Rainbow Bagel Creator Promises Park Slope Comeback

PARK SLOPE, NY — Rainbow bagel master Scot Rossillo is promising once again to knead dough into viral gold with "something revolutionary" at the new Park Slope outpost of The Bagel Store. He just has to get the shop open first.

The 69 Fifth Ave. storefront remained shuttered for National Bagel Day on Wednesday, sending hungry Brooklynites hankering for bagels elsewhere. But Rossillo hopes he soon will clear a few last administrative hurdles.

"We should be open in the next four weeks, five weeks," he said.

Rossillo in 2016 brought fame to his The Bagel Store in Williamsburg with a video showing how he made rainbow bagels. The kaleidoscopic breads became a hit and brought crowds to his 754 Metropolitan Ave. shop, not to mention spawning imitators.

But the lines down Metropolitan Avenue and flurries of Instagram posts disappeared after the shop closed in 2019. It may have raked in dough, but the store had about $128,000 in unpaid taxes, according to reports.

The closure set up the Fifth Avenue storefront as the new The Bagel Store flagship. Rossillo said a combination of "personal problems" and permit applications kept it from opening when he would have liked.

In the meantime, he said he's heartened that people across the world still show interest in his bagels. The wait will be worth it, he promised.

"It will not be for nothing," he said.