Bagel Recommendations

[chubbie]

Anyone out there able to recommend a great bagel/bialy place ideally in brooklyn?
in carrol gardens, park slope, boerum hill etc... are would be great, but am willing to travel.

[Get In My Belly]

i am definitely not a bagel "expert", but i have always been happy with bergen bagels.

[livetotravel]

My favorites in Park Slope are Bagel Hole on 7th Ave 'tween 12th and 13th and Bagel World on 5th Ave at 5th Street.

[darkerimage]

second that on bagel world...best bagels in the slope!

[dimples]

I think Montague bagels are the best, they are in Brooklyn Heights. They are chewy, freshly baked and not too salty or sweet.

[allydee]

i'll "third" bagel hole for a dense, chewy, not-enormous, classic brooklyn bagel. the (windsor) terrace bagel would be my second favorite in brownstone bk. i don't dislike bergen, but i often find the bagels a little too fluffy and too sweet for my tastes.

i'd like to hear more about bagel world on fifth. what are those bad boys like?

[chubbie]

i ate at bagel world a while ago and thought it was very good. the people who live right around there are lucky to have it.

thanks for all the comments!

[Ljubitca]

Havent been to the slope but Bagel World on Court in Cobble Hill is great.

[Larry Brooks]

They may be the best in the area but I'd disagree on being great. They just aren't "real" bagels. They are too big, too soft, too sweet and too undercooked.

That being said, I buy them 2-3 times a week.

Its add that Brooklyn, an area with the largest Jewish population in America can't land a decent bagel shop.

[Mike R.]

>>>Brooklyn, an area with the largest Jewish population in America can't land a decent bagel shop<<<

False. Same subject, different day...I don't know how many more times I need to impress upon fellow 'Hounds the extreme goodness and authenticity of the BAGEL SPOT in Borough Park.

No funky-berry flavors, just a beautifully executed little gem of a bagel...and as Kosher as they come...All flavors are classic and loaded with the coatings, unlike "Brownstone Brooklyn" pretenders.

It's on 14th Avenue near 43rd Street...the closest subway is the "F" to Church Avenue...walk down Church 'til it intersects 14th around 36th Street. AND, for a bread BONUS, don't forget to stop over at RIO Gas and fill up on an Ostrovitsky Challah.

Zei-Gezindt.

[GDSwamp]

STRONG second for Bagel Spot. Look, you want to be a chowhound, in the true spirit of the credo as laid out in the old pre-CNET homepage? Meaning: a person who will put in a little extra effort to have a truly special eating experience (?). Get out to Borough Park and have a real, boiled, crusty and chewy, not-just-round-bread b.a.g.e.l. made by actual Jews at Bagel Spot.

And no, I supposed you don't have to be Jewish to make a proper bagel any more than you have to be Chinese to make a proper soup dumpling - necessarily. But insofar as bagels are a unique food item linked to a particular culture's culinary heritage, it can't hurt to have a bagel made by folks who are part of that culture. Or - to take another tack - Bagel Spot bagels are the best, most bagel-y bagels I've had in NY, and possibly it's not a coincidence that they're made by men with curly beards.

[Mike R.]

Amen, Shabbat Shalom & Happy Hanukkah...my sentiments excatly...a "Spot"-on bagel if ever there was.

[KRS]

For me, the only correct amount of sugar in a bagel is ZERO. This eliminates almost all places, which make elephantine, cake-like, bagel-shaped-objects with no crust and no interior texture.

After much hunting, I've settled on Bagel Hole on 7th Avenue and Original Bagel Hole on Coney Island Avenue near Avenue K. OBH also great braided rolls with the same dough and cooking method.

Stay away from their bialys though. Nobody come close to Kossar's.

[Peter Cherches]

I haven't tried Bagel World, but I get Bagel Hole bagels all the time, usually around the corner from me at D'Vine Taste (at no markup), but sometimes directly from the shop. I think they're the closest thing to the NY bagels of my youth.

http://petercherches.blogspot.com

[chalkman]

Bag off Brooklyn, hop on the train and try Murrays on 13th and sixth ave.

[bklynite]

Cafe Nova on Court and Warren, and its sister Verandah Cafe on Clinton next to Cobble Hill Park, carry H&H Bagels.

[marlie202]

Murrays and H&H are the only ones I like(both are in Manhattan).

[Ljubitca]

Ohh Brooklyn Bread does a tasty bagel as well I can't compare it to anything traditional but it's just so good.

[chalkman]

Brooklyn Bread are tasty! ... but more like a round bread with a hole in the middle. They are not boiled but just baked. It may sound like heresy to pureists but I love their bagel with a core of dark chocolate, yum!

For traditional bagels I love Murrays!

[ericalloyd]

a tiny hole in the wall called bagel bazaar on 86th street near bay parkway in bensonhurst has great bagels.

[subinai]

Bagel Factory on 5th ave and 17th st.

[bagelnyc]

As a Manhattan transplant, I too am still stuck on Murray's (which also sells the beloved Kossar's bialys), but I am a convert to F-LINE BAGELS on Smith and 9th Streets. Their name may be controversial (damn you, MTA!), but their bagels are admirably crusty - way better than doughy Bagel World's.

[chalkman]

F-Line are indeed great, just about the only real bagels in Carroll Gardens. MTA is so lame to bust the chops of a small business like this ... F**** them!

[kcc2004]

Bagels by the park, Smith and President, are pretty good