Ess-a-Bagel

From one bagel shop to another, we made our way to the ever-popular Ess-a-Bagel.  Due to its proximity from Utopia Bagels, we ended up at the West 32nd Street location.  Compared to Utopia, Ess-a-Bagel is more known for their giant bagel sandwiches and therefore, we snagged one of the precious seats and ordered a few them.  Oh, we also got some to go too!

Well, there was only one choice for Viv and it was the Signature Favorite on a Poppy Seed Bagel.  This was fully-loaded with sliced Nova (Lox), scallion cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion and capers.  We got the butteriness and saltiness of the lox combined with its classic running mate - scallion cream cheese.  But with lettuce and tomatoes, we go much more moisture and it actually helped dilute the saltiness of the lox and heaviness of the cream cheese.  Of course, the sharpness and crunch of the onions and tanginess of the capers were also a classic compliment.  The bagel itself was pretty firm and chewy, so all of these ingredients helped offset that.

For myself, I went for the Eggstacy with ham, sausage and cheddar all on a Pumpernickel Bagel.  They really didn't skimp on the cheese and it was ooey gooey wonderfulness.  The egg was a bit overdone, but the sausage and ham provided some needed moisture.  I found the pumpernickel bagel to be even firmer and denser than the poppy seed bagel.  Loved the rich earthy sweetness of the bagel.

Of course I had to compare their Sesame Bagel with the one at Utopia.  First off, it was slightly bigger and had the same amount of sesame seeds.  Hence, there was the aroma and nuttiness of sesame seeds in taste and smell.  Texturally, I thought these were denser and heavier than the ones at Utopia.  After toasting, the outside was crunchy while the inside got a bit softer with an appealing chew.

Yep, got the Everything Bagel as well, but in both classic and whole wheat.  There was an obvious textural difference between the two.  Predictably, the whole wheat was a bit more robust and nutty.  With a mix of the usual sesame seeds (black & white), poppy seeds, onion and garlic, we had the usual aromatics of an everything bagel.  Once again, we made sure we didn't burn any of these.

So for our sweet bagel, we had the Cinnamon Raisin.  Beyond the size difference and denser bagel, this one here was not that dissimilar than the one at Utopia.  Yet, it was a little more dense and chewy as mentioned before.  Overall, we thought the bagels at Ess-a-Bagel to be good and pretty large in size.  They went well with the components of our sandwiches.  But if I really had to compare, the classic bagels from Utopia had a texture that was more to our liking.

The Good:

- Large bagels

- Those sandwiches are fully-loaded and tasty

- Thick crispy exterior

The Bad:

- More dense than others I've had, but okay for those who like it

- Long lineups

Utopia Bagels

On our last day in NYC before an evening flight, we made the trek out into midtown searching for some bagels.  The first stop was at Utopia Bagels out on East 34th Street.  Founded in 1980 at its original Queens location, Utopia is known for its hand-made bagels.  We made it rather early on a Sunday, so the place was only a bit busy.  We ended up grabbing a selection of bagels to bring home.

The most basic one in our bag of bagels was the Sesame.  After being toasted, the bagel exhibited classic NYC-style texture and density.  The exterior was crunchy, yet wasn't hard nor dense.  Inside, we found the desired chew, but it was still soft at the same time.  In terms of taste, the bagel was savory and not sweet (like the ones we had in Montreal at Fairmount).  The nuttiness of the sesame was very apparent.

Of course we went for the Everything Bagel as well (it is our favorite!).  Naturally, with sesame seeds, there was similar elements to the previous bagel, but adding poppy seeds (not very many), onion and garlic meant we had more complexity.  Be careful toasting this one up though since you do not want to burn the garlic.

Something a bit different was the Jalapeno Cheddar.  As you can see, this was almost completely covered with cheese.  As a result, the salty and nutty cheesiness was at the forefront.  Furthermore, this made the bagel a bit more moist and less crunchy on the outside (in particular, the side with the cheese.  Some tangy spice was provided by the jalapenos.

