BAGEL REVIEW: Davidovich Bakery

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

The bagel situation in the United States has dipped greatly since they were introduced to New York around the turn of the last century. Like many things, we have figured out a way to make the production cheaper and faster. The art of hand-rolling the bagels was replaced by machines and it was not uncommon to pull your morning bread out of the freezer.

Davidovich Bakery is unique for being the only large commercial bakery that still hand rolls all of their bagels before boiling and baking them. In fact, many of the best store-bought bagels are actually made by this Queens based company.

They had been on my radar for a long time. In fact, Russ & Daughters once got their bagels from Davidovich before they started making their own. So it was a legendary place for a bagel.

It made sense for Davidovich in 2013 to let the world know their own name, And so they opened a retail stand in Essex Street Market and then a second one in the Chelsea Market.

I recently found myself in the brand spanking new Essex Market (moved from the old historic building) one Saturday morning and figured there was probably not a better time to try these out.

The everything spice was well dispersed and on both sides of the bagel. That’s always a good sign. But the bagel itself was almost stale.

Obviously these bagels are not baked in house, since there is no facility for an oven. But I still expected them to be as fresh and warm as possible. Especially on a Saturday morning.

Not sure if I got a bagel from the previous day but truly that was unacceptable for a place with such high regard. Garlic was the predominant flavor here which is ok. But texture-wise it did not work the way it was supposed to.

I don’t toast my bagels for this experiment (and shouldn’t when they are fresh). Perhaps I should have toasted it here to make it more edible. But that’s not the way it’s supposed to be here in NYC.

The bagel had a decent chewy pull but not much else. Not crisp, not hot, and not fresh. I sure hope this was not a good example of what Davidovich normally makes from their wholesale bakery. Because if so, the United States bagel situation is in big trouble.

Does Davidovich Bakery have the best bagels in NY? They do not make their bagels on premises and the one I had that came from elsewhere was not even warm or textured. Sadly. based on this, they can’t get much more than a 6 out of10.