Last week I had a post that Modern Bread & Bagel was closed indefinitely and was “no longer in the works” at that location — Church and Duane — according to a customer service rep.

But then a commenter named Orly wrote, “This information is false. We still plan to open the Tribeca store.”

And then I got a note from the company’s co-founder and CEO, Joshua Borenstein, who emailed to say the customer service folks who replied to me were mistaken.

“The emails you received from our customer service representative did not paint an accurate picture of where things stand at the moment,” he said. “We are taking steps to get the Tribeca store open as soon as possible. Sonder closing unexpectedly made things difficult, and we are still working through some challenges with the landlord, the city, and the new tenant. All that said, we look forward to serving the Tribeca community and hope to open before Labor Day.”

So there you have it!

The Duane Street Hotel closed in May 2021; Sonder took it over a few months later. When the hotel closed, so did Jehangir Mehta’s restaurant Graffiti Earth, which he originally opened in 2013 as Mehtaphor. But then Modern took the space in the base of Sonder in early 2025. The whole building is currently for sale.

The Modern Bread menu is entirely gluten-free and nut-free; the bagels are kettle-boiled and made with ancient grains. The salmon is smoked in house. There are plenty of other meal options on the menu, which they describe as pescatarian, vegetable forward. The Upper East Side location has pan pizzas; maybe that will come to this location as well. They also have lots of vegan options (there’s even a BEC and vegan lox, made from marinated carrots). The cinnamon bun is there most popular pastry item.

The company was founded by Orly Gottesman — I am assuming the Orly in the comments section — whose husband was diagnosed with celiac disease when they were dating. They moved to Paris as a young couple and she started learning French pastry while there, experimenting with gluten free versions at home. When they moved to Sydney, she attended Cordon Bleu Culinary School there and worked with the head chef for pastry on an independent study for GF pastry development.

I have checked in with the customer service reps monthly for a year — the place has looked ready to go for ages.