I was a bit intrigued by this discussion, and went to look at the non-kosher simit+smith store on 72nd Street. The look of the simit is close to that of a flagel, but a customer coming out who told me he is from turkey told me "In Turkey some places make it with a crust similar to a boureka, while others make it with a firm bagel like crust, but never with the thick chewy inside of a bagel, and it does not have to be round with a hole."
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