Great work @fooddabbler ! I know I’m VERY late to the bagel party, but here are a couple of recent and surprising (to me) observations.
Surprise #1: Kupel’s in Brookline makes really horrible bagels. This is surprising because it has lines out the door all the time, is in a neighborhood where you’d think people might not put up with crappy bagels, and many other earmarks of a solid bagel place. But these massive specimens are fluffy like rolls, not bagels, and have basically no taste at all.
Surprise #2: Bagels Plus in Acton makes the best bagels in Massachusetts. This is surprising because, well, it’s freaking Acton, MA! These are classic, boiled-then-baked bagels with great flavor and chew, and the place is busy enough constantly that the supply is always super fresh. The best bagels in MA are in Acton - go figure!
Agree with @tomatotomato…this place was wholly unbeknownst to me. We’re on that very road once in while, visiting the Discovery Museum or grabbing lunch at Rapscallion. Gotta check this place out asap. Thanks @Kennyz!
And, also agree with @GretchenS, this IS a fun thread. See, we Greater Boston folks are a nice bunch. Thanks for the welcome reminder @Kennyz. Hope you’ll stick around.
Indeed. Thanks to this thread we’ve become regulars at Rosenfelds, with an occasional visit to Bruegger’s in West Newton if I’m heading west. Just back from 3 weeks in Tel Aviv, and missing a good Jerusalem bagel with zatar. Have yet to try the Israeli transplant Landwer, the real transplant I’d love to see is Roladin.
See @Madrid, if you simply do not eat three $10 sweet potatoes you can buy one $24 tomato with the money you’ll have saved and still come out $6 ahead.
I love tomatoes. Local tomatoes. Farmers market heirloom tomatoes, that I set on the kitchen counter for a few days if they are a short time from ripening. They start here in Boston at around $6 a pound, in late July or early August; do down a $ or $2 a pound or so if there’s not too much rain or heat as the season goes on. They are incredible, especially (again) if too much rain or heat doesn’t challenge the crops. I don’t usually peel them except for very special preparations. I have great EVOO and sea salt at home.
I can’t image buying one tomato raw or peeled or otherwise, no matter how perfect, at a restaurant for $24.
You are correct, if I didn’t order 3 $10 sweet potatoes, I would save money!
If I get out to Acton, I will try Bagels Plus, but it’s way too far to be my regular bagel place. Having lived in Newton Centre for 3 going on 4 years now, I still go to either Rosenfeld’s, or Cafe Fresh Bagel in Needham, as they have Asiago bagels (which I love), and they’re everything has more stuff on it than Rosenfeld’s. I also will occasionally buy St Viateur Montreal bagels from Walnut Market in Newton Highlands. They get them fresh on most Thursdays.
Needing to get breakfast while in town for a convention, I discovered Better Bagels, a storefront on Seaport Boulevard near Boston Wharf Road. I’ve been “real bagel” deprived since moving to the SF Bay Area–even the fancy ones like Boichik don’t quite hit the mark for me–and at Better Bagels I FINALLY got one with an actual substantial crust. I got a plain with CC for breakfast and got two more plains to take home to California. $2.50/bagel.
I was able to get reasonably priced breakfasts and lunches from Flour Bakery and Tatte (also got Passover-compatible sweets at the latter). I was going to go to Chinatown one evening, but I also came down with a minor case of food poisoning on my 2nd day there and thus had to take it easy for a while.
I had meant to post this last year, but apparently I didn’t and, in any case, you may already be aware of it. There’s a link in it to an interview with Mary Ting Hyatt, the founder/owner of Bagelsaurus.
Nope. It could have also been everything mixing in my stomach (I was here for the Specialty Coffee Expo), or something that my wife likes to call “new city tummy”. It made for a bit of discomfort one night, but I recovered very quickly.
