Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Dough Boy: Chuck Hammers, shown at his Los Gatos restaurant, has a small pizza empire that includes Pizza My Heart and Pizza-A-Go-Go restaurants in the South Bay and Santa Cruz areas. Now, he's looking for a slice of the action in Willow Glen. His new restaurant, Pizza My Heart, is set to open this September in a space recently vacated by Manhattan Bagels.
The Bagel Wars Are Over; Let the Pizza Battle Begin
Glen loses Manhattan Bagels but gains a NY-style pizzeria
By Steven Raphael
Noah's Bagels has emerged victorious in the battle for the Lincoln Avenue bagel market. Manhattan Bagels, its only nearby competition, closed its doors in early June.
And last week, the former bagel shop was leased to the operators of the Pizza My Heart restaurants. The Willow Glen restaurant will be the fourth Pizza My Heart, following close on the heels of another one, which opened in downtown Los Gatos in March.
Chuck Hammers opened Pizza -A-Go-Go in the 1980s in downtown San Jose and later purchased Pizza My Heart, a Santa Cruz fixture for two decades.
Employees at Manhattan Bagels said the Willow Glen store closed because it wasn't bringing in enough dough. According to San Francisco store manager Jack Olehin, "It just wasn't profitable."
Another employee, John O'Brien, cited internal troubles. He said that the store on Lincoln Avenue had changed ownership several times until, eventually, the company couldn't find anybody to manage it.
"When they didn't have anybody to run it, it became a burden," O'Brien said.
The closing of Manhattan Bagels signifies the end of the so-called bagel wars, three years of competition over Lincoln Avenue bagel sales. When the competition heated up in 1997, Willow Glen Bagels, a small, locally owned store, was Lincoln Avenue's sole bagel merchant.
But, in a span of three months, two large chains, Manhattan Bagels and Noah's Bagels, both opened stores on Lincoln Avenue. The added competition quickly took its toll on Willow Glen Bagels. Over the next year and a half, the store changed ownership several times. Finally, in September 1998, it became the first casualty of the bagel wars and went out of business.
Fortunately, bagel connoisseurs were still left with two choices for their bagel consumption.
Manhattan Bagels is known for its traditional East Coast-style of bagels. To prepare them, Manhattan boils the dough prior to baking it. According to O'Brien, this seals the outside of the dough, allowing it to develop a hard cover when baked; meanwhile the inside remains soft, moist and doughy.
In contrast Noah's Bagels does not boil its dough. Consequently, their bagels have a markedly different texture than those made by Manhattan. According to Noah's store manager Laurie Keel, Noah's bagels are "less stiff and more gritty" than boiled bagels.
Since the closing of Manhattan Bagels, bagel lovers have been left with only one option: Noah's. And according to Keel, Noah's has seen a significant increase in business since its competitor closed.
Photograph by Johanna Carson
Holey Moley: Early-morning customers descend on Noah's Bagels at 6 a.m. Business has been picking up lately, now that Manhattan Bagels is out of the picture.
There is, however, a silver lining to this culinary cloud. When Manhattan Bagels closed, restaurateur Chuck Hammers seized the opportunity to bring Pizza My Heart, his East Coast-style pizza joint, to Willow Glen. Hammers prides himself on the authenticity of the pizza at Pizza My Heart.
"It's probably the only really authentic New York-style pizza in the Bay Area," he said.
What this means, for those who haven't been initiated into the subtleties of East Coast cuisine, is that the crust is made extraordinarily thin. This is achieved by hand-tossing the dough to stretch it out.
"It's a real tedious way to make pizza," Hammers said.
Furthermore, the dough must be made a day in advance to allow time for the yeast to create air bubbles. This helps to make the crust crispy when it is cooked. "It's a lot of work, but it's a much better pizza," he explained. "There's a lot more flavor."
Keeping with the New York style, Pizza My Heart sells most of its pizza by the slice. While they also sell whole pies, Hammers finds that diners generally prefer to stop in, grab a bite and be on their way.
For those who stay, they are treated to the uniquely Californian ambiance of the restaurant. Hammers said that every Pizza My Heart is decorated with a unique theme that revolves around surfing. While he's keeping mum about what he has planned for the Willow Glen store, he expressed lofty goals.
"I expect it to become world famous," he said.
As he works on a September opening, the question that's on everyone's mind is what effect this will have on the other pizza restaurants on Lincoln Avenue. With the end of the bagel wars so fresh in their memories, people are wondering if this is the beginning of a new era of competition on Lincoln: the era of pizza wars.
Ron Depape, owner of Willow Glen's Round Table Pizza verbalized the concern perfectly. "There are only so many restaurants on this block. All we're doing is splitting up the business. [The arrival of a new pizza restaurant] will just mean less business for everyone."
Yet, not everyone is worried. Jeff Bonomi, afternoon shift manager at Willow Street Pizza, said, "We have a lot of longstanding customers here. I don't think that a new pizza place would pose much problem to us."
Hammers agreed, pointing out that Pizza My Heart's arrival into Los Gatos had practically no effect on neighboring restaurants. According to Lee-Ann Knox, the owner of Los Gatos Round Table Pizza, when Pizza My Heart arrived, lunchtime, dine-in business may have been moderately affected, but neither night business, nor take-out and delivery business, were affected.
"I think there's room for everybody, and I don't think we're going to hurt anybody," Hammers said. "I think it's a sign that Lincoln Avenue is becoming a neat destination place for San Jose, as it gets more and more hip spots to eat at."
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
