a lifelong relationship of love and devotion

as a teenager i used to ditch villa park high and hop the fence over to bagel me! in the ralph's shopping center. i did this so often that the workers would immediately give me my order without me having to say a word: yes, sundried tomato bagel toasted with onion and chive cream cheese on the side.

college: ali and i were seen breakfasting at einstein's on center street at least once a week. i still remember her order of potato bagels :) and they have the best orange juice. ever.

oxford was more difficult, since good bagels can really only be found in the jewish districts of european cities (le marais in paris has some FAB bagel selection - though they all need more salt). and yet despite the poor quality, i admit to having settled for the 39p variety at sainsbury's almost everyday.

so now, now i am in the absolute mecca of bagels. and after reading this AWESOME article today, i decided i must share my own bagel guide to nyc for anyone who is at all interested. (by the way, that article is miraculous, i love it - and further love to hear that bagels are actually related to pretzels, my other obsession - though after tasting the real goods in germany, i can't bring myself to eat the cardboard-variety pretzels here. sad.)

so, let me begin with the very-famous H & H bagels: OVERRATED. i don't know why these bagels have made their way to so many movies/tv shows about new york as "the" bagel in the city. honestly, you can find ones of similar quality at any grocery store. i think people like these because they're a manhattan brand, but as i have swiftly found, you gotta go to brooklyn to get the real deal: la bagel delight. oh yes, such a delight - and gratefully around the corner from the gallery i work at. their whole wheat everything is divine toasted with butter. so much flavor, and has the perfect crisp outer crust (which comes from ideal amount of boiling-time of the dough) to distinguish the bagel from plain bread. so many "bagels" unfortunately fall into this pathetic category: in fact, note, all the breakfast stands on the city streets have such bread-like bagels. don't be tempted! la bagel delight are absolutely the best i've had in the city so far, if not ever in my life, though i am told by multiple reliable sources that bergen bagels actually supply the best in the city. i have yet to try them (i know i know - only 2 locations, and in out-of-the-way parts of brooklyn i don't work near), but am aiming for a taste test this week.

also: fairway makes mini bagels which i stick in my freezer and pop in my toaster on late-night occasions when i am not near a fresh-bagel shop to indulge. and actually they're reeeeeally good.

so. was this blogpost totally boring and unnecessary? yes, perhaps - but i feel it's my duty now living in new york to pay tribute to one of the city's real treasures... also - i could have blogged about more "real" things - like the fact that i had a pretty important job interview today, but really sometimes i have nothing to say about actual real things in my life - so y'all get bagels instead :)