Maman jam ($3.50). Or go bigger and top your bagel with vegetables and a “Deli Schmeli” spread — tuna salad ($6), whitefish salad ($11), pastralmon (pastrami salmon, $14), Nova lox ($14), kippered salmon ($16) and more. Smoked fish is flown in from Brooklyn. There also are drinks such as coffee, tea, sodas — and a beet and rosemary shrub. (More on that in a sec.)

Goldstein’s also offers vegan spread made by Boise’s The Kula Connection. Goldstein says she’s hoping to sell a gluten-free bagel from Kula soon, too.

Not 100 percent familiar with something?Ask! (Incidentally, a bialy is sort of like a cross between a bagel and English muffin — with an onion-filled depression in the middle. And a shrub? That’s an American colonial-era drink. Again, just ask.)

“We encourage our guests to order with their senses,” Goldstein says. “It’s by design that you can see the food in the deli case instead of reading a menu, and smell the bakery pumping out freshies. We hope you’ll interact with your counter person and ask for suggestions and tastes.”

New York roots

Raised about 45 minutes north of Manhattan in New City, New York, Goldstein started working at a popular local bagel shop when she was 14 — “far too young to use the slicer or even slice lox,” she admits. But it’s a job she held all the way into college. She and Nash met in Jackson, Wyoming, about 15 years ago before moving to Boise in 2019. Both have experience in restaurants and bartending.

“The years I spent working at our local bagel store (and eating in many, many others) in New York helped shape so much of what Goldstein’s is today,” she explains.

“When I think of a bagel shop, I think of a spot you can walk into and know what you’re going to get even if you’ve never been before. There’s a familiarity that’s distinct to the ‘classic’ New York-style bagel shop, and our intention was to bring that experience to Boise. At the end of the day, ‘New York-style’ means different things to different people.”

To Boiseans? It apparently means “popular.”

‘Anything goes’

Goldstein and Nash have a 2-year-old son, so life feels a bit hectic right now. Still, Goldstein clearly is finding a way to savor the moment. Her enthusiasm about interacting with customers is palpable.

“When you come to Goldstein’s, please say hi,” she says. “Tell me how your coffee or sandwich was, tell me if you have any bagel flavors on your wish list. We are most looking forward to meeting our regulars and creating community in our big, beautiful, bright shop. Meeting and feeding people is our greatest joy.”

And when you “build your own” bagel or bialy? Don’t be afraid to go a little nuts.

“Really, anything goes in a New York bagel shop,” Goldstein explains. “Scooped out, open-faced, double toasted ... sure! In New York, no one will raise an eyebrow if you ask for a dollop of whitefish and a dollop of herring with a quarter-pound of cream cheese on the side so you can doctor up your own sandwich. No rules. You can get a delicious and simple hot-buttered bagel, create a unique concoction only you’d think of or get a little spendy and order some lox and cream cheese.

“Lox was always a splurge for me growing up,” she says, “and mostly reserved for Sundays, but these days people order it all week long. It’s honestly too good not to indulge in it more frequently.”

Online: goldsteinsbagels.com, @goldsteinsbagels.