Bagel supply

[zmook.livejournal.com]

What's the best source around here for bagels?  Do I have to go to Panera in Porter Square?

Comments

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

Bagelsaurus

[zmook.livejournal.com]

Huh! I've never noticed they exist before.

[teko.livejournal.com]

Lots of places around stock Iggy's bagels, which are denser than the ones at Panera or the nearby Bruegger's.

[amy-s1.livejournal.com]

The answer is simple: Bagelsaurus by far. As long as you are ok with paying $25/dozen for bagels that are as good as the best in NYC IMHO.

[gruene.livejournal.com]

psshhhht. They aren't even NYC style bagels. They're much chewier in texture, more similar to the Montreal style, though not as sweet.

That being said, they are good. Whether they're worth the wait and the price, I leave as an exercise for the reader.

[leafshimmer.livejournal.com]

I am just pointing out that whenever I've walked past Bagelsaurus on a weekend day, the line has been halfway around the block.

If they're as good as some folks say, I guess I can understand that. I'm an untutored peasant when it comes to bagels, so when I buy them (which only seems to be about once a year), I just hit Bruegger's.

They do have them, I think, at Diesel Café in Davis Square; can't vouch for the quality.

[gingicat]

Panera is fine. If you're willing to spend 40 minutes on the Green D line, then go to Rosenfeld's in Newton Center, which also has the best challah.

[gingicat]

Never heard of them - will have to investigate!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Having gritted my teeth and purchased a dozen bagels at Bagelsaurus, I am completely baffled by the excitement people have over the place. I honestly think it's because most people don't know a good bagel and they're assuming that because these cost over twice what you'd pay for an actual NYC bagel in NYC, they MUST be good. But they aren't. They don't even claim to be NYC bagels, btw, so anyone who tells you they are is showing how little they know.

[zmook.livejournal.com]

What is your source for bagels, then?

[zmook.livejournal.com]

I don't recall having seen Iggy's bagels for sale. What places have them?

[ravingwanderer.livejournal.com]

Less far than that, but still well outside Davis-land, Kupel's in Brookline. I knew a Brooklynite (not to be confused with Brookline-ite) who swore by them.

[wintahill.livejournal.com]

Bagelsaurus is still somewhat new and "trendy". I thought their bagels were good, but overpriced for what they are. I really enjoyed the scallion cream cheese they sell though. The two times I have gone, the line was at least 15 minutes wait to get a half dozen to carry out. They are certainly not New York style bagels in my opinion, if that is what you are looking for.

As others have mentioned I think Brueggers and Iggys are the most easily accessible and reasonably priced options with availability close to the square.

[teko.livejournal.com]

Pemberton Farms, Dave's Fresh Pasta, and I believe Blue Shirt and Diesel, but I'm not sure about the latter two these days.

[zmook.livejournal.com]

Good to know. I'll give them a try.

[teko.livejournal.com]

Having not tried them yet (due to the aforementioned crazy line out the door), I'm not exactly defending them, but every review I've read besides this describes them as "easily the best in the city, though overpriced" (more or less). So if they aren't even good bagels, do you have an alternate suggestion?

[frotz.livejournal.com]

It stretches "around here", but Katz Bagel Bakery in Chelsea has imho the best NYC-style bagels in the Boston area, by a wide margin.

If you want actual Montreal bagels, you can get St. Viateur bagels from Bellmont Cafe (yes, spelled that way, in Belmont) or Walnut Market (Boston and Newton).

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

How many of those reviews included a description that was like the one above, "as good as the best in NYC"? As noted, I am baffled, and I do think a lot of it is effective marketing, and pricing that makes people believe they are better than they are. Or because they are different, that is interpreted as better. I really don't know. I bought a dozen because my partner had heard all the good and wanted to try them. I nearly walked out when I saw the price, because I've never paid that much for a bagel in my life. It both bothered me and also worried me a little, because what if they *were* all that, and then I'd keep overpaying for bagels like crazy?

As it happened, both of us found them nothing special. We are both from NY, though, so perhaps if we were more used to Montreal bagels, we'd have been more impressed.

As for alternate suggestions, I don't buy bagels often enough to offer, I'm sorry. When we go to NY, we tend to bring back a dozen or so to freeze, but other than that, we generally don't bother. I feel like I recall thinking the Einstein Brothers Bagels weren't bad, but I can't swear to it?

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

So having just posted that, I had another thought...

When I first moved to the area, there was one morning I was out for a walk and wanted a bagel. So I wandered into various shops and asked what was still warm (my standard question back "home" when I wanted a bagel to eat on the spot) and everyone would look at me like I had three heads. But I was used to bagel stores that baked round-the-clock so it didn't seem like an odd question to me. :)

Anyway, remembering that made me wonder if part of the love affair with Bagelsaurus is that if you go at the right time, you do stand a chance of getting a fresh-out-of-the-oven bagel, which is a lovely thing to have, and may be something else that is tricking people into believing they are better than they are. I mean, the NY-style thing isn't even a matter of opinion, so given how many people make the comparison, I know folks are being deluded by *something*.

[enveri.livejournal.com]

Bagelsaurus bases their dough on Scratch Bakery, in south Portland, ME.

Scratch does a sort of sourdough bagel. I'm not knowledgeable enough about Montreal style to make a comparison, but I've been pretty happy with both Scratch and Bagelsaurus. I do buy bagels infrequently enough that the price tag didn't really bother me.

