whoooww
Mark 'n Mike’s at One Market uses Boichik. Looks like they only sell a sandwich now but I swear you used to be able to just order bagels when they first started. I’m sure if you talked to them you could.
Not to hijack this thread but then you can also get their pastrami sandwich which is good (this one was quite sloppily assembled but the flavor was spot on, and nice and fatty):
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My favorite used to be Beauty but haven’t had them since the merger. Besides them, my top are Boichik, DD, and Baron, in some order depending on the day and freshness, etc.
We’ve tried a few of the sourdough popups but haven’t cared for any — they’re never malty enough, the crust is wrong, and more like eating some weird version of sourdough bread. Some are quite popular though so what do I (or maybe them) know.
If you live or are in the neighborhood, Early to Rise on Nob Hill makes a pretty good NY-style bagel (and fresh every day they’re open). They make kits to go or sandwiches, which make a nice morning with a walk to Ina Coolbrith:
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I had a garlic bagel with gravlax, onion, and capers with plain cream cheese from Daily Driver in the Ferry Building today. They were out of a lot of bagels at around 3pm on a Saturday, also wanted tomato with my sandwich but they were out of that too. I guess they might have been almost closing up for the day as they had bags of a half dozen bagels for $8. I got a bag of the everything bagels and put it in the freezer.
I’m not a bagel connoisseur either but I thought it was a good bagel, nice chew. It was toasted. The gravlax was a little salty (or it may have been the capers).
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Did a mini bagel crawl yesterday — took a long walk to Dago, then to Daily Driver and Wise Sons (from Epicurean Trader) at the FB. Took them home and tried them plain, with (the excellent) Gina Marie Cream Cheese and (not very good) Nancy’s Cream Cheese, fresh and toasted.
The consensus was that Dago was the best — flavor, chew, and especially the crust — with Daily Driver a pretty close second and Wise Sons a definite tier below.
Clockwise from top left: DD, Dago, WS:
DD:
Dago:
WS:
DD and Dago:
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Nice analysis! I don’t like Wise Sons bagels at all, they have a weird gummy texture and are barely a step above mass produced supermarket bagels. Thanks for the reminder about Dago, I’m going to give them a try next time I’m back in North Beach.
Have you tried any of the other bagels like Chicken Dog or Bagel Macher? If so, how do they compare?
I personally have had Daily Driver and Dago and didn’t really care for either - perhaps both were off days.
Chicken Dog taking pre-orders for Friday morning pick up at Avedanos in Bernal Heights. They also do walk ups on Saturday, but the lines tend to be really long.
@Anthony check them out if you get a chance, they are my favorite in San Francisco (although I haven’t tried Dago).
https://chickendogbagels.square.site/?mc_cid=8a8761090d&mc_eid=d7d0f94867
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Schlok’s is opening a brick and mortar in 2022 in NOPA, SF. Anybody try their pop ups?
It may be blasphemy but do the Costcos in the Bay Area sell packaged BOILED bagels? We finally got them here in South OC and, at $6.99 for a dozen Everything’s, they’re a pretty good substitute for bagel shop bagels. Make sure you see “boiled” on the label as they used to not be and were nowhere near as good.
We usually get bagels from a local specialty bagel place but they’re more than twice the price, so…………
Another pop up going brick and mortar - has anyone tried these?
Sourdough as the default for a bagel seems odd to me.
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Yeah I’m curious to try. Chicken Dog supposedly uses a sourdough base, but I don’t get a strong sourdough taste from them.
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Schlok’s opened this week on Fell Street, just around the corner from the DMV next to Hadough. Long lines. I preordered but still had to wait in pick up line. NY style, puffier with soft bready interior, much less dense than a lot of the sourdough SF styles. Nice light outer crust. Very much reminded me of Ess-a-Bagel in NYC, but softer interior.
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I like the “no toasting” rule. A good, fresh (unfrozen) bagel shouldn’t need to be toasted.
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I tried Schlok’s when they were popping up at the Snug and I was not a fan. Giant bagels with very little flavor. They always sold out quickly so I found it very confusing. I’ll be curious to give them another shot now that they have a brick and mortar.
We tried most of the places in SF that I read good things about a year ago. If anyone is curious, here is how I ranked them:
- chicken dog
- poppy
- 20th century cafe (RIP
) - daily driver
- midnite
- wise sons
- schloks
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I ate one Schlock’s fresh and had a few more frozen/toasted. I like the exterior, but they all had an excessively doughy interior, almost undercooked dough taste. I haven’t tried Poppy or Midnite but agree with you about Chicken Dog - my favorite so far. I have a real dislike of Wise Sons, just gummy with not crackling exterior.
P.S. Welcome to HO - glad to have another SF resident contributing!
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I had Boichik Bagels recently while visiting the Bay Area and thought they were just ho-hum. I’m sorry, good bagels require East Coast water. But that said, I prefer Izzy’s Brooklyn Bagels in Palo Alto. I especially like their bialys and most of all, their whitefish salad.
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