Moving over to the sweeter bagels, we tried the Cinnamon Raisin.  This was definitely sweeter and especially with pops of flavor from the raisins, it was great with some basic cream cheese or even good quality butter.  This could all be said about the Blueberry Bagel as well, except with a more muted sweetness.  A little bit more moisture from the blueberries though.  After toasting, both had the same crunchy exterior like the other bagels while being chewy, yet soft inside.  

Our last bagel in our order was the French Toast Bagel.  Yes, this was mapley-sweet with hits of cinnamon and a bit more sweetness from the powdered sugar.  Texturally, it was still classic bagel with a soft chewiness.  Really enjoyed this one, but I highly recommend that you get this in a separate bag because it took on all the essence of the everything bagel.

Overall, the bagels at Utopia were exactly what we prefer - soft but chewy with a nice crunchy exterior after being toasted.  They also have a wide selection of flavors too.

The Good:

- Classic bagel texture

- Lots of options

- Manageable size

The Bad:

- Lines can be a little long

Fairmount Bagel

Continuing our frenetic quest to bring stuff home from our last day in Montreal, it brought us to Fairmount Bagel.  I've already had St. Viateur the last time I was in town, so I really wanted to see the other popular spot.  Naturally, there was a lineup to get in and of course, we proceeded to queue up.  If you are wondering about the parallel line next to it, that was for the gnocchi at Drogheria Fine (yes, we got some of that too).

But before we got the gnocchi, we were here for the bagels and instead of doing a plain as a baseline, I went for the Sesame.  Once toasted, it was pretty apparent that the bagels at Fairmount Bagel are completely different than those from St-Viateur.  The bagel from Fairmount was dense, but less dense and less chewy than St-Viateur.  They were a bit sweeter too.  I can't say which one I prefer more because they are both good in their own way.  

Their All-Dressed Bagel (or Everything) had a combination of sesame, poppy seeds, caraway seeds, onion and garlic.  Hence the name and also lives up to it too.  Beyond the texture from the seeds and aromatics, we had the slight saltiness of the bagel.  The onion and garlic provide pops of sweetness.  I did notice that the bagel was not as salty as St-Viateur though and could be eaten cold with less chew.

We got a couple of fruity bagels in the Blueberry as well as the Cinnamon & Raisin.  Since the bagels at Fairmount are sweeter compared to St-Viateur, the fruit portion of the bagel helped make it taste almost dessert-like, even without the cream cheese.  I didn't mind it as it was tasty while the less chewy texture made it less dense.  As said before, these didn't need to be toasted to eat.

Our last 2 bagels were colourful in the Raspberry Chocolate and the Rainbow Bozo.  For the raspberry, the bagel itself was only a bit sweeter than the rest while still sporting a fluffy chew.  For the huge rainbow, it was actually less dense due to its larger size.  It didn't taste remarkably different than the sesame bagel but was super filling.  Overall, we enjoyed the bagels at Fairmount.  They are different than St-Viateur, but I like them both.  One it sweeter and softer, while the other is saltier and chewier.

The Good:

- Not as dense and chewy as St-Viateur for those who like it that way

- Sweeter than St-Viateur for those who prefer it

- More unique options

The Bad:

- The reverse is true for the good if you prefer St-Viateur

St-Viateur Bagel

Even though our last visit to Montreal was 4 days long, we never made it out to the iconic St-Viateur Bagel.  Well, this time around, we would ensure to do that obligatory visit.  Although there are several locations, we only had the original one on Rue Saint Viateur on our minds.  Sure, there was the usual lineup and hey, it could all be the touristy thing to do, but we were hoping for some good bagels!  We ended up with a half-dozen where we brought most of it home with us on the plane.

We really didn't want to get the plain bagel since it was well...  too plain.  Rather, for our baseline, we had the Rosemary and Sea Salt.  So without the benefit of a toaster, trying to eat this bagel cold wasn't our preference.  I'm sure so purists will say that it is good eaten that way and yada yada yada.  Well, it was pretty dense, chewy and cold.  In terms of flavour, loved the earthy woodiness of the rosemary and also the bursts of saltiness.

