February 16, 2026
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Philip Korshak is plotting a comeback after closing his acclaimed bagel shop in 2023. He plans to open Korshak Picnic Provisions, a bodega-style store selling hot dogs and picnic supplies, at 13th and Reed streets by May. The screen capture above shows the sign of his former bagel shop, Korshak Bagels.
Philip Korshak's star as a self-described "bagel monger" burned bright and hot for more than two years, making bagels that inspired customers to line up outside his shop and created phenomenon at 10th and Morris streets.
Admirers of Korshak Bagels included lofty critics like the New York Times and Bon Appétit, which included the bagel maker on their lists of the 50 most exciting restaurants in the U.S. and 50 best new restaurants in the U.S., respectively. Korshak had invented a new bagel style, the South Philly bagel.
And then Korshak Bagels closed in September 2023. Its star extinguished by Korshak because he deemed the business unsustainable financially and personally. The shop's Instagram account, once a timeline of bagel pics and Korshak's sketches and poetry became dominated by poetry and then more recently the musings of a sketch of chubby bear in a striped shirt.
Until last week. That's when Korshak added two posts with what appeared to be a logo for a new business: Korshak Picnic Provisions & hotdogs ...
"Hi South Philly. Have I told you about how I love a picnic? And how I love hotdogs?" the post's caption reads.
Korshak confirmed to PhillyVoice that he is plotting his comeback this spring with bodega-style store, a nod to his time living in Brooklyn, at the corner of 13th and Reed streets, across the street from Columbus Square Park, about a half mile from his old bagel shop in South Philly.
The new business will stock everything anyone would need for a picnic in the park, Korshak said, like biscuits, cinnamon buns, cookies, hummus, schmears, including hot dogs, which are poised to be the shop's signature offering.
"Hot dogs are silly and fun, and more importantly, it's impossible to put them on a pedestal," Korshak said. "... I thought this space needs a really lovely bodega with hot dogs. Wouldn't it be great if the store were a place where you say to somebody 'Hey, let's meet at that place and then go to the park.'"
Korshak is optimistic the shop can be up and running by May. While he will not be baking the hot dog buns, instead relying on nearby bakery Mighty Bread to supply that component, Korshak said his wild sourdough yeast starter, which he named Helen Mirren, will make a return, but not to make bagels.
It has been an "emotional" time since Korshak Bagels closed, the baker said. He has set out on new adventures to the Pacific Northwest and traveled back to his native Texas.
In Texas, he learned a friend own the South Philly property that Korshak Picnic Provisions will occupy. While he is returning to the neighborhood, Korshak isn't looking to repeat history with his new store. He plans to keep it small, just three employees, with more flexibility in its offerings.
"The problem with (the bagel shop) is that it wasn't really applicable in the way that I needed it to be," he said. "A small shop that couldn't generate enough (revenue) for it to subsist other than as an art project … My understanding of the limitations of what I'm getting myself into are more sharp, I think."
Korshak envisions his new business becoming a checkpoint for people to get outside, gather and enjoy each other's company.
"There are a lot of reasons why this is probably a very, very bad idea," he said. "But what I think is a very good idea is being able to stand in the room that I'm standing in, and look out at a park that is covered in snow and know that spring is around the corner. And that the human beings walking north on 13th, not one of them is like the other, yet they are all connected."
