Greenfield's NY Bagels & Deli

Located at 2160G New Garden Road in Greensboro, Greenfield’s NY Deli and Bagels offers bagels and Jewish deli-style sandwiches for breakfast and lunch. Online ordering for pickup or delivery (via Grubhub) is available as are catering and Kosher options. The restaurant opens at 7 a.m. daily.

Despite its name, Greenfield’s NY Deli and Bagels has a somewhat convoluted lineage. It was opened last month by Tom and Anthony Cassano, associates of Robin Greenfield, who started the original Greenfield’s in Greenville, South Carolina nearly two decades ago. And while Greenfield, known as The Jewish Mayor of Greenville, seemingly adds a touch of authenticity to the operation, she is not a New Yorker but a native Floridian. None of this is reason enough to avoid the establishment, but those who have been to delis in New York/New Jersey should recalibrate their expectations for the Greensboro area.

By those standards, Greenfield’s is definitely promising, albeit with a few quirks. There is a decent amount of seating, especially relative to New Garden Bagels. A New York City skyline mural spans one wall though much of the décor here is strictly functional.

Greenfield’s bagel selection, on the other hand, is quite commendable. Though exact availability varies, there were about twenty kinds on hand when I visited, including varieties not easily found elsewhere such as Black Russian and Blueberry Brown Sugar. Spreads, like the bagels, are made in-house.

The rest of the menu isn’t as expansive, but it does offer both classics (Reubens and pastrami sandwiches) and more recent touches (The Larry David, a shout-out to Curb Your Enthusiasm, features Nova and whitefish on a bagel with lettuce, tomato, capers, and cream cheese). A deli case also features an assortment of salads and sides, there a few baked goods, and like any proper Jewish-style deli, Dr. Brown’s sodas are on hand too.

For my first visit, I tried an omelet sandwich (egg, cheddar, and pastrami on a plain bagel) as well as an assorted half-dozen bagels and lox spread to go. Those used to the smooth and uniform appearance of mass-produced bagels may be confused by the rougher appearance of the bagels found here, but I took this as a sign that they were homemade. Thankfully, the taste and texture fit the appearance: a crisp, crackly skin and a chewy interior. Legit. The accompanying pastrami was satisfyingly smoky, and the sandwich as a whole seemed well worth repeating. A word of caution, however: this is an omelet sandwich, not a mere egg sandwich. Expect to use two hands.

Pricing here varies. At $6.25/half dozen or $12.50/dozen, bagels are about the going rate. The omelet sandwiches start at $4.50 for egg on a bagel and increase accordingly with each topping added. Putting lox on anything brings you over $9.

Annoyingly, while prices are listed on the menu at each table, they are not (or at least were not when I visited) listed on the wall behind the counter. The blanks beside each item were perplexing to say the least. Also, while the tie-dye shirted staff were friendly and enthusiastic, they did appear at times distracted.

Greenfield’s knows how to churn out a quality bagel, and the menu holds enough promise to make return visits likely, but between New Garden Bagels down the road and Giacomo’s across the street, there are, for the time being, better options for both bagels and sandwiches in the immediate area.