Thankfully, this was the only bagel we ate without toasting it.  We ended up bringing the other 5 home to Vancouver.  By then, they were 3-day-old bagels and you know what?  By toasting them, they turned out fantastic!  They crisped up well and had a solid, yet not too firm crunch.  This gave way to a warm and appealingly chewy inside.  These bagels tasted great even without cream cheese.  But we did use cream cheese!  This All-Dressed bagel was a favourite since they didn't skimp on the ingredients.

The same could be said about the Onion bagel because there was no shortage of caramelized onion on the outside.  Hence, the flavour of onion was strong with this one.  It was aromatic and sweet with some sharpness at the tail end of the flavour profile.  Also, there was the unmistakable onion texture with every bite.  Once again, this toasted up really well and the heat helped activate the onion as a result.

Onto the fruitier bagels, we tried the classic Cinnamon & Raisin.  There was definitely a noticeable sweet cinnamon kick while only certain parts of the bagel had raisins.  I guess it just was the luck of the draw.  However, when we did get raisins, the sweetness was nice and of course was a perfect compliment to the cinnamon.  Cream cheese naturally went well with this bagel.

Something I really wanted to try was the Apple Maple even though Viv was a bit skeptical.  She often associates anything maple with being too sweet.  Well, this is a bagel and I knew they wouldn't make it taste like dessert.  That they didn't where the sweetness was restrained.  There was still the maple essence without the sugariness.  Little nuggets of apple were strewn throughout and provided pops of tangy sweetness. 

Lastly, we had the Blueberry, which was predictably one of the most mild-tasting bagels.  Blueberry is not a very strong flavour, even though it is easily identifiable.  This was no exception where the blueberry was definitely there, but it didn't exactly make the bagel that sweet.  So overall, we enjoyed our toasted bagels from St-Viateur and am considering ordering some to be sent to us.

The Good:

- Dense like it should be and toasted up great

- Lots of flavours and we enjoyed all of them

- Considering how expensive things are these days, the bagels were reasonably-priced

The Bad:

- Well of course the lineup, but it is part of the fun right?

- A little chaotic at the counter

- You get them cold at this location, so strictly to go and toast them later

Siegel's Bagels

Sometimes, when we are busy trying to look for the next greatest thing, we tend to ignore the classics.  In this case, I was attempting to find something for late night eats after hockey.  Yes, there are still some places like Cuchillo that I haven't officially blogged about yet, but we wanted something more low-key.  Bam!  Why not the ol' Siegel's Bagels out in Kits?  For those who are unaware, this Vancouver institution has been serving up bagels for over a quarter of a century.  They also are open late which was perfect for our purposes.

Nothing particularly complicated about the place. It serves bagels and bagel sammies with a side of fries if you like.  Yes, there is also cream cheese spreads as well.  We didn't stray far from the regular menu though as Lionel Hutz had the Montreal Smoked Meat on a plain bagel with the aforementioned fries.  So compared to a slice of rye bread, the bagel ate more dense and heavy (similarly to the ones at Rosemary Rocksalt - and yes, they are related to Siegel's).  Still good though with a proper amount of meat to balance things out.  Milhouse went for the Reuben on a poppy seed bagel. With the addition of cheese and sauerkraut, the whole thing ate more moist and was multi-layered in flavour.  This was the better of the 2 in my opinion, especially with the poppy seed bagel.

For myself, I had the Club on a caraway seed bagel and by virtue of all the ingredients (Montreal smoked meat, turkey breast, lettuce, tomato, cheddar, mayo and mustard), this ate like an actual sandwich even though it was in a bagel.  As for the fries, they were hot and crispy.  Quite good for a bagel spot.  This was the perfect late night snack and really it would be great for anyone in need of a bite or have the munchies after leaving the bars and/or clubs in Downtown.

The Good:
- Classic spot for bagels in Vancity
- Surprisingly good fries
- Reasonably-priced

The Bad:
- Personally, a bagel sandwich can be rather heavy, especially late at night
- Limited parking in the lot when busy
- Seats are at a premium when busy