Bagelsaurus is another Boston-area institution that should have its own thread. There are numerous mentions of it on this board, but not (as far as I can find) a dedicated thread.
I must have been to them something like 100+ times over the years without ever being entirely passionate about their pale-crackly-crusted, sourdoughy offerings. It’s an unusual style, intriguing enough that I keep returning, but I’ve never been a complete convert to their cult.
They’ve expanded into the space occupied by the store next door in recent months. Part of the dividing wall between the two is still there, as are the 3–4 small tables that lined that wall. On the opposite side of the wall there’s a stand-up counter at which you can eat standing. The back end (from the entrance, still the original one) has been opened into a larger area. The original ordering counter is still there, in front of you as you enter, but there’s a new one now on the far (new) right, that they person when they think of it. The entire operation has the haphazard charm/features that have always characterized it.
The bagels are still the same (although there might be a new offering or two – rye was new to me) as are the sandwiches. An economical option that also offers you more precise control over your sandwich than the ones of their own composition is to get a buttered (or cream cheesed) bagel, then choose add-ons such as ham, etc. You can get out at a price in the single digits. We got a plain buttered bagel with ham yesterday, and their composed chicken salad sandwich. That latter sandwich is seems to want to straddle the line between what’s better suited to tuna (pickle), and to chicken (raisins) by throwing both in.
There was a long wait for our food, ordered in person, because they now do a brisk online pickup business. That’s the way to go, to avoid waiting a long stretch in cramped quarters.
As convenient as Bagelsaurus is to me, it’s not somewhere I’m willing to wait for (either in a line or four my order as you experienced). I like it enough, but I guess I spend too much time in New York where there are plenty of serviceable bagels.
I used to love their bagels. (Before having to give up gluten a few years back) They are indeed their own thing, but the chew and the sourdough flavor was my favorite. The hot smoked salmon sandwich with pickled onions, cream cheese, and dill hit all the right notes and seemed worth the price tag, as one expects fish to be pricey. One of these days, I’ll head back as my sprouts now see an orthodontist right across the street so I’m in the area frequently. I don’t recall them having a GF option, but times change so it might be worth investigating again. (As an aside, Mamaleh’s GF bagels, which they do not make in house, are quite good and are not listed on the menu which kept me away for years, but actually anything on their menu can be done GF.)
@uni, as @Parsnipity says the Bagelsaurus are indeed their own thing. Not just “serviceable”. There’s nothing like them in the GBA or anywhere in NYC.
Having said that, I’m not converted to that cult (as I indicated above). These are intriguing bagels, chewy-crackly(on first bite) ones, pale ones, sour-airy ones, ones that make you go “hmm”, but not, after all the mastication and cogitation, my favorite.
Still, I love me a challege and I return repeatdly.
Yes, there are other bagels in NYC – avid followers of my posts will know that I swim too in those murky bagel-boiling waters – but we’re here and those bagels are 200 miles away. Time for a Best Bagels in Boston thread, methinks, if one does not already exist.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but for me serviceable is exactly what Bagelsaurus bagels are. It would be very convenient for me to go there almost any time I wanted, but I rarely do. If a family or member or colleague wants a bagel it’s somewhere I know I can get them a decent bagel (as long as it’s not at a peak time). They are good relative to the area.
People who love their bagels or overall presentation of the business should enjoy them and take full advantage of having Bagelsaurus in the Boston area.
I continue to long for a good bagel near me. I used to live in Brookline eons ago. Back then Kupel’s was the place for me. I hadn’t seen anything about Kupel’s in years. So I checked—miraculously, still around. I don’t get down that way anymore so I have no idea if they’d measure up to my fond memory.
Bagelsaurus is easily my favorite bagel in the Boston area. It is not super close to me so I don’t eat them regularly, but when I do get them I order ahead (on-line) and I never have to wait in line, they are already bagged up and ready to go.
I live near Goldilox in Medford and like them a lot as well.
As an aside, Kenji Lopez-Alt has a posted a method for refreshing a bagel that has started to go stale. It works!
I used to live in Brookline very near Kupel’s decades ago. We were in Brookline a some months ago to go to the Brookline Village framing place and stopped by Kupel’s. The bagels were not good at all, nothing like I remember. Not sure if they changed or I changed or both.
It was the day after a major holiday (maybe it was July 5 or the day after memorial day, I can’t remember), and maybe they hadn’t baked fresh that day, I don’t know.
I do know we will never go back to Kupel’s.
My husband lived in Manhattan for a some years and he loves Bagelsaurus. I like them, but I personally don’t need a bagel fix all that often.
I do need a fix from Michette from time to time…the new-ish French bakery near our house in Somerville. A true upgrade to the neighborhood. No bagels, of course.
I loved Brookline, too! Walk everywhere, food, all kinds of restaurants, book store, movie rental store, dry cleaners, drug store, bakeries, library, Green line, etc. I lived in the third floor attic apartment of a house on Naples Rd, and when the family decided they were having a second child, they wanted their third floor back for their use.
Coolidge Corner still amazing. I moved to East Arlington…this was almost 3 decades ago, before Arlington got really gentrified.
I have still never made it over to Bagelsaurus. The fear of long lines for a bagel just didn’t to compel me to trek that way, but I just might give it a shot and put it back on my list. I have been enjoying the Pop Up Bagels at the new Seaport outpost, and admittedly, it’s entirely due to being able to get a warm bagel. I tend to like my bagels simple, and this place does that at least well.
I do love a good sourdough though, so I’m intrigued by that aspect of Bagelsaurus.
I was disappointed in Rosenfeld’s recently (late 2024). Just didn’t delight me the way they did back when I went into an actual office and someone would bring them for his turn at our team-wide discovery biology meetings.