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

if you can go a little farther afield, bagels by US in Arlington (across the street from the whole foods, before the heights so the 77 will pass) are quite good. Some of the best in the area (I know, faint praise). If you are in Brookline , Kupel's does have the closest to NYC bagels I've had up here (but I haven't been to the place in Chelsea. going soon!)

[42itous.livejournal.com]

Bagels By Us in Arlington sells actual NY bagels, boiled in NYC every morning and trucked to Arlington where they are baked. It's been a while since I ate one, and I'm not a NY bagel snob, but I thought they were quite good.

[frotz.livejournal.com]

If you're going to Chelsea for Katz's, note that the hours are a little weird. On days they're baking one shift, they're open early to mid-afternoon, and on two-shift days (Friday and Saturday, usually, for the weekend bagel rush) they're open until somewhere between midnight and 2am.

[pywaket.livejournal.com]

Seconded. Katz is the only thing that comes close to a good NYC bagel around here.

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

They are very freshly made boiled bagels made in the specialty-fancy-product model. They aren't bad, at all, and If you are a crazy localvore and you want everything lovingly made by hand, you will get something chewy with a reasonable skin that was boiled and baked this morning. But you are getting a source for some kind of creative foodie sandwich on its own unique interpretation of chewy bagelhood, not a NY style bagel that is more worth it than begging someone to bring you a souvenir from Brooklyn. Though tjhey win on freshness vs NY at least.

Kupels sells bagels in wire cages too. I don't find them more worth it than iggy's bagels or arbitrary coffee house bagels. The Muffin and Bagel Shoppe in Teele says they do one of those "truck the parboiled bagel dough in from NYC" things but their bagels do not taste to me like Real bagels.

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

oh I bet you're right that the "still hot" freshness comes into play. And the wire cages and bagels with salt toppings available. :)

[madrigal.livejournal.com]

Bagelworld in Reading is delicious. (I work in the area). It's always packed, but luckily they have an express lane now. They also have Salem and Peabody locations.

Like someone else mentioned, Bagels by Us in Arlington has bagels from NYC.

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

Perhaps they are trusting their own taste buds to decide if they are good relative to other options?

Also the Eggspanola bagel sandwich is amazing!

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Bagels By Us had a rather sudden decline in quality a few years ago, when their New York source (H&H) went out of business. I don't know if they found a source of parboiled bagels elsewhere in NYC, or started making their own from scratch, but they just aren't as good anymore. I used to think they were better than Iggy's. These days, they certainly aren't bad, but not quite as good as Iggy's.

If you like Montreal-style bagels, I strongly recommend the Bellmont Caffe (sic) in Belmont Center. Get there in the morning if you can.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_meej_/]

If you don't care what varieties you get specifically, and you're getting a dozen, and paying cash, Bagelsaurus has a separate line/process for a "grab bag" of a dozen prepacked bagels, which cuts the wait down enough that my wife has in fact sent our 5-year-old in to do it when it was too crowded to get the stroller with the 1-year-old into the store.

Just as another option.

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

They started out as a 2-day-a-week project at Cutty's in Brookline Village, which was a sandwich shop run by former America's Test Kitchen team members. They went up on kickstarter a year or so ago and ... yeah, they're great.

On weekends it's best to arrive before 11AM if you want to avoid the line, which occasionally runs down the street.

[ceo]

Ah, I thought Bagelsaurus's bagels were similar to Scratch's. I really like their bagels, but Iggy's are much closer to what I think of as a NYC-style bagel.

[gruene.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Montréal bagels definitely use a sweeter dough. The crunchiness and chewiness is what reminded me of them.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

People can like them best, that's fine, but anyone who is calling them NY-style (and a lot of people are) is just wrong -- I think even the Bagelsaurus people would tell you that. And therefore I do not trust their perceptions to be useful to me because I already know something is causing them to say something even they should know isn't true. I have to wonder if, in a blind taste test, people were given the same bagels but told they came from Dunkin Donuts, what they would think.

Anyway, if you enjoy them, go ahead and spend. No difference to me either way. :)

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

Oh those terrible New York bagel posers which I guess represent all of Bagelsaurus' customer base and also you forgot to mention how awesome New York bagels are.

[rhino88888888.livejournal.com]

Keep an eye open for Better Bagels too. It ties for my favorite bagel with Bagelsaurus. Better Bagels doesn't yet have a storefront but have been doing local popup shops at places like Daddy Jones, Loyal Nine and Cuisine en Locale. I believe they have been doing SOWA Open Market also. Last time I talked to them they said they were looking for a weekly winter venue and I suggested the Somerville Winter Market at the Armory

https://www.facebook.com/BetterBagelsBoston

[abilouise.livejournal.com]

Bruegger's also has the "these are the warm ones" signs, and as long as I get one of those, I'm very happy.

[mytheria.livejournal.com]

Not exactly local, but the best bagels I've found are in Winchester at Bagel Land. When I need a real NY style salt bagel that's where I go.

[agharta75.livejournal.com]

There's also a place in Chelsea which is supposedly better than both. I've never been there myself, but anyone willing to schlep over there can find it on Yelp. (And let us know if the bagels are good or not.)

[ron_newman]

Is that Katz's, which other folks here have mentioned?

The main deal is that they're bagel-style bagels

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

When you get a bagel around here, you're more than likely to get a small loaf of round bread in the general shape of a bagel, not anything with the texture and flavor of a bagel. I'm including Iggy's in this, for sure. I mean, it's fine bread, but not a bagel without the boiling.