Straight Outta Brooklyn will bring New York bagels to Aiken

Jan. 30—Straight Outta Brooklyn Bagel & Delicatessen will live up to its name when it opens soon at 106 Park Ave. S.W. in Aiken.

"Our bagels will come right out of Brooklyn," said Yvette Gallacchi, who is preparing to launch the new business with her husband, Joe. "We don't want to be giving anyone the impression that we will be making the bagels there.

"In our opinion, you can't duplicate a New York bagel outside of New York, so we have a supplier that will be shipping them to us frozen, obviously," she continued. "Then we will finish them off so they will come out fresh — and warm if you want.

"They will be true, authentic New York bagels," she concluded.

In addition, Italian pastries made in New York also will be available, according to Yvette.

"The whole premise is things coming out of New York, if they possibly can," she said.

Straight Outta Brooklyn is scheduled to begin serving customers in mid-March following the renovation of the building space next to Neon Fig that the Gallacchis are leasing.

"I think something else that we probably should highlight is that our meats are not going to be Boar's Head or anything like that," Yvette said. "The roast beef, turkey and corned beef, they'll all be cooked in-house. We'll try to have no preservatives and no nitrates.

"The ones that we obviously won't be able to do in-house are pepperoni, salami and ham," she added. "Those will be traditional meats if you will. We will either bring in the pastrami from New York, depending on the cost, or do it in-house."

Information about Straight Out of Brooklyn's menu can be found at sobbagel.com.

In addition to different types of bagels and different flavors of cream cheese, the offerings include breakfast sandwiches on bagels or Kaiser rolls, New York deli style sandwiches, build your own deli sandwiches and hot sandwiches.

"We will be adding a few things based on the feedback that we've already gotten," said Yvette of the response on social media to posts about the plans for Straight Outta Brooklyn.

Operating hours for the shop will be from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

Formerly residents of Lake George New York, the Gallacchis purchased a home in Aiken late last year. Prior to their move, they already own four cafes and delis, and Joe also is a partner in a restaurant in the Empire State.

The couple decided to establish Straight Outta Brooklyn "because we felt there was a need for it in Aiken," Yvette said. "When we were down here, we couldn't find a really good (New York-style) bagel and deli shop. We've also got some background in this, so it was kind of a no-brainer. Then we started talking to people, and they were like, 'Oh yeah, we really need a really good bagel and deli shop here,' and we just kind of worked from there."

Through their other business ventures, the Gallacchis pay it forward, and they're eager to make that a priority in Aiken also.

"We support local charities, especially during the holidays," Yvette said. "We do a lot of food giveaways, which we definitely will continue down here."

Realtor Karen Daly, who is a Meybohm Commercial Properties associate broker, represented the landlord and the tenants in the Straight Outta Brooklyn transaction.