Best bagel in NYC?

[mtemm]

i am heading to NYC soon with a friend and she really wants to get a good bagel while we are there. Any recommendations for where to go/where is your favorite place. We are staying in midtown near Times Square. Thanks!

 

[wilkeliza]

Not too close to Times Square but I really like Bagel Cafe bagels. They are on 30th and 3rd.

You can also go to Zaro's Bakery. There are several around the city and a few near Times Square. They are in Grand Central or Zaro to go is on 37th and 7th.

 

[DaretoDis]

Ess-a-Bagel on 831 Third Avenue is our go to place for bagels.

 

[Kenny1113]

Agreed! Ess-a bagel is good.

 

[mtemm]

Thanks!!!!

 

[Gracie09]

Murrays on 6th by 14th

 

[LinderInWonderland]

I just found out that H&H, my favorite bagel place, went out of business in 2012. There is a new one on the East side, but different owners.

Well, I am going to be the third to suggest Ess-a-bagel and now I am going to have a good cry.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I never had a bad bagel on our trip to NYC! Our hotel was near Grand Central Station. Each night when we returned to the station from wherever we had spent the day, we bought bagels for the next morning's breakfast. We usually bought them from Zaro's at the food court. We tried all different flavors. My favorite was cinnamon raisin. Some nights I even had one for dinner and took one back to the hotel for the next morning. It was kind of disappointing coming back to California. Bagels here just aren't the same!

 

[Caskett616]

I never had a bad bagel on our trip to NYC! Our hotel was near Grand Central Station. Each night when we returned to the station from wherever we had spent the day, we bought bagels for the next morning's breakfast. We usually bought them from Zaro's at the food court. We tried all different flavors. My favorite was cinnamon raisin. Some nights I even had one for dinner and took one back to the hotel for the next morning. It was kind of disappointing coming back to California. Bagels here just aren't the same!

It's the NY water - the greatest bagels are boiled in it, and that makes them perfect.

I'm a big fan of Zaro's - a pumpernickel with butter or a plain with vegetable cream cheese or a toasted plain with butter or a salt bagel with cream cheese. Damn, now I want a bagel!

 

[weeniecat2442]

oh i miss NY bagels!
I lived in Clinton Hill in Brooklyn for awhile and we would always get bagel sandwiches delivered to us on Saturday mornings from Bergen bagels. It's almost not worth having a bagel anywhere else...sighhhh

 

[Reimagineer]

Best Bagel and Coffee - on 35th btw 7th and 8th. YUM!

 

[wilkeliza]

It's the NY water - the greatest bagels are boiled in it, and that makes them perfect.

I'm a big fan of Zaro's - a pumpernickel with butter or a plain with vegetable cream cheese or a toasted plain with butter or a salt bagel with cream cheese. Damn, now I want a bagel!

NPR actually did an article on this subject. They found the water actually had little to do with it. The big reason is because in NYC bagels are boiled before baking while in other places they are just baked or even fried . Here is the article if you want to read it http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt...science-of-great-nyc-bagels-its-not-the-water

 

[tasha99]

NPR actually did an article on this subject. They found the water actually had little to do with it. The big reason is because in NYC bagels are boiled before baking while in other places they are just baked or even fried . Here is the article if you want to read it http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt...science-of-great-nyc-bagels-its-not-the-water

This. Bagels elsewhere (and grocery store prepackaged bagels) are just wrong. I brought a smelly carryon full of onion bagels home with me last August (it was so embarrasing, but so worth it. My seat area smelled very strongly of delicious onion bagels). They're already gone. Honestly, next time I'm bringing an empty suitcase and checking a whole bag of bagels.

 

[Imzadi]

I just found out that H&H, my favorite bagel place, went out of business in 2012. There is a new one on the East side, but different owners.

Well, I am going to be the third to suggest Ess-a-bagel and now I am going to have a good cry.

Me too!!! I was just about to recommend the H&H Bagels bakery on W 46th & 11th Ave. But, I Googled to see if they are still there and found that they closed due to bankruptcy of the owner being such a bad financial manager in handling his business!!! They used to supply most of the fresh bagels all around the city.


Anyway, OP:

Get FRESH bagels from a corner deli or from the street vendor carts. They usually do not have room to store them so they get fresh deliveries every morning. There are 3 things I am a real NY snob about: NY bagels, NY pizza & NY cheesecake. I'd rather go without than have bad ones.

(WARNING: Major RANT Coming!!! )

You do NOT, under ANY circumstances want a NY bagel that has been REFRIGERATED OR FROZEN. If you refrigerate bagels you will ruin them. They turn into overly chewy, rubbery hockey pucks. If you get one previously frozen, then you might as well buy Lender's bagels in the local supermarket. They would come out the same texture and taste.

