THE OTHER KIND OF BAGEL (Mile End Delicatessen)

My search for the best bagels in New York continues….

I just love finding excuses to write about Mile End. And as it turns out, I haven’t written about them (or eaten there) since February. I think we were overdue for a visit.

The real reason for my visit was because I was hungry and I was craving another smoked meat experience. But I added one extra thing to our usual order this time so that I could fit it into the theme of the blog. And that was their Bagel & Schmear.

Needless to say, the eggs, the lox, and the smoked meat were all fantastic. But I’m going to mainly talk about their bagel.

Now I’m not going to officially review this one for a number of reasons. First off, it’s not made on premises, but rather somewhere quite far away (out of the country, in fact). Secondly, there’s no choice of cream cheese or bagel toppings. And all that adds up to the final reason, these aren’t New York bagels at all. And nobody wants them to be. These are the other kind of bagel: Montreal bagels.

There’s endless debate about which version (NY or Montreal) is better and I’m not going to take sides here. The truth is they are quite different and it comes down to a matter of taste (and nurture, I’m sure). Montreal bagels are much smaller and denser than New York bagels. They’re almost always covered with seeds (sesame or poppy) and are boiled in honey water for a sweeter flavor.

The specimen at Mile End was thinner than any bagel I’ve had so far with quite a large hole. It had a crunch, but not too much chewiness. I’m sure these aren’t nearly as good as they are fresh out of the oven at St-Viateur’s (the Montreal bakery where they ship them in from). But considering they’ve been transported in, I’m amazed at how much freshness they’ve retained.

The cream cheese was really melted on to the bagel and it worked well with the mellow sweetness of the bread. The size and shape reminded me of a soft pretzel, but without the salt. The best part was probably that I left without feeling like the bagel went right to my gut. There wasn’t much heaviness associated with it. Although, the smoked meat and quiche took care of any feelings of lightness.

Mile End was the first place to bring Montreal-style bagels to the city. Since they opened over a year, another less favorably reviewed shop in Brooklyn called B & B Empire opened. They specialize in this style and the bagels are baked on premises in a wood oven. I may have to give them a try soon.

And while I don’t necessarily recommend traveling to Mile End specifically for these bagels, I do recommend traveling here for just about everything else on the menu. And in case you don’t believe me, I’ll probably be writing about them again in another few months.

Does Mile End have the best bagels in NY? I’m not going to rate them because these are not NY-style bagels and they’re not baked on premises. But they are quite tasty.