Montreal Bagels [Moved from Manhattan Board]

[chowmeow]

What's a Montreal bagel? How is it different from NY bagels? I've read such great things about them I'm dying to go to Montreal to try one!

[FlavoursGal]

Wikipedia's description of the Montreal bagel is quite accurate and comprehensive:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal...

There are two wood-burning oven bagel shops in Toronto that turn out pretty good versions of Montreal bagels.

The better of the two is The Bagel House: 2 branches.

The other is St-Urbain Bagel: 3 branches.

There are also Montreal-style bagel bakeries in Ottawa that are purported to be very good.

[piccola]

In Ottawa: Kettleman's Bagels. There may be others, but KB is number one.

[lambretta76]

Montreal bagels are boiled in honey-water and then baked in a wood oven. They have much larger holes and a "regular" is usually the sesame seed version. I vastly prefer Westmount over St. Viateur. (The everything has caraway, a really tasty addition.)

http://www.fairmountbagel.com/eng/index.htm
http://www.stviateurbagel.com

[surly]

you mean fairmount bagel, not westmount, right?

montreal bagels are awesome. both fairmount and st. viateur (la maison du bagel) are terrific. personally i like them better than even the best ny bagels, with st. viateur getting a slight edge from me over fairmount (although several of my friends prefer the latter). i agree with the others that these are not available in ny, and perhaps not outside of montreal/quebec.

what i love about the two elite montreal bagel shops is that they're open around the clock, yet even in the middle of the night they crank out hot, fresh, tasty bagels. if i lived up there, bagels (along with poutines) would become my default late night, post-drinking grub.

[lambretta76]

Yes, of course I meant Fairmount - d'oh!

[FlavoursGal]

The traditional Montreal bagel came in two versions: poppy and sesame (or "black seed" and "white seed" as we always referred to them in Montreal). The newfangled flavours available now are abominations to those of us who are Montreal bagel purists. :-)

[Candy]

That is all we order, black or white,though I prefer white. Poppy seeds really stick in your teeth. Boy I wish I had one now.

[AzChelle]

On the Splendid Table last weekend, the Sterns reviewed Montreal bagels they ate in (guess where?) Montreal. If you listen to the broadcast, they give a description.

From the broadcast:
Looks like a regular bagel, but slightly smaller. At first, Michael said thought they were too sweet, and the texture isn't as muscular. But after a few days of eating them, they were hooked. They have a wood-smoked, slightly (a hint) sweet flavor.

http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/whereweeat/stern_babka_bagels.html

And here's a recipe of a Montreal bagel from another (earlier) ST broadcast:
http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/...

BTW, the Sterns said they don't exist outside of Montreal.

[John Manzo]

Sorry, but this is crap- every Canadian city has Montreal style bagels. The best I've ever had were in Ottawa, as a matter of fact, but I live in Calgary and the Montreal bagles from a place called Montreal's (owner used to work at St Vaiteur) are completely excellent.

[BLM]

I think it would be stretching it to say every [major] Canadian city has Montreal style bagels. 7-8 years ago, in a reversal a brand-new bagel shop in Montreal was making NY-style bagels, but it didn't stay in business long.

[John Manzo]

OK-every city I've visited has Montreal-style bagels.