The best NY/NJ bagels are water boiled then baked and are only really fresh for about 2 days at the most - stored at room temperature. Just like a fresh French baguette, right out of the oven of a French bakery, you do NOT want day old or as I said NOT REFRIGERATED OR FROZEN even overnight.

Just as people should feel & squeeze or smell certain fruit to check to see if they are ripe, a bagel can be felt to see if it has been REFRIGERATED OR FROZEN. I actually ask the deli person if I can feel the bagel. He picks one up in a sheet of deli wrap or plastic wrap and holds it while I squeeze the other side with the deli wrap around it. I first feel for the temperature, especially if it's early morning. The bagel should be room temperature, NOT cold like it has been REFRIGERATED OR FROZEN.

When squeezed gently, the bagel should have a nice thin crispy crust, but not so thick & crusty, like it has been totally baked. An authentic water boiled then baked bagel will have a thin crust. It will feel firm, but give a bit when gently squeezed with light pressure with the thumb. It should be firm but soft on the inside. If it feels very solid or rubbery when pressed, like one of those 1" bouncy rubber balls, that bagel has been REFRIGERATED OR FROZEN.

What happens when you eat a NY bagel that has been REFRIGERATED OR FROZEN is that it turns into the texture of a doughy, chewy, chewy, chewy rubber ball. If you throw one at somebody, you could probably do serious damage. If you accidentally eat one, you will be chewing, chewing, chewing for days on it. They are slightly better when toasted, but you will still be chewing, chewing, chewing.

It is better to pass on a REFRIGERATED OR FROZEN NY bagel than have one. The experience will be ruined for you and you will just think a NY bagel is "Meh! I don't get the hype of these? My mouth is tired from chewing half of it."

Throw the doughy, chewy rubber hockey puck out. Do NOT finish it. Then start again. Find a FRESH NY bagel. There is a deli on almost every other corner of the city, or a street vendors cart near by.

And if you are unlucky enough to stay at the Sheraton Times Square, while I haven't seen the rooms, I have attended several seminars there. Do NOT eat the bagels from there!!! They get them in bulk and REFRIGERATED OR FREEZE them. Go out to the street on 6th Ave, there is a street vendors cart right across the street.


(END: Rant on REFRIGERATED OR FROZEN NY bagels. )

 

[Imzadi]

NPR actually did an article on this subject. They found the water actually had little to do with it. The big reason is because in NYC bagels are boiled before baking while in other places they are just baked or even fried . Here is the article if you want to read it http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt...science-of-great-nyc-bagels-its-not-the-water

Wait, so NY bagels are MADE with NYC water and then boiled in NYC water, but it's NOT the NYC water that makes a difference?

Ooookaaaay then!

So how do they explain that NY pizza crusts are crispier than most other crusts in the world? They aren't pre-boiled.

Don't worry, I'm not going to go off on a frozen NY pizza crust rant.

 

[Daisy62]

I've never had a bagel anywhere that wasn't boiled first. That is not just a New York thing but the way a bagel is made.

 

[tasha99]

A refridgerated or frozen NYC bagel is still much, much better than a Lenders bagel. I know--I had a ton of them this summer. The first batch (unfrozen but day old by the time I got home) was heavenly, but the rest were still loads better. I guess the alternative would be to make your own or find a decent local bagel shop (my area has a bagel shop, but it's not that good).

 

[Missy1961]

NPR actually did an article on this subject. They found the water actually had little to do with it. The big reason is because in NYC bagels are boiled before baking while in other places they are just baked or even fried . Here is the article if you want to read it http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt...science-of-great-nyc-bagels-its-not-the-water

Sorry, but they're wrong. I've had bagels from other places that were boiled first, and they weren't the same.

 

[Missy1961]

I've never had a bagel anywhere that wasn't boiled first. That is not just a New York thing but the way a bagel is made.

It's not true that every bagel is boiled first. More and more places aren't doing it that way - even in NYC. (which to me is a sin.) And let's not forget the NYC water makes a difference, I don't care what anyone says.

 

[Missy1961]

Wait, so NY bagels are MADE with NYC water and then boiled in NYC water, but it's NOT the NYC water that makes a difference?

Ooookaaaay then!

So how do they explain that NY pizza crusts are crispier than most other crusts in the world? They aren't pre-boiled.

Don't worry, I'm not going to go off on a frozen NY pizza crust rant.

Well, even if NPR doesn't believe it, I remember reading about a bunch of transplanted NYers who opened a pizzeria in Washington, DC. They joked about bringing the NYC water with them to make the crusts taste like NYC pizza.