I'm sorry. Am probably gonna sound like a NY-centric snob, but there are just things we do better here. Bagels are one of them.
Once when my husband (then boyfriend) and I took a vacation to Hilton Head Island, I was wearing my Yankees cap and a guy at the resort asked if we were from New York City. We said yes. He said he was born and raised in NYC but was retired, now living in South Carolina.
One of the things he said he missed the most? Well the first was the Yankees. (He was a fan of Tino Martinez much like myself.) The second?
Bagels. They just don't do 'em right anywhere else, he told us.
I tend to agree.
Some of my favorite bagel places in NYC:
Tal Bagels.
Murray's Bagels.
H&H Bagels.
Aaaand I have to give a shout out to Bagel Bob's on University Place. (In my days as a poor NYU student, their bagels were cheap and good and kept me from starving.)
And for stuff to go on it?
Well, you can't go wrong ordering lox from Zabar's.
And then there's Sable's on the UES. The caviar there is excellent too.
I took a bite of this bagel before I realized I wanted to photograph it. I just couldn't wait lol.
The bagel was the perfect amount of doughy-ness BUT light and chewy at the same time. I had mine toasted with cream cheese. The cream cheese was melting as I bit into it. Mmmmmm.
Not the healthiest thing in the world but not the worst either. But I can promise that, if you've never had a bagel in NY, you can't know how good this is.
Is that a whole wheat everything bagel? My favorite. I scoop out the inside until the only thing left is a shell. I take barely enough fat free cream cheese to skim coat the bagel skin. Load on the lox and onions and I'm in heaven. Tons of protein, some fiber, and healthy fats.
That's exactly what I will be eating at 8:30am on Wednesday. Oh, and a tall soy latte.
That's exactly what I will be eating at 8:30am on Wednesday. Oh, and a tall soy latte.