NWR: NY Times Top 17 Bagels in NYC

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Yule Kim

Yule Kim
www.nytimes.com

The 17 Best Bagels in New York City Right Now

The age-old debate continues.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

Reposting (unlocked article link above).

Thoughts?

I managed to make it to Utopia's midtown location back in December and enjoyed the everything bagel with lox and cream cheese I got there. Nice, crispy crust and chewy texture in the inside. "Malty" is a good way to describe it. Top notch. I would recommend if anyone is in the area.

Best Bagel is incredibly useful for its location. It was the first thing I had when I got into Penn Station from Newark. Very helpful that it opens so early (I was there around 6:30am), and it is a very solid bagel.

Russ & Daughters isn't really a bagel shop, but it does serve the best whitefish salad sandwich I've ever had (hat tip to Levi for recommending the Super Heebster way back when; it is my go-to sandwich there. I don't actually think I've ever ordered lox at Russ & Daughters)

I'm pretty sure I've been to Liberty and seem to recall going to Tompkins Square, but neither made a strong impression on me (besides the rainbow bagel at Liberty; yikes)

I had a brief chat with Jayson about this a while back, but I would agree with the Times decision to leave Ess-a-Bagel off (at least based on the bagel I had at their midtown location near 51st Street). Considering the long-line, they were clearly having turnover issues. Bagels weren't particularly fresh; nothing like what they used to be when I went to NYU 25 years ago.

Also, agree that the new H&H bagel (at least the location at Penn Station) is a pale shadow of what was baked at the old location in the Upper West Side.

Bagel Bob's on University Place near NYU is very underrated. Not surprised it was left off, but a great bagel when fresh and I have a lot of fond memories when you could buy a dozen for a dollar each (or maybe even less, it has been a while). Bagel Bob sustained me during my freshman year back in 2000 (that and Gray's Papaya and the $3 slice+soda shop; Joe's Pizza was a little too upscale for me back then).

Surprised that Kossar's and Murray's Bagels are off the list. I'm guessing the newer shops have passed them by?

Brooklyn Bagel isn't amazing, but pretty solid for a big chain.
 
Yule Kim said:
Bagel Bob's on University Place near NYU is very underrated.
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This is exactly the place that I mentioned in my now-deleted response from the old site. It may not be in the viral lists, but it's in my neighborhood and the bagels are very good and there is never much of a line. It's our standard.
 
Murray's has definitely fallen off the radar. Best and Liberty are both near my office and both pretty good these days. Russ & Daughters is definitely a high-quality place but the high-quality prices put me off sometimes. Court Street, which had a glowing write-up in the NYT a couple years ago, is still good, maybe not as good as it was when the bagels were hand-rolled. Feh on H&H. Can't remember the last time I even considered Ess-A-Bagel. But there are a million good little bagel shops in NYC. (Which reminds me to go try the Montreal smoked meat place again because I think they have Montreal bagels.)
 
In the 90's for two years I lived on 21st Street a block from Ess-A-Bagel and thought they were great. I recently bought some bagels from H&H in Penn Station and they are sub-standard. Was passing through Penn Station on the way home, impulse buy. Locally to me Sonny's Bagels in South Orange, NJ is the standard bearer. No clue on contemporary NYC bagel world.
 
For many years my family had a pied-a-terre on 9th and University, and Bagel Bobs was our go-to place. Good, reliable, tasty, what more could you ask?

Now I live in Stamford where the bagel scene is terrible. What sins have I committed in my past life that I have to atone for them by living in a bagel desert?
 
They are okay - still prefer Bob's!

There's also an ersatz bagel place called "Bad Ass Bagels." Sometimes they are okay, and then sometimes they simply forget to boil the bagels and they taste like very dry, tough, bagel-shaped baked bread.
 
Andrew Zachary said:
Now I live in Stamford where the bagel scene is terrible. What sins have I committed in my past life that I have to atone for them by living in a bagel desert?
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I used to think the same when I moved to San Francisco, but someone once said the best hack is to just buy a loaf of sourdough and put cream cheese and lox on that. Luckily I'm a 10 minute walk from Tartine, and I've been doing this hack ever since.
 
Rahsaan said:
This is exactly the place that I mentioned in my now-deleted response from the old site. It may not be in the viral lists, but it's in my neighborhood and the bagels are very good and there is never much of a line. It's our standard.
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I'm glad to hear Bagel Bob is still going strong 25 years later.
 
It's my first time posting on this swanky new platform. So many of the bagels in this article seem like gimmicks. It's hardly a serious classic NY bagel article it seems.

That said, I can confirm the new Absolut Bagel (2788 apparently?), which is 2 blocks from my apartment, is very good. But you have to ask for them well done of course.

Tal has always been pretty good, but not top tier.

I still stand by Ess-a-Bagel although they may have consistency problems, as most bagel places do in my experience. And of course we still love Bagel Nosh on Broadway between 85th and 86th although one can't help think they slipped half a notch in the last couple years after a triumphant initial run.

Never been too impressed with Russ & Daughters as a bagel shop. Meh. And feh.

Of the ones listed by the NYT that I feel I still need to try, there's Liberty near Grossman's office in midtown. Coincidentally I'll be near there Monday morning. And there's Utopia.
 
Yule Kim said:
I used to think the same when I moved to San Francisco, but someone once said the best hack is to just buy a loaf of sourdough and put cream cheese and lox on that. Luckily I'm a 10 minute walk from Tartine, and I've been doing this hack ever since.
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The best bagel hack I know is actually a pretzel hack: buy a salt bagel and slap mustard on it... not a bad substitute.
 
Jayson Cohen said:
Of the ones listed by the NYT that I feel I still need to try, there's Liberty near Grossman's office in midtown. Coincidentally I'll be near there Monday morning.
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They recently moved from their spot on 35th St (near 8th) down the block and around the corner to 7th Ave (just north of 35th).

And some rando bagel shop has opened up between their old location and their new one, not quite directly across the street from Best Bagels.

It's a jumping lunch street... also two dumpling shops, a Latinx place, an Indian place, a hidden sushi shop, Madman Espresso, and a bunch more.
 
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