Wicked Bagel soft opening [Lexington MA]

[digga]

Wicked Bagel is having their soft opening today. Doing brisk business at 10 AM. The interior is much nicer than I expected with a few tables for eat-in customers (they’re not doing sandwiches yet).

We got 1/2 dozen - sesame and everything. A plain with creamy PB for spring onion - he gobbled up 1/4 outside and then we biked home.

By first look, B and I were worried. They are way puffier than we like. But upon eating (B likes his toasted, I don’t), we found the crust slightly crispy (could be crispier in our opinions) and the interior pleasantly chewy and not the bread monstrosities that we were worried about. I do hope they tweak a bit to make smaller bagels and I found the everything seed/salt mix a tad too salty (B didn’t).

We are glad they are in the neighborhood.

Wicked Bagel

Edited to add: Between dinner last night (forager and brisket pizzas from Commune Kitchen…both as usual mind-knowingly good), me getting back into bread-making, and bagels today, this household adheres to the Gluten Everday diet. We couldn’t survive without it!

Hmmm…the sesame is breadier than the everything or plain. Bummer.

[GretchenS]

Thanks for this @digga! Since it is directly on my path from home to work to home I have very mixed feelings about whether I want them to be good or not, too good and I fear for my jeans. Guess I will pick up a dozen to take to work Monday morning and see what we all think.

[fooddabbler]

too good and I fear for my jeans.

Your jeans eat bagels?

[GretchenS]

lol

[digga]

Edited to add: Between dinner last night (forager and brisket pizzas from Commune Kitchen…both as usual mind-knowingly good)

Gah! Mind-blowingly, not knowingly! What the heck is mind-knowingly, auto-correct?!

I’m going to go back tomorrow for an N=2.

[GretchenS]

Mind-blowingly, not knowingly

we knew what you meant!

[digga]

Picked up 1/2 dozen (5 everything and 1 veggie for the heck of it) today plus some veggie cream cheese. I only sampled the veggie bagel. Sadly, too bready, but despite that, it still had some decent chewiness. Cream cheese was chock-full of veggies, which I liked. B and I will try the everything bagels tomorrow, but they will be a day old. If I hadn’t been too distracted by work and prepping spring onion’s Halloween costume, I would’ve split and thrown them into the freezer.

Again, sandwiches won’t be available until at least the weekend, which disappointed several customers in line. Good-sized crowd at almost 11 am.

[digga]

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.

[GretchenS]

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.

[bear]

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.

[smtucker]

Nothing matches Bagelsaurus in my book

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!

[GretchenS]

Aesop’s in Lexington

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

[fooddabbler]

But they are HUGE and very expensive.

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

Really excellent bagels in the Greater Boston (MA) area

I compared 6 local (to me) bagels over the last few days: Bagelsauraus (Mass Av, Cambridge), Forge Baking Company (in Somerville, bagel picked up at Diesel Cafe in Davis Sq.), Iggy’s (bagel picked up at Darwin’s on Cambridge St. in Cambridge), Mamaleh’s (Kendall Sq.), Mariposa (Central Sq.) and Somerville Bread Company (Somerville). Some notes: Prices: The Iggy's, Mariposa and Somerville bagels were $2 each (although Iggy's is cheaper at the source, I think), Mamaleh's was $2.15, and Bagelsaur…

[smtucker]

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.

[fooddabbler]

I loved your post when you made it,

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

it didn’t change my opinion of our local bagel options.

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.

[digga]

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?

[smtucker]

Better Bagels

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.

[digga]

Better Bagels

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.

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!

[bear]

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.)

[GretchenS]

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.