Instead of ordering from the counter, you can sit down and order your bagel from a table without having to wait in a long line.īaz also serves eggs, latkes, specials and breakfast sandwiches making it a perfect brunch spot.Īddress: 181 Grand St, New York, NY 10013 Baz Bagel (Little Italy)īaz Bagel is unlike many of the other bagel shops mentioned on this list. Choose from a wide variety of bagel and cream cheese flavors or speciality wraps, salads and cold cuts.īagel Tip: Try the House Special – fresh lox, cream cheese, tomatoes, onions, and capersĪddress: 116 E 28th St, New York, NY 10016 While the line may be long, the service is always quick and extremely friendly. This is a place we always find ourselves gravitating back to for another delicious bagel. Instagram: bagelshopnyc Bagels & Schmear storefront 3. This is a popular place that serves everything from bagels, breakfast sandwiches, smoked fish, speciality sandwiches and even the ice cream bagelwich.Īddress: 1659 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10128 The Bagel Shop is consistently praised for their fair prices and extensive menu. Absolute Bagels also offers tofutti cream cheese which is soy-based and dairy free.Īddress: 2788 Broadway, New York, NY 10025įacebook: Absolute Bagels 2. You can expect over 10 kinds of bagel and cream cheese options along with salads and deli meats. Absolute Bagels (Upper West Side)Ī traditional no frills spot featuring bagels with a crisp chewy outside and a soft warm inside. NYC is one of the top US vacation spots and bagels are the breakfast foods you can’t miss on a first visit! Cinnamon raisin bagel with strawberry schmear Best Bagels In Manhattan 1. Over the decades, the New York bagel has doubled in size with a wide variety of unique flavors and numerous cream cheese spreads for any palate. The New York bagel started to gain popularity with the non-Jewish population and beyond. For decades, the bagel remained only a treat for the Jewish Community of New York.īut by the 1960s, the secret was out.

The New York style bagel we know today was first created as an inexpensive snack for Jewish immigrants in NYC. As Jewish refugees from Poland arrived in NYC in the 1800s, they brought many food traditions including the bagel. Based on recent visits, the argument could be made that Murray's bagel-too big, and typically a bit sweet-just isn't what it used to be, so what's the difference? Still, recognition where due-this is one of the better operations on the entire West Side, south of 59th Street.Best Bagels In NYC FAQ’s Why Is New York Known For Bagels?īefore we get into the nitty gritty of where to find the best bagel in NYC, let us help you understand why New York is known around the world for its bagel scene.Īlthough New York is home to some of the best bagels around, the origins of the bagel can be traced back to Poland. A few years back, Murray's relented, and now you get to ruin your bagel, just the way you like it. But as anyone who has spent more than five minutes in a New York bagel shop can tell you, the customer is always right, and possibly will also fight you, and everyone in the store for good measure. Give this Greenwich Village institution some credit-for the longest time, they fought back. Used to be, according to conventional wisdom, that only a second-rate operation would allow such a travesty the best bagel bakers took too much pride in their work for such foolishness to go unchecked. There was a time when you could separate the best shops in New York from the rest by the presence of a commercial-grade toaster behind the counter. Saveur Magazine raised eyebrows a few years ago, calling this one of the finest in the entire country-they were right. (There are three Maine shops on this list, and there probably should have been more.) When Allen Smith opened up shop in Lewiston the better part of a decade ago, he wasn't the first to tinker with the notion of a naturally leavened, long-fermented, and wood-fired bagel, but these days, Forage, which has since branched out to Portland's Munjoy Hill neighborhood, makes Maine's best bagel right now, gorgeously light and beautifully structured, with an exterior that snaps and crackles like popcorn. For a state with a scattered population less than Manhattan's, this is a group of people that is absolutely spoiled, and certainly for bagels: There isn't another off-the-beaten-path state quite so excited by the idea of the reinvention of the bagel.

What can be said about Maine's enviable baking culture, except that if you know, you know, and if you don't, take a little road trip.

Best utopia bagels