Teaneck–This week, Sammy’s opened its doors to coffee lovers, welcoming them into a bright, newly designed space. The expansion into what was the deli has created a large restaurant offering pizza, salad, coffee and bagels, melding three restaurants in a row.
Sammy’s Bagels, a Teaneck institution for more than 20 years, expanded about eight years ago, growing from a single bagel store with limited seating to include a deli next door followed by a pizza store at the corner of Queen Anne Road and Ayers Court. Sammy’s Pizza replaced Plaza Pizza, prospered and became a tasty addition to the local kosher culinary landscape, offering wood-fired oven pizza made with Italian flour, and generous designer salads with trendy ingredients, in addition to breakfast fare like omelets and pancakes.
But the deli sandwiched between the two dairy restaurants meant that there was no shared kitchen, storage room or supply space. Owner Yossi Niazoff began envisioning a new concept for a bigger emporium-style dairy restaurant that joined the three retail spaces together.
The all dairy restaurant is under Kof-K supervision, and one can walk through the half-block-long restaurant, and order coffee, bagels, pizza or salad, from a comprehensive menu available at one of many registers. For the tech-savvy, there’s a fleet of iPads near the salad bar, where one can select a made-to-order salad prepared with a bright array of fresh veggies and a seemingly never-ending selection of toppings. While coffee and desserts are central, pizza, bagels and all-day breakfasts remain cornerstones of the enterprise. Sammy’s has evolved into a high-end gourmet style restaurant, where one can sit for coffee and pastries, bagels or pizza for a quick nosh, or have a meal, along with coffee and dessert.
What is particularly exciting for those who enjoy coffee are the organic espresso drinks made on an authentic Italian La Marzocca espresso machine. “We serve micro-roasted organic coffee, made by a local brewer,” said Joanne Feehan, Sammy’s new general manager, who has 25 years of experience in retail food service under her belt. “The coffee is made with fresh beans, never older than 14 days. That’s very important when the coffee is organic,” she said. For tea lovers, Sammy’s is serving Mighty Leaf organic teas in imaginative flavors such as chamomile citrus and mint melange. The coffee bar also makes fruit smoothies and frozen coffee drinks in a variety of flavors.
Kosher pastries arrive daily from Brooklyn’s World of Chantilly, with selections of fresh brioche, scones, cupcakes, muffins and even mini molten chocolate lava cakes. There is a second wood-fired oven specifically for warming pastries near the coffee bar, and there are plans in the near future to offer dessert crepes and waffles. For those sensitive to gluten or sugar, gluten-free and sugar-free cookies and biscotti made by Aunt Gussie, in nearby Garfield, are available along with Sammy’s gluten-free pizza.
As always, bagels are baked fresh continually throughout the day, and those who want breakfast after the bagel counter is closed can order bagels and eggs at the pizza counter.
Feehan said the staff has grown to more than 27 people, and includes at least seven skilled barristas at the coffee bar. Trained staff help customers adjust to the “flow” of the new Sammy’s experience. So far, the restaurant has been extremely busy at peak hours.
While not every food station will be open at all hours, the new coffee bar opens early and closes late; Monday to Friday it opens at 6 a.m., and Tuesday and Wednesday closes at 9 p.m., and Thursdays at 10 p.m. On Motzei Shabbos, the coffee bar will be open and pizza will be served from 6:30 p.m. until midnight in the winter months. In summer, there will be tables available for al fresco dining. Sammy’s is at 1429 Queen Anne Road.
By Elizabeth Kratz
