By Leslie Albrecht
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER WEST SIDE — The neighborhood will not be denied its bagels.
Gourmet grocer Whole Foods said Friday it's adding bagels to the menu for the store's first anniversary party on the Upper West Side, in response to a DNAinfo story.
DNAinfo interviewed Upper West Siders Thursday, asking them to weigh in on the "local" menu Whole Foods planned for its Upper West Side store's first anniversary party.
Residents said the menu, meant to honor the "flavors of the Upper West Side," was missing a key ingredient: bagels.
Spokeswoman Kimberly Robison said Friday she asked store chefs to include bagels at the free birthday party, scheduled for 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at West 97th Street and Columbus Avenue.
Aside from birthday cake, the store will serve up African peanut soup, Dominican rice and beans, collard greens, kosher cheese and wine pairings and Sugar Hill beer from Harlem.
The dishes will be prepared by the store's in-house chef, Robison said.
The menu was designed with an eye toward capturing the diversity of the Upper West Side, Robison said, especially its northern neighborhoods.
"We are the Upper West Side location, but we're at the top of the Upper West Side," Robison said.
"We're a convergance of all the uptown neighborhoods, which happen to have a diverse population. Our thought was to highlight the diversity of all the communities that converge on that point."
The store draws customers from Harlem, Washington Heights, Spanish Harlem and the Columbia University area, Robison said.
Putting African peanut soup on the menu was a nod to the African population along West 116th Street, Robison said.
Party-goers can eat the free food while listening to a free jazz concert — another reference to the neighborhood's history, Robison said.
The corner of West 97th and Columbus was once the home of Mikell's Jazz Club, which closed in 1991. Whole Foods is hosting a series of jazz concerts to honor the club this fall.
