Veteran Brooklyn dough-puncher Paul DiSpirito doesn’t believe in taking short cuts when it comes to making bagels “the old-fashioned way.”
His hand-rolled variety, lovingly cooked in a kettle, far surpasses that favored by modern bakers who steam their bread in a conventional rack oven, says DiSpirito, the new owner of Atlantic Bagel Company — 2 Neptune Avenue at Shore Boulevard in Sheepshead Bay — which he renamed Dale Bagels after his Bensonhurst bakery and deli of the same name at 62nd Street and 18th Avenue.
In addition to bagels, his Sheepshead Bay establishment sells cold cuts, six-foot heroes, bagel wheels and breakfast catering while being an approved vendor for the New York City Department of Education, says DiSpirito, who also owns Lioni’s Heroes in Dyker Heights at 78th Street and 15th Avenue, and hails from a family of bakers and deli-makers: His father owned and operated Bagels-R-Us, East 15th Street and Sheepshead Bay Road, from 1967 to 1992.
DiSpirito continues a tradition which legend has it was born in 1683 Vienna, Austria, where a local Jewish baker expressed his gratitude to the king of Poland for protecting his countryfolk from Turkish marauders by baking a special hard roll and naming it bugel — German for stirrup — to commemorate the monarch’s love of horse-riding.
Dale Bagels in Sheepshead Bay is open daily, 5 a.m., to midnight, offers daily breakfast and “Wacky Wednesday” specials, and provides free curbside delivery.
For more information, call 718-934-5800.
