The best bagel
I stopped in at Einstein Bagels on York Road for a little snack Sunday. Now don't be offended, but I'm not a bagel purist. I had a poppy-dipped bagel toasted twice so it was nice and hot, with butter running down into the little crevices and grape jelly on it. And a large cup of English Breakfast tea with milk.
(John Makely/Sun Photographer)
Einstein is my favorite place to get bagels around here ...
but my kid favors Greg's Bagels in Belvedere Square (toasted cinnamon raisin with apricot spread, no butter). They're a bit too dense for my taste, but I know I'm in the minority here.
When I first came to Baltimore I would drive half an hour Sunday mornings to somewhere in Pikesville to get hot, freshly made bagels. It was the only bagel shop in the area. Was it called the Bagel Shoppe? I can't quite remember, but they were fabulous bagels -- the first I ever had.
Feel free to post below if you have a favorite bagel place. (Or if you remember if it was the Bagel Shoppe.)
Comments
Goldberg's on Reisterstown Rd
Posted by: TIm | May 23, 2007 8:38 AM
Gregs is great - if for no other reason than the smoked salmon selection! mmm.... I think Ill go there Saturday!
Posted by: Mather | May 23, 2007 8:47 AM
I haven't had a good bagel in Maryland since the original Jack's on Lombard Street closed. A bagel should be dense and chewy, courtesy of the boiling process, and should stick with you a couple of hours after eating it. It should also be about 3" in diameter, not 5". The big bagel fad of the late 80s has flooded the market with oversized bagel-shaped rolls that have most Americans thinking they are the real deal. Bah.
Bagels do not have a fat in the ingredients. So why do Greg's bagels leave grease stains on paper bags? They taste good, but they're not bagels.
Posted by: Kathy | May 23, 2007 9:27 AM
There was a place in Pikesville (on Reisterstown Rd. just south of Slade Ave.) called the Bagel Shop (or maybe Shoppe, I don't remember). Back in the 1980s when I worked in Pikesville and bagel shops hadn't sprouted all over suburbia, I was introduced to real bagels there. I thought it was quite sad when they closed a few years ago.
Posted by: Hal Laurent | May 23, 2007 10:37 AM
So many of the great independent bagel places have closed up. In Skokie outside of Chicago there was good bagle place that was served up goog bagels and lox with a side of kitch called Barnum & Bagle. Bagels and a circus decor...something you won't see at Einstein Bagle. This place produced by far the best t-shirt to ever come out of a Bagel Shop. It was the Gefilte Fishing Tournament shirt. It was great, it has a rabbi fishing off the stern of a big fishing boat. You have to see it to appreciate it. Anyway, shirts like that are probably another thing I doubt you'd see at Einstein.
Posted by: Robert | May 23, 2007 11:58 AM
Smedlys fleet & Wolfe, for NY style bagels
Posted by: cookie | May 24, 2007 12:04 AM
I'm a fan of Greg's Bagels. I don't know what authentic bagels should taste like, but Greg's has always been my favorite.
I started buying my bagel there at the point when Greg was single-handedly keeping Belvedere Square alive.
The variety and the consistency of the quality have kept me coming back.
Posted by: Janet Morrissey | May 24, 2007 8:05 AM
I infrequently get to Annapolis, but when I do and it's morning "Bagels and..." on the corner of West and Old Solomon's Island Road has a great nosh. Crusty outside and chewy inside. Not overly sweet and some savory. About 4 inches in size. More cream cheese than anyone should eat in a month. The help could be friendlier.
Posted by: mdrvrmuncher | May 25, 2007 4:53 PM
I love the Cinnamon Crunch bagel with Honey Walnut cream cheese at Panera bread
Posted by: Jessica | May 27, 2007 8:41 AM
Why do bagels have holes?
Posted by: Syd | October 18, 2008 3:04 PM
Honestly, I love Einstein bagels! Bigfoot bagels is by far my very favorite though!
Posted by: Wendy Robinson | May 11, 2010 1:24 AM