
 
 The 10th circle of hell (Jen Chung / Gothamist) 
 
 There's something about New York's endless supply of authentic eateries that transforms hopeful politicians into weird aliens who’ve never before encountered the concept of food: Back in the 1970s, South Dakota Senator George McGovern was basically run out of town after ordering a glass of milk with his kosher hot dog. One-time presidential hopeful John Kasich came down with a debilitating case of meat sweats after inhaling a month’s-worth of carbs at a Bronx deli. And Mayor Bill de Blasio's reputation still hasn't recovered from the great Staten Island fork-and-knife pizza scandola of 2014. 
 
 On Sunday, Cynthia Nixon became the latest aspiring office-holder to briefly lose her mind while attempting to eat on the campaign trail, when she ordered—in public and on purpose—a cinnamon raisin bagel with lox from Zabar's on the Upper West Side. She didn't stop there, but went on to request red onions, capers, tomato, and plain cream cheese to the mess. Again, this was on a *shudders* cinnamon raisin bagel. 
 
 "That's what I want—a full load," she declared at the counter, as veteran campaign manager Rebecca Katz tried, with good reason, to dissuade us from filming the harrowing scene. 
 
 When confronted by a possibly horrified passerby, Nixon assured the witness that she knew what she was doing: "Yeah, sweet and salty, you're right." 
 
 Since mentioning Nixon's order in a story published earlier today, we've been bombarded by understandably aghast readers, who wondered how a lifelong New Yorker could possibly stomach such a disconcerting trinity of LOX and CINNAMON and RAISINS. (and CAPERS, for that matter). 
 
 There's a lot happening in New York politics right now, but @CynthiaNixon eating a cinnamon raisin bagel with lox hit me as an unmatched level of chaos @Gothamist https://t.co/XsAECVbQQB pic.twitter.com/Q5PLU5MG3O — Ellen (@ekcranley) September 10, 2018 
 
 look, i'm still voting for her, but we need to talk about how cynthia nixon apparently puts LOX on CINNAMON RAISIN BAGELS, which seems basically criminal to me https://t.co/3n7mj7MAhQ pic.twitter.com/isBVPIWnhu — 𝖒𝖆𝖈𝖆𝖗𝖔𝖓𝖎 '𝖓' 𝖒𝖎𝖉𝖌𝖊 ٩(⁎❛ᴗ❛⁎)۶ (@meg__clark) September 10, 2018 
 
 But despite our shared disgust, we weren't quite ready to pass judgement on the bagel blunder until we'd tried the thing for ourselves. So we headed to Bagels on the Square in the West Village, and sheepishly replicated the gubernatorial candidate’s order. 
 
 Reader: It was bad. 
 
 "That's really disgusting—I mean like, it's terrible," exclaimed native New York Bagel Expert Jake Dobkin, after biting into the sandwich. "A horrifying example of globalism." 
 
 "I can't untaste the damn thing," reviewed Gothamist writer Claire Lampen. "The cinnamon has a weird kind of haunting aftertaste. I don't want cinnamon sugar and fish. I don't want dessert bagels with onion. Hardest possible pass." 
 
 I personally have had a stomachache since tasting the pungent concoction, and am now debating whether to ask for a raise or a sick day. 
 
 Not everyone feels this way, apparently. Jessica Lappin, the president of the Alliance for Downtown New York, once told the Times that she enjoys a cinnamon raisin bagel with a “large amount of lox.” Extra Crispy did their own investigation, and determined that “anecdotally, at least: cinnamon raisin with cream cheese and lox is a thing.” Yes, like patch pants are a thing, and bedbugs are a thing. 
 
 Of course, some New Yorkers also like rainbow bagels or gold-crusted bagels or, worst of all, blueberry bagels. It is fair, I think, to question whether any of those people should be trusted with the most important job in New York State. 
 
 We’ve reached out to the Nixon campaign to see how she’s feeling today, and whether the sweet-and-salty atrocity is a regular thing for her. We’ll update if we hear back. 
 
