You are so right - though my daughter carries bagels from Bagel Pub to Ohio, and I really enjoy them out of the freezer when there! On or near my Brooklyn home turf, Bagel Pub, Terrace Bagels (Windsor Terrace) and Bagel Hole (latter very old school). I have not tried Shelsky’s yet. Some folks like the very near to me Bergen Bagels, but its not as good as the others.
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You should try them. Some of the best around. Fortunately for me, following Ziggy’s rule the good bagel shop close to me is a branch of Shelsky’s.
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I’ve found that doughier bagels like Bagel Pub or Court Street Bagels fare better in freeze-and-thaw situations than more traditional bagels like Utopia or Shelsky’s or even Absolute. As such, Bagel Pub is a go-to for NYC gifts when travelling.
Haven’t been to Bagel Hole in yonks – will need to remedy that soon.
I can’t remember when we started but likely pre-pandemic. At least, I believe I posted some pics to CH, and I know I left CH well before then.
It’s been so long since I’ve had an “authentic” NYC bagel that I wouldn’t know one if it jumped up and kicked me in the kneecap. Woe unto me. Some of y’all have all the luck (haha).
@Desert-Dan - if you find Brian’s don’t quite have as much tug as you’d like, try again with about a tablespoon of gluten to pump up the protein a bit. We use KA’s 12.7% protein bread flour and adding the gluten pushes it closer to 15% (+/- fair margin because a bag of “gluten” itself might be be 60-80% protein). His recipe seems over-sized based on weight (125 g dough ea) so if I try it I’ll make 8 instead (94 each).
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I don’t mind bigger sized bagels, as long as they are nice and dense and chewy, and not a dinner roll masquerading as a round Jewish bread product.
In fact, sometimes I prefer larger sized bagels, this way I don’t have to order two, and be left with leftovers.
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I’ve been baking bagels frequently for the last 12 months since a visit to Russ and Daughter’s and an podcast interview with Cathy Barrow coincided in my little world. Barrow’s book Bagels, Schmears, and a Nice Piece of Fish is excellent. She has you add 5.5 g of vital wheat gluten for every 120 g of all-purpose flour. All the bagels have been excellent so far, and they get raves. She includes Montreal bagels, which I’ve never had anywhere but now enjoy making at home (no wood oven, of course). I’ve also made her cream cheese using goat’s milk (copying Russ and Daughters) and her home-cured lox. It’s all surprisingly little work; the bagel dough comes together quickly in my Ankarsrum mixer. They rise overnight and bake quickly in the morning. I recommend her book if you’d like to get into bagel baking.
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Thank you. Now that you mention it, I’m pretty sure Russ/Daughters was my one bagel stop in my infrequent trips into Manhattan. And by infrequent, I mean three times in the early 1990s.
been a while since I have been there too…
Traditional bagels should be sliced before being frozen; otherwise they will crumble when you slice them.
the bagels in westchester were so bad that when the kids were young, I forbid them eating in our local bagel shop. After they were 21, I couldn’t stop them…ok, just kidding, after they were seven or so, I realized I was being stupid and they came to like the awful, bready, sweet bagels from our local bagel shop.
Happily, we bought a pied in NYC and they came to understand why the bagels were awful in our town. People complain about how hard parenting is, personally, once my kids understood good pizza, bagels and chinese food, I figured my job was done.
uws:
- absolute: was my favorite on the uws but as @Saregama points out, always a line .
- lenny’s: sadly they closed but an underrated bagel, great prices, a neighborhood favorite and. as my wife pointed out, was a shorter walk from our uws apt than the end of our driveway in Westchester.
- broadway bagels: another neighborhood joint, not sure where prices went but their egg platters with a bagel were a steal.
- h&h - used to love their bagels but they closed and sold their name but not their recipe.
UES
- Tals: on the UWS Tals never entered the conversation, better bagels and appetizing elsewhere but so far, the one on 86th is the best I’ve found in the area. They make bagels throughout the day so there’s a chance of something hot and the guys behind the counter make you feel like a real New Yorker in a grating, I’m doing you a favor, kind of way.
- Bagel Bobs: on york, fairly inconsistent bakes, sometimes very good, sometimes mediocre, I prefer the way Tal’s adds seeds to both sides of the bagel.
- Fairway - the store that is now like every other except more expensive, still does a nice job with hand-sliced smoked salmon, they sell Ben’s plain and scallion cream cheese and some decent baked farmer’s cheese.
- Kosar’s Bialys: Helped me remember why I used to trek to the les. A lot of people order their bagels, I’ll give one a try next time. also, @Saregama, a dumpling spot called Miss Dumpling shares the space with Kosars, there was a long line last time I passed by.
- Bodegas: I’m sorta fascinated by the number of people ordering toasted bagels and cream cheese at our local bodegas. The bagels look bready, big and awful but people are clearly glomming down, what am I missing here? The BECs are very good, maybe I should give the bagels a chance.
other areas:
- Thompson Square Bagels: Used to play basketball in a school in Thompson square, thought the bagels were good but that was many years ago.
- Utopia: Sure, they’re good, but the only time I’m gonna stop by is after eating at the Chinese restaurant across the street. I guess they are opening in Manhattan.
- ess-a-bagel: Used to work in the area and thought it very good, especially liked their whitefish salad on a bagel.
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Ooh. Do tell if you try it!
I still haven’t heard the end of it from my nephews about grabbing bagels one morning from a close-by bodega that used to have good ones and obviously changed sources between my visits. UGH. Don’t.
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I made them during the pandemic, surprisingly easy!
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Same, agree!
Yes, but I used to go down to Hartsdale to High Ridge and get their mini bagels, which were good. Once upon a time Jumbo a second Ave in the 50’s was good. I did like Tal. Alas, Palm Coast is a bagel wasteland.
I make bagels and sourdough boules when we’re in Florida. there’s a place in st augustine I tried, it was laughable…
rather than pay $20 at tals for a bagel, lox and cc, It has occurred to me to pay the $8-$10 ask for a bagel, lox and cc at our local bodega but ask them to sub in a tal’s bagel. I suppose a better course of action would be to ask the bodega for the lox/cc on the side.
I may be venturing into NYC Easy Rider territory: bagel, cc, lox, hold the bagel 
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So you’d carry the Tal’s bagel with you to the bodega? There’s got to be some law about not having outside food brought in given that it’s nyc, but I doubt the guy behind the counter would care.
The bagel place that everyone loves in St. Augustine is a joke. The French pastry place is ok, but we got a great new place for sour dough and wonderful croissants that just opened in Palm Coast. They also wheels of wonderful cheeses that they cut for you and lots,of little surprises like black garlic, guanciale and other salumi. When you walk in to,this tiny place, the smell,of butter is intoxicating. Nest time you’re in SA you should try it. Right now they are only open Thurs, Fri and Sat, but that will bee expanding.
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What’s the name of the sourdough place in St. Aug, if you don’t mind? My parents are in Port Orange, and my mom has been wanting decent sourdough since they went to San Francisco a few years ago. Supposedly there was a serviceable bagel place down in Melbourne, where my sister and her family lived, but my BIL just got a great job. In Arkansas. I never got the name, and my sister has a memory like a sieve for that kind of thing.
ETA: oh, duh, you have it right there- sorry!!
I don’t know if the pastry shop in St. Augustine has sour dough. I’ve never gotten there early enough. The place in Palm Coast does, website above. The pastry shop in SA is Les Petit Pleasures on A1A and 312. Again, don’t know about sour dough there.
