Only in America: Muslim cab drivers save Jewish bagel shop - msnbc.com
One of New York City’s oldest Jewish bakeries has been rescued from closure by an unlikely source: a pair of Muslim cab drivers who promise to keep it kosher.
Peerzada Shah and Zafaryab Ali recently took ownership of the Coney Island Bialys and Bagels, a landmark fixture anchored at 2350 Coney Island Avenue for 91 years.
The bakery was about to shutter in September when Ali, a former staffer, learned of its demise and decided to save it — keeping it in the same spirit of its original owner, Morris Rosenzweig, a Jewish immigrant from Bialystok, Poland, who founded the shop in 1920.
The story was first reported by The Jewish Daily Forward.
Ali said he purchased the business six weeks ago for an amount he would not disclose.
The partners have been busy ever seen since.
“It’s the same bialys, but I don’t have time to talk right now, we’re busy,” Shah said by phone on Friday. “I have to make sure customers are taken care of, because they come first.”
“Many people are here in line, cameras are rolling, TV is calling for me now,” Ali said. “It is a good day, a busy day.”
Just weeks ahead of the purchase, the recession and continued financial difficulties had pushed Rosenzweig’s grandson, Steve Ross, to call it quits.