 Additional reporting by Jen Chung 
 
 
 
 ||||| Gov. Andrew Cuomo has expanded his lead heading into Thursday’s gubernatorial primary, a new poll showed, as the incumbent Democrat and his challenger Cynthia Nixon make their final push for votes. 
 
 Mr. Cuomo, who is seeking his third term, was preferred by 63% of likely Democratic primary voters surveyed by the Siena Research Institute in a poll released Monday. Cynthia Nixon won the support of 22%, the poll showed. Siena’s July survey had Mr. Cuomo leading 60% to Ms. Nixon’s 29%. 
 
 ... ||||| The New York Times’ weekly lifestyle column, “Sunday Routine,” is a typically staid affair, featuring non-titillating things like exercising, sleeping in, and spending time with family. Every so often, though, something attention-grabbing sneaks into the mix, as when the poet and novelist Eileen Myles told us of how she sets aside time in the evenings for “masturbating and going to 12-step meetings,” as any sensible person would—or, as in this week’s edition, when Jessica Lappin, the president of the Alliance for Downtown New York, described the breakfast she enjoys with her husband and two sons. “I have a whole wheat everything bagel, as does he, and the boys get cinnamon raisin with lox,” Lappin says. “Not just a little bit of lox, either. My kids consume a large amount of lox. And cream cheese, of course.” 
 
 While I respect anybody with the stomach to consumer large amounts of lox, I have to ask: Cinnamon raisin with lox? Is that a thing? Cinnamon raisin with cream cheese, certainly, but adding lox to the mix feels like a kind of culinary apostasy that could get you banished from Russ & Daughters or, God forbid, stop the heart of a Jewish grandmother. Perhaps my palate isn’t that adventurous, though, or maybe I’m just too old-fashioned to consider the sweet and salty combination as appealing. I look forward to an entirely savory experience when I indulge in sliced smoked salmon—on an everything bagel, with regular cream cheese, perhaps capers, some onion, and maybe a slice of tomato. (That’s the classic combination, of course.) 
 
 But as it turns out, the seemingly unholy axis of cinnamon raisin, cream cheese and lox isn’t that heretical—at least that’s the conclusion I came to after calling up a couple of heavily trafficked bagel shops in Manhattan for a verdict on the matter. According to an employee at Ess-a-Bagel on Third Avenue in Midtown East who picked up the phone this afternoon, the order isn’t all that common, but when customers opt for the combination they will go all out—asking for unusual kinds of cream cheese with strawberries or blueberries, for instance. “In my experience, those combinations are more common around the Asian population, the Japanese and the Koreans,” he added. An employee at Murray’s Bagels on Sixth Avenue in Chelsea who I also called this afternoon confirmed that observation, which, I guess, makes sense. 
 
 So, there you have it—anecdotally, at least: cinnamon raisin with cream cheese and lox is a thing. And perhaps the combination isn’t that unholy, after all. But I still think it’s gross.
– Digging into a slice of pizza with a fork is one surefire way to horrify New Yorkers. Another is putting fish on a cinnamon raisin bagel, as Cynthia Nixon did on Sunday. Though it's apparently a thing, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate's "sweet and salty" deli order of a cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese, lox, red onions, capers, and tomato was viewed as "basically criminal" by one supporter, per the Gothamist, while George Conway, husband of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, suggested a new phrase: "Lox her up." Still, a rep for Nixon—who defended the snack as a "delicious" go-to, per the Washington Post—said opponent Andrew Cuomo's weekend was "disastrous" in comparison. Per the Wall Street Journal, Cuomo's team at the New York State Democratic Committee sent out a mailer suggesting Nixon, whose two oldest children are Jewish, is "silent on the rise of anti-Semitism." Nixon was "appalled" while her friend, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, called the mailer "beyond unacceptable" and "downright Trumpian." Even so, Cuomo, who said he didn't know about the mailer, has the support of 63% of likely Democratic primary voters, compared to Nixon's 22%, according to a Siena Research Institute poll out days before Thursday's vote. "Don't believe the polls," responds Nixon, using Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's victory as an example. "They are not capturing this progressive moment that we are in."