Wicked Bagel soft opening [Lexington MA]

Had the everything bagels this morning. Sigh… I just don’t know, with N=2, they keep falling further away from my ideal. Upon slicing, they look bready. There is some chew but not enough. B and I concurred that they need to be smaller and denser, although they were less puffy than our first sampling on Saturday. We’ll keep trying them and maybe provide some feedback next time.

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Got a baker’s dozen for the office this morning along with 3 tubs of spreads (olive, scallion and veggie cream cheeses). Office verdict (with which I concur): above average bagels, very good spreads dense with whatever add-in they had, but not in the same league as Bagelsaurus (yes I like my colleagues enough to schlep in the wrong direction to bring them Bagelsaurus bagels). I noticed and liked the saltiness of the everything bagels that @digga mentioned in the initial post but I can see it might be overly-salted for some. I think I will need to make some rules for myself along the lines of, I can only get Wicked Bagels for the office and for personal consumption I either schlep to Cambridge or go without. But this area has been a bagel desert (well, a good bagel desert) since the place in Lexington Center closed (what was it called? where Lexx is now) so I think Wicked Bagel is going to do very well indeed and glad to have them.

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Thanks for the info, digga and Gretch. Oh, Gretchen, I have really missed Aesop’s in Lexington. They were excellent. Too bad that Wicked isn’t quite up to that level, but they sound worth trying. Nothing matches Bagelsaurus in my book, but it’s not always convenient to get there from Waltham.

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But they are HUGE and very expensive. Really folks, making your own, if you have a stand mixer is worth the effort since it hardly takes any!

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THAT’S what it was called: Aesop’s Bagels, I knew it was a clever name, thanks!

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Please see the following for a disproof of both contentions (HUGE and very expensive):

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A bagel, in the tradition of the old NYCity bagel makers, is 3 oz per bagel. Well 3.2 is acceptable. I can’t eat a 4.41 bagel in one sitting. Price is subjective of course. I loved your post when you made it, but it didn’t change my opinion of our local bagel options.

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Man, and now you don’t love it any more?

I do agree that “our local bagel options” are all lacking. But I respectfully submit that Bagelsaurus is no worse an offender than the other contenders. I, myself, would choose to eat theirs over the competition.

And, switching to NY (as I do every week), there’s not much there either, except the same bagel-bloat and price-puffery we see in Greater Boston.

Haven’t seen consideration of Better Bagels here. We attended a kiddie event in the Seaport today with the express intention of grabbing a 1/2 dozen. They were sold out by the time we got there (11am). I know they sell through a lot of different outlets throughout Camberville but I wanted to check them out at the source. What’s the word? Are they good?

I think this is what they have at 7ate9 bakery, but their website is all about selling cheesecake. Do you know if I am right? If so, I might be willing to take one for the team. :wink:

Yep, supposedly they carry them. We were going to go to Nine Bar in Davis to get some this morning but a friend popped in to say hi. Before he popped in, B had gone to Wicked Bagel but there were 30 people in line already. I kid you not - he counted. He left empty-handed. Bagel fail!

Well, having just finished an onion and a sesame bagel for Sunday breakfast, my husband and I both agreed that the bagels need more salt and fermentation. I could get by the slightly fluffy interior if there were more flavor there. Bummer. The plain cream cheese, however, was really delicious. My husband said that next time we’ll have to get the cream cheese at Wicked and then head to Iggy’s or Bagelsaurus for bagels. (Iggy’s cream cheese is also delicious, but it is very creamy and light-textured, almost like a creme fraiche.)

What time did you go and was there a line? I think maybe the everything bagel is the way to go here for flavor. But agree, it is not a top-notch bagel at this point.

It was a few minutes past 8 and there wasn’t a line. The tables were all full and several people were waiting for sandwiches. I only had to wait a few minutes, and service was friendly and efficient. It’s a cool space. I do hope they tweak the recipe a bit because with just a bit more flavor I would happily get them often.

I meant to add that the cream cheese is made in-house.

Wow, never heard of a place making its own cream cheese.

Iggy’s does, too, but it’s not like any other cream cheese I’ve had. It light and very smooth and more like creme fraiche, although still delicious. Wicked’s is more like a traditional deli whipped cream cheese. It has more body than Iggy’s and holds up well on a bagel.

So I popped in and got an everything bagel and cream cheese. I am with you – great cream cheese, bagel just not good enough – too fluffy, not enough flavor, even with the toppings. Hopefully they will keep working on their recipe.

Yeah, agreed. The everything bagel will be my next sample. And they definitely have potential.

My son had the whole wheat yesterday. It smelled really good and he said it had a nice tang to it.