The blue and yellow-colored bagels flying off the shelves at the Onion Roll Restaurant & Deli, 6935 W. North Ave., Oak Park, are New York bagels. Not New York-style and certainly not Chicago-style; the deli has filtered the water for the bagels to emulate lower-acidity New York water.
But something much deeper is at work here. The bagels have an American sensibility and are supporting Ukrainians as they suffer the Russian invasion.
Tinted in their colors to reflect Ukraine’s national flag, the bagels, retailing for $5 each, are far more expensive — for a good cause — than their many-flavored counterparts. All the proceeds from their sales go to military aid and humanitarian relief in Ukraine, mother country of Igor Russo, one of the Onion Roll’s co-owners.
A New Yorker and a Ukrainian
Teaming with partner Ryan Rosenthal, a native New Yorker who tweaked the bagels’ recipe to reflect authentic Big Apple taste, Kyiv native Russo had raised $3,800 as of Monday’s lunch hour. He said they’re selling four to five dozen blue-and-yellow bagels per day.
He also is distributing to Oak Park businesses copies of the banner, “Pray for Ukraine,” that is displayed in the front of the Onion Roll.
“The banks are frozen in Ukraine,” said Russo, who emigrated to the United States at age 19 just before the Soviet Union broke apart 30 years ago. “I had to find a way to get the money from here. I got in touch with St. Joseph the Betrothed Ukrainian Church, 5000 N. Cumberland Ave. in Chicago (near Norridge). The money is collected there to go a Ukrainian heroes’ fund.
“We’re selling out of the bagels quickly. People are also donating money here without even buying bagels. I also brought bagels to an attorney I knew and he donated $1,000.”
Russo said turmeric is used for the yellow coloring, while organic food coloring creates the blue tint. Some 10 dozen bagels, all handmade, are typically produced daily. They are plain bagels without any of the exotic toppings in which Onion Roll specializes.
“We have not really thought of stopping it at any time,” Rosenthal said of his newest bagel line. “We will not allow us a single day to go by without supporting Ukraine.”
Russo knew firsthand what Russian rule over Ukraine was like. He grew up under the rigid Soviet system that only loosened under President Mikhail Gorbachev during Russo’s last few years in Kyiv. Antisemitism still existed, prompting Russo to adopt his present surname from his original Gershoyg. “Yes, there was some Jewish misfavor,” he said.
“I remember all my childhood, my friends,” he said. “I had a lot of roots in Ukraine. It’s where my character was formed.
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“You couldn’t travel anywhere. It was a closed country. I could never imagine then traveling abroad. You were not allowed to go even to Poland or Bulgaria. Everything was censored or scrutinized. (Practicing) religion was not really common.”
Russo also dodged tragedy in the wake of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, not far north of Kviv, in 1986. He went camping with friends, and on what he called a “beautiful sunny day” they suddenly experienced “rain” out of seemingly nowhere. The substance was radioactive fallout from the ruptured reactor.
“We had no idea what happened,” Russo said. “They hid the news for a couple of days.” Fortunately, south winds blew most of the fallout away from the big metropolitan area of Kyiv.
Finding his way to the United States amid the second big wave of Jewish emigration out of the Soviet Union, Russo eventually went to chiropractic school, where he met Rosenthal. They went into practice together in Oak Park and eventually became fans of the Onion Roll. Eight years ago, the two Jewish partners bought out the Italian American Cardone brothers, longtime owners of the Jewish deli founded in 1968.
Making bagels in ‘New York’ water
Rosenthal found Chicago-style bagels tasted different, and in his mind inferior, to the New York bagels he had consumed growing up. The bagel, whose roots trace to 13th-century Poland, became a New York delicacy among the teeming masses of immigrant Jews in the city, then further got boosted in popularity across late-20th century America.
Water sources are the wellspring of bagel flavor and texture, the partners say. Chicago bagels are boiled in Lake Michigan water that has more acidity. New York bagels, said Rosenthal, have lower-acidity water sources in runoff from the Catskill and Berkshire mountains.
“Chicago bagels do not have the crunchy crust,” said Rosenthal. “They have more dense crumb (interior), more salt. We have a filtration system that allows water to soften to resemble New York City water.
” (The New York) bagel is good plain or with seasonings. I test my bagel out by looking for the plain bagel. You can taste it by the outside having crusty crunch. When you take a bite of the outside of the bagel, your lips should stick a bit to the outside. Then your feel the moisture of the chewy taste of the inside.”
Onion Roll has bagels for every palate. Types are plain, egg, onion, black and white sesame (zebra), everything, garlic, cheddar-jalapeno, loaded egg-with-onion, garlic, bacon-and-cheddar, salt, rosemary and salt, French toast, Mediterranean, bacon and cheddar, special Onion Roll bagel with onion and poppy seed, cheese pizza, pepperoni pizza, hot dog (bagel is rolled on the outside of the wiener), double chocolate chip, cinnamon raisin and pumpernickel (on weekends). Unsold bagels are made into bagel chips, sold separately or put into a bread basket for all diners.
Other Jewish deli legends like kreplach and matzoh ball soup, as well as lox, corned beef and pastrami sandwiches dot the menu. Another New York staple not readily found in Chicago is the egg cream, a foamy drink made by blending two tablespoons of Fox’s U-Bet chocolate syrup, a quarter cup of milk and club soda.
Rosenthal and Russo sandwich their work days at Onion Roll around their chiropractic practice. They get relief by closing the deli in midafternoon after the lunch rush.
“I work 70-hour weeks,” Rosenthal said. “I get in to the Onion Roll at 5:30 a.m. and stay for a few hours, then go to our medical office. Igor and I spend two to three hours a night talking about (the deli).”
But these days, Russo also has some heavy thoughts for conversation starters. He has a sympathetic ear from almost all Onion Roll patrons and chiropractic patients.
“This obviously makes me very mad,” he said. “Kyiv is a city I grew up in. It’s a beautiful city. I’m confused why it’s happening. I can only imagine what the people are going through. These are educated people working hard all their life.
“Ukraine is always going through turmoil. It’s never been stable, never really been normal. People were making minimum money (under the Soviets). It was more survival. Now one million have to go to other countries and don’t know what to face.
“And many of the Russians don’t know what they’re fighting for. They send young boys — they’re captured and the Ukrainian army is letting them call their mothers on cellphones, asking them to come and pick them up.”
