The Ultimate Bagel

[j44ke]

I like the blue cookies. Do they have blue cookies?

[caleb]

I have no scientific proof but I have always been told the water makes a difference. And NYC water is not actually from NYC. It comes down from the Catskills Watershed. And to include a bike related fact - one of my first rides on a dirt/gravel trail before it was a thing was on the old Old Croton Aqueduct Trail which used to bring water into NYC.

New Yorkers are weird about their bagels. I have students from the city who insist that our local bagels are trash, and they can only eat a bagel from a handful of places in the city. Why? NYC water is magical. Except our local water is basically the source of NYC water. If NYC water is different than our water, it's because the city's water is going through some nasty old pipes for a hundred or more miles between us and them.

So needing to get to the bottom of this whole NYC-bagels-are-amazing thing, I went and stood in the line at Ess on a Sunday morning for an everything bagel with cream cheese, capers, and loxs. It was good. It tasted pretty much exactly like our local bagels.

Maybe the bagel water pipe-funk is an acquired taste.

[e-RICHIE]

The Bagel Oven
Red Bank, NJ

[s_curran]

i'd like to contend with "Katz Bagel Bakery" in Chelsea, MA. they know how to do a damn bagel. but, i'll have to check out rosenfelds! thanks for the tip

Basically was going to same the exact same thing.

[davids]

The best place in/around Boston is Rosenfeld's Bagels (thanks to TTX1 for the recommendation shortly after my arrival).

i'd like to contend with "Katz Bagel Bakery" in Chelsea, MA. they know how to do a damn bagel. but, i'll have to check out rosenfelds! thanks for the tip

Thanks for both these tips. I've probably had Rosenfeld's, but wasn't paying close attention. I love the idea of a Chelsea bagel - that's old school Jew! Although their website has a lot about pizza bagels, which just ain't right...

Good Jewish food is scarce here in Beantown. Kupels. Cheryl Ann's for challah.

Don't even mention Zaftig's. If I want crappy deli I'll go to Stop & Shop...

[s_curran]

Thanks for both these tips. I've probably had Rosenfeld's, but wasn't paying close attention. I love the idea of a Chelsea bagel - that's old school Jew! Although their website has a lot about pizza bagels, which just ain't right...

Good Jewish food is scarce here in Beantown. Kupels. Cheryl Ann's for challah.

Don't even mention Zaftig's. If I want crappy deli I'll go to Stop & Shop...

not that i've had it or anything, but the pizza bagel is damn good, haha

[robin3mj]

The Bagel Oven
Red Bank, NJ

I can attest to this. My sister is in RB and brings these down when we ask nicely ahead of their visits.

[Too Tall]

Just for the record "Zaftig" is a polite yiddish term for pleasingly plump.

Cute name for a store.

[summilux]

St-Viateur in Montreal. Fairmont is good too but one must choose sides in Quebec.

[davids]

Just for the record "Zaftig" is a polite yiddish term for pleasingly plump.

Cute name for a store.

It claims to be a deli.

Oh, and then there's Mamelah's in Cambridge. I had high hopes but it's just another hipster place posing as a deli.

I eat Jewish food at home...

[prcrstn8]

I went and stood in the line at Ess

Next time try TAL Bagels. Better, IMO.

[fastupslowdown]

New Yorkers are weird about their bagels. I have students from the city who insist that our local bagels are trash, and they can only eat a bagel from a handful of places in the city. Why? NYC water is magical. Except our local water is basically the source of NYC water. If NYC water is different than our water, it's because the city's water is going through some nasty old pipes for a hundred or more miles between us and them.

So needing to get to the bottom of this whole NYC-bagels-are-amazing thing, I went and stood in the line at Ess on a Sunday morning for an everything bagel with cream cheese, capers, and loxs. It was good. It tasted pretty much exactly like our local bagels.

Maybe the bagel water pipe-funk is an acquired taste.

the pipes add flavor no doubt!

[NYCfixie]

Bam! You just kicked this thread up a notch (apologies to Emeril).


Ess-A-Bagel is no longer kosher but they still are the best IMHO opinion. They should have bialy's. Sonny's in South Orange has them on the weekends.

Not to hijack a thread, but what happened to my beloved Bialy?


And as far as bagels go, I miss H&H on the upper west side and , i'm old school so prefer true kosher bagel stores, not ones that serve shrimp and bacon.
It's not simply about how they make the bagel, but the whole experience, and bagels are about cream cheese and smoked fish, not the other stuff.
-Mike G

You are killing me. I love this thread.

I hit H&H just before the end. Loaded up on pumpernickel. They were my favorite.

