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February 4, 2011 at 3:01 am #597845
cclarueMemberWhat makes a bagel good/authentic?
February 4, 2011 at 3:07 am #716305
christopherboffoliParticipantQuality ingredients: High-gluten flour, yeast, malt syrup or honey and water from somewhere East of the Rockies. Slow mixing and slow pulling. Proper time to proof. Boiling in water (which gives them the shiny crust and just the right bite). And then the correct baking time (which requires experimentation and adjustment)
February 4, 2011 at 5:18 am #716306
dawsonctParticipantHow about bagels in Denver? They are East of the Rockies, but most of the water they use is from the Colorado River, WEST of the Rockies! I bet that presents a real conundrum.
February 4, 2011 at 5:27 am #716307
datamuseParticipantFor me, it’s all about consistency, and flavor too. A proper bagel is chewy and dense, with a distinctive flavor that…shit, I don’t know how to describe it. It tastes like a bagel. The perfect thing to put under your lox.
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Zatz is the best I’ve found out here. The best I ever had was in New York, of course.
February 4, 2011 at 5:34 am #716308
dawsonctParticipantI always liked Bagel Oasis, but what do I know, I was raised on the West Coast.
February 4, 2011 at 5:55 am #716309
HunterGParticipantChewy with no GIANT hole in the middle!
February 4, 2011 at 6:23 am #716310
christopherboffoliParticipantMurray’s Bagels (13th Street and 6th Avenue) in Greenwich Village is my reference bagel. Everything else is a pale imitation.
February 4, 2011 at 7:55 am #716311
datamuseParticipantAlso, if it just tastes like bread (i.e., most of the bagels in the supermarkets around here), they did it wrong.
February 4, 2011 at 5:25 pm #716312
hopeyParticipantChristopher, how does Zatz compare with Murray’s for you? I haven’t even tried fresh bagels out here because I got spoiled by New York Bagel & Bialy back in Chicago (well really, they’re in the suburb of Skokie, which has a large Jewish community.)
February 4, 2011 at 5:35 pm #716313
ZenguyParticipantGood ingredients as stated above. It MUST be boiled first and then baked, otherwise it is just bread with a hole.
February 4, 2011 at 5:57 pm #716314
christopherboffoliParticipanthopey: The bagels at Zats, to my taste, are just like all of the other bagels in Seattle: too soft, wrong texture/crumb, unauthentic taste. But the most obvious clue that we’re not dealing with bagel traditionalists is the fact that “blueberry” and “chocolate chip” bagels are on the menu. That’s just a whole lot of wrong, IMHO.
February 4, 2011 at 6:20 pm #716315
TraciMemberI love Zats. The bagels and spreads are delicious, they have good coffee, and the employees are all really wonderful to boot. We find ourselves in there all the time!
February 4, 2011 at 6:21 pm #716316
SueParticipantChristopher, I was thinking the same thing about Zatz – if I see blueberry, chocolate chip, pesto, etc., I know it’s not going to be like the NY bagels I grew up with. What I really want right now, however, is a NY bialy. And a salt bagel. And perhaps a bag of knishes, but that’s a whole ‘nother topic.
February 4, 2011 at 6:39 pm #716317
maplesyrupParticipantI went to college in NY, so although I’m a Westerner, I have a decent idea of what is a good bagel.
Zatz isn’t what you’ll find in NY but it’s a lot better than everything else I’ve tried in the Seattle area, by far.
February 4, 2011 at 8:57 pm #716318
hopeyParticipantThe bialy sticks from NY Bagel & Bialy were always my fave. Now I want some, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bialy out here. I suspect if I found the bialys, I’d find the good bagels, too…
February 4, 2011 at 8:58 pm #716319
datamuseParticipantI’m with you on the blueberry and chocolate and such, Chris. Clearly somebody’s eating ’em but that somebody ain’t me.
Damn, I want a proper New York bagel now. Does Murray’s ship?
February 4, 2011 at 9:02 pm #716320
HydrangeaMemberI have had an onion bialy at the Cupcake Royale in the Junction. Not sure what bakery it came from–maybe Macrina?
February 4, 2011 at 9:26 pm #716321
cjboffoliParticipantdatamuse: Sadly, Murray’s Bagels doesn’t ship. But it’s probably because they know that bagels are best on the day they’re baked. In fact, they do such high volume there that the bagels have usually been baked within ten minutes of purchase.
The Upper West Side’s H&H Bagels does ship. But then again, they also have those ridiculous bagels made with the fake blueberries. So I don’t think it is really worth the cost of overnight shipping for a bagel designed for the “B&T” demographic.
Sue: Have you ever been to Yonah Shimmel’s on Delancey Street? They have THE BEST knishes in the world, bar none.
February 4, 2011 at 9:45 pm #716322
feefeelarueMemberAgreed about the flavored bagels seriously – ew. Datamuse – Zabars in NYC ships bagels as well as yummy black & white cookies and knishes. However the knishes are round not square. As far as Zats they actually attempt a Bialey tried it once, I’ll give them props for trying. There’s a place in Factoria called Goldbergs Famous Deli. Pretty decent Deli and they make chocolate egg creams which are spot on!! YUM!! They actually have knishes, but again they’re round not square. Really good cheese blintzes as well.
February 4, 2011 at 10:00 pm #716323
feefeelarueMemberChristopher – H&H bagels are the bomb although the blueberry flavor is new to me.
February 4, 2011 at 10:40 pm #716324
cjboffoliParticipantfeefeelarue: I could go along with the notion of using the word ‘bomb’ to refer to H&H bagels. However, I might be inclined to use the word in a different sense. I guess that would make those fake blueberries (made of not of any part of a blueberry, but sugar, soy oil, red #40 and blue #2) shrapnel. :-)
But seriously, in my experience New Yorkers can be surprisingly provincial. I have some friends who live on the UES who only half-jokingly brag about how they never go beyond a six block radius of their apartment as everything they need is there.
When you live in Manhattan you tend to be loyal to your local source of bagels. I’m sure there are UWSers who are fiercely loyal to H&H or Zabar’s. But I was a downtown guy and Murray’s was a block away from my apartment. So there was absolutely no reason to go any farther than necessary.
February 5, 2011 at 12:03 am #716325
feefeelarueMemberChristopher – Being from NYC I know exactly what you mean about the neighborhood love. It works the same with pizza. Personally i just don’t get the whole ‘flavored’ bagel thing at all.
February 5, 2011 at 12:14 am #716326
ZenguyParticipantThe only “flavor” I want on my bagel is maybe a sesame seed.
February 5, 2011 at 5:33 am #716327
redblackParticipanti have no problem with someone sticking onions or garlic on the outside of a bagel.
raisins, however, aren’t even food, and they certainly don’t belong in bagels.
or anything else.
February 6, 2011 at 4:36 pm #716328
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