P&C Fresh - Ithaca — Attraction in Town of Ithaca

The best bagels and doughnuts in town come from here.

Ive been making the trip across town in the morning just to grab a couple bagels and doughnuts, it's always worth a detour in the morning.

Make sure you grab fresh ones from the bakery section (I believe day old ones are bagged in 4 packs for a similar price, but are not as fresh obviously) . The bagels are perfectly crusty and chewy on the outside with a perfect balance of density and softness inside. They're unusually moist (in the best way) and have always been very fresh too.

Not to mention, both the bagels and doughnuts are around $1.19/ea! at the time of posting. That's an unreal deal in 2025, let alone in ithaca. These bagels are much better, fresher, and larger (IMO) than, dunkin, ithaca bakery or college town bagels.

I usually just buy a container of store brand soft cream cheese from the cheese/dairy section the and rip right into them, no toaster needed.

The doughnuts are similarly fresh but are fluffy, airy and moist. The oil used for the fried yeast doughnuts tastes clean and unshared with other types of fried food. The amount of filling inside filled doughnuts seems perfect if not generous. Somebody is baking/frying these with care and consistency I rarely see from businesses in Ithaca.

If youre burnt out on the normal ithaca breakfast options these are well worth the stop. I would love to see premade breakfast sandwiches made with the same bagels for a comparably fair price (maybe they do and I missed them?...

I buy groceries both at the P&C and at the Lansing Tops. The Tops is a much better grocery store overall, with modern equipment that functions well. But the P&C has some good points too. They more often have some of the slightly-unusual vegetables I like, such as Swiss chard, escarole, endive. And they are close by, and many of the staff there are kind. In many ways, it seems to be on the edge financially, and cutting corners to survive. They often keep produce after it has died and gone to produce purgatory, suffering as it wilts and rots. Asparagus shrivelled with age, rotting and getting smelly - offered for $5/pound or so! They seem to be hoping for a blind shopper, or maybe someone with a fetish for rotting food (Is there such a fetish? Probably.) I stopped buying watermelons there when I got one that was overripe, getting mushy and turning into watermelon soup - at the peak of the season! It's understandable in December, at the very end of decent watermelon availability. But a bad watermelon in the summer means they aren't properly changing out the old ones. More scrimping, maybe. The long freezer with bagged and boxed veg's has chronic problems with staying cold. Maybe they can't afford to fix it so it stays fixed. So if you shop there, be careful about any item where how it's handled in the store contributes to...

I have done most of my shopping at Wegman's over the years, but have become more familiar with our locally owned P&C Fresh since the COVID lockdowns. Some things I've discovered:

The staff are excellent - friendly, knowledgeable, and efficient - an area where Wegman's seems to have slipped.

They carry a wide array of locally and regionally produced products , at prices that are usually better than Greenstar's.

They have the best breads in Ithaca - far better than what Wegman's or Tops carries. Their "house" Ecce Panis is excellent (I like the multigrain boule), they carry Wide Awake's outstanding breads on the weekends, and they also have a selection of Ithaca Bakery breads.

Their produce is much better than I remembered - likely better than any other local store except Wegman's, and it can compete with Wegman's on good days. I wish they had a bit more organic produce, and they could probably sell more fresh Asian vegetables given our neighborhood's composition.

Their shelves have remained well-stocked of almost everything through the shutdown.

There is none of the social distance-related trauma I've experienced at Wegman's or Walmart. Shopping here is always a nice, relaxing experience.

The local owners and management team deserve enormous credit for what they are doing for...