Again and FWIIW In Rockville, MD of all places "Bagel City" is about a 8 on the bagel scale when fresh out of the oven. They make them correctly and it is a Kosher establishment including the ubiquitous and expected massive display of fresh made cookies in colors not found in nature.

[NYCfixie]

New Yorkers are weird about their bagels. I have students from the city who insist that our local bagels are trash, and they can only eat a bagel from a handful of places in the city. Why? NYC water is magical. Except our local water is basically the source of NYC water. If NYC water is different than our water, it's because the city's water is going through some nasty old pipes for a hundred or more miles between us and them.

So needing to get to the bottom of this whole NYC-bagels-are-amazing thing, I went and stood in the line at Ess on a Sunday morning for an everything bagel with cream cheese, capers, and loxs. It was good. It tasted pretty much exactly like our local bagels.

Maybe the bagel water pipe-funk is an acquired taste.

the pipes add flavor no doubt!

We are not weird about our bagels but rather discerning in where we get them. A bad bagel is not worth the effort to get nor the calories to burn off.

As for NYC water, it is better by the time it travels to the city and the New York Times explains why:
How New York Gets Its Water

Next time try TAL Bagels. Better, IMO.

Tal Bagels are fine but not as good as they used to be. No longer Kosher. Unfortunately the kosher (i.e. closed on Sabbath and other Jewish holidays) place that was across the street on the UWS closed; I miss the rainbow bagels. Some kosher hipster juice bar opened in the same space.

[caleb]

As for NYC water, it is better by the time it travels to the city and the New York Times explains why:
How New York Gets Its Water

What makes New York City tap water taste so good?
Thanks in part to the geology of the Catskill Mountains, which have very little limestone rock, the city’s water contains low levels of bitter-tasting calcium.

As a result, New York has delicious bagels and pizza crust.

I've gone through that process before, and none of it sounds better to me. Rather, the NYSDEC has has explicitly said that the reason they limit recreational use on and around the Catskill reservoirs is that the water is only very minimally filtered before it gets to consumers in the city. They've relaxed these restrictions over the past five years, but they still claim that they're doing less than most cities to filter and/or alter the water.

I'm just not sold on the idea that the city has special water. I'm currently enjoying a brew from Bronx Brewery, but I'm pretty confident that a place like Ommegang is starting with better water.

(Am I becoming a New Yorker and bantering about water?)

[NYCfixie]

I vote TT breaks this out into another thread titled Jewish and/or Kosher Delis.

I am 100% in agreement with DavidS about Zaftig's in that it is an overpriced sham of a deli and it is not even kosher.

My only experience was just after I arrived in Boston. I went in, sat at the counter, and asked for "Two with and a cream" (translation = two kosher beef hot dogs with yellow mustard, boiled sauerkraut, and a Dr Brown's cream soda). The waiter had no idea what I was talking about. The food arrived and I realized the sauerkraut was heated on a grill rather than boiled - are you kidding me? And, I have never been back because they charged me extra for the sauerkraut. Sauerkraut in a kosher deli is a condiment FFS and not a food that you charge extra for when someone orders it.

My #1 is Second Avenue Deli in NYC (even at its new location no longer on second avenue).
My #2 is Eppes Essen (again with the Yiddish - translation = I will give you something to eat) in Livingston NJ (home of the reformed Jew)

Thanks for both these tips. I've probably had Rosenfeld's, but wasn't paying close attention. I love the idea of a Chelsea bagel - that's old school Jew! Although their website has a lot about pizza bagels, which just ain't right...

Good Jewish food is scarce here in Beantown. Kupels. Cheryl Ann's for challah.

Don't even mention Zaftig's. If I want crappy deli I'll go to Stop & Shop...

Just for the record "Zaftig" is a polite yiddish term for pleasingly plump.

Cute name for a store.

It claims to be a deli.

Oh, and then there's Mamelah's in Cambridge. I had high hopes but it's just another hipster place posing as a deli.

I eat Jewish food at home...

[prcrstn8]

PS, leftover pulled pork on a bagel is amazing. My GF says "unorthodox" but I don't care.

[Too Tall]

PS, leftover pulled pork on a bagel is amazing. My GF says "unorthodox" but I don't care.

If you are struck by lightning make sure you get an even toast on both sides of the bagel. Just sayin'

[prcrstn8]

If you are struck by lightning make sure you get an even toast on both sides of the bagel. Just sayin'

Also good on toasted challah.

[edoz]

My son's first experience with a bagel resulted in "they're like donuts, only they're made from disappointment".