Meet Amanda Goldberg & Nir Shemesh of Goldberg's Bagels

Some pairings are just fated to be: baseball and summer, sand and the beach, bagels and cream cheese. And, Amanda Goldberg and Nir Shemesh, who own Goldberg’s Bagels in East Quogue. Amanda is the fourth generation of the famed Goldberg bagel family, which has been in the bagel business for 76 years and has 13 bagel shops across the South and North forks.

“It is all about balance,” says Amanda of working with her parents and cousins. “Cooking and working with family is amazing. Everyone brings something different to the table.”

It is the same with Amanda and Nir. She is the creative force and Nir is more technical-minded.

“I always knew I would work in the family business,” says Amanda, spent time as a professional tennis player until an injury ended that dream. “My dad didn’t want me to go into the family business because of how hard it is.”

Interestingly, Amanda and Nir’s connection goes back much further than the messages they exchanged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Growing up, Nir, who is from Israel, would spend summers in the United States visiting an aunt and uncle in Fairlawn, N.J., and would be sent to the local deli to pick up bagels each day. He couldn’t even speak English well enough to know what he was ordering.

“I would memorize the order: five plain bagels,” he remembers. “I had no idea what I was ordering but it smelled so good in there. We don’t eat bagels in Israel like you do here, but I really liked them.”

If you haven’t guessed, yes, that bagel shop was owned by a relative of Amanda’s, but it wasn’t named Goldberg’s. It was called Hot Bagels and owned by Arthur Goldberg, Amanda’s grandfather.

Neither one knew of that connection when they began conversing. They remained friends even though they each were in other relationships.

Nir was in the United States with his brother getting their commercial pilots licenses. Because Nir and his brother worked for the airlines, they were able to come back and forth to New York often. (At this point, his father was retired and his sister, who also worked for the airline, had different routes.)

“We spent the summer of 2020 together and were engaged on December 11, the day before Nir had to leave to go back to Israel,” Amanda recounts. “He spent four months in Israel before coming back in April to get married in October.”

As for that childhood connection Nir had to the family, Amanda adds: “He was telling my parents about that childhood store, and we realized what shop it was.”

“At six years old, if you’d told me I was going to marry the owner of the bagel shop, I don’t know what I would have thought. Some say it is destiny because she didn’t even exist when I was going to the bagel shop in New Jersey.”

Fast forward to today and the fact that the two spend nearly 24 hours a day together.

“I would say ‘yes and no’ on working together,” Nir says. “Usually you come home and if you have frustrations at work, you let it go. But my problems with work are her problems with work, so you don’t leave them at work. I get home and want to solve a problem at 8 o’clock. She may not. You have to learn how to maneuver those things. Each of us brings something different to the table. We use each other’s strengths and cover for each other’s weaknesses.”

Amanda adds: “He’s analytical, and I’m creative with out-of-the-box thinking. He can take my idea and drive it home.”

“If she cooks something great, I’ll ask her to cook it again, but it will taste a little different because she doesn’t use a recipe,” Nir says with a laugh. “As a commercial pilot, I’m used to planning and everything coming out exactly the way it is supposed to. I plan things in advance and always have a backup. If something doesn’t come out great, it is not the way I roll.”

Oddly, Nir has become Amanda’s taste tester because she has developed a gluten allergy.

“I can’t eat them anymore,” Amanda says of the family’s bagels. “When I used to eat them, I loved almost every kind. Maybe my favorite was poppy seed with butter and cream cheese.”

Nir is a little less picky.

“I like whatever is hot out of the oven, so hot you can’t hold them,” Nir says. “The smell makes my mouth water.”

The two have found their niche in East Quogue. She opened a store on Main Street in 2015, then they moved the store to its current location in 2024, and they’ve found their flow. They’re a part of the community. Amanda knows every customer by his or her order.

“We’d have this one mom who would come in with her young daughter and she’d wait on the side while mom was in line and we’d bring her a mini bagel and call it a ‘waiting bagel,’” Amanda says of a customer she’s seen grow up. Now, Amanda and Nir have a young daughter who comes to the shop every day.

“My dad is old school and likes to keep things simple,” Amanda says of the original Goldberg’s that has been in Southampton for 25 years. Her parents also have locations in Florida, where they spend part of the year.

As for Amanda and Nir, they are branching out. This spring, they started a Goldberg’s clothing line. In a few weeks, they’ll open Gold Brew, which will be a coffee shop that will feature coffee, smoothies, acai bowls, gelato, baked goods, and a clothing boutique. If you’re wondering, the Goldberg’s in Westhampton is not affiliated with their shops.

In between the new ventures and the high season of summer, they’ll be busy, but never too busy to give a warm welcome. And, if you don’t yet have a standing order, come in a few times and you probably will. Goldberg’s in East Quogue is at 674 Montauk Hwy.

Todd Shapiro is an award-winning publicist and associate publisher of Dan’s Papers.