Living in
Brooklyn, the land of the best bread, water, and pastries in the States has
many advantages. But the downside is that it is that much harder to impress me
in these food categories. Especially the bread. When I visit relatives in
nearby Long Island we HAVE to bring rolls or they won’t let us in. Okay that
was a joke but a good joke has some truth in it, no?
I don’t
get the big deal but I guess if I didn’t have immediate access to these goods I
would have some demands of my own. As of now my only demands are that I go to
France at least once a year to binge eat. Once I achieve that I can expand to
my other favorite foods that exist all over the world.
But since
we are talking about my hometown we should return to the point being that today
I had a transformative bagel experience. Naturally it took place at The Bagel
Store. A nice, simple title, right? Oh how clueless I was when I walked in.
Picture
it: a few months ago while driving around pursuing other blog list (http://thequeenoff-ckingeverything.blogspot.com/2016/04/for-year-6-20162017-to-do-list_19.html)
ventures when I stopped on a street where there were people lined up like they
are waiting for the President to come outside. The line was nearly wrapped
around an entire block. When I looked up to see where they were headed I saw
three simple words: The Bagel Store. This meant nothing to me. I Googled it and
a rainbow colored bagel appeared. It didn’t look appetizing to me and I
couldn’t for the life of me figure out why so many people would wait to get
into a bagel store. Aside from the rainbow bagel they appeared to have everything
a normal bagel store would have. Seeing that there is a bagel store on every
other corner I thought they were mad and that the rainbow bagel was probably
just another irrational craze like the cronut. I never had one of those either.
If it is trendy and requires hours on line then it is not a food for me.
Fast
forward to today.
While out
of the house for the first time this week I couldn’t decide what I wanted to
do. It seemed too hot for outdoor activities but too nice of a day to waste
inside. Plus I knew I wanted to cross something off my to do list. I was
starving so I knew it would be food related. That’s when I thought of lunch at
Walter Food’s, a brand new list item for me. Their menu seemed appealing and
their location was in close proximity to me, excellent.
Out of
the corner of my eye, really my Google map, I recognized another much
anticipated stop-The Bagel Store. Great I could run in if there was no line,
get some bagels to try at home, and then move onto Walt’s. My plan worked a little
too well. Twenty-five dollars and fifteen minutes later I walked out with my
first purchases.
My
experiences at Walter Food’s will be coming up shortly but I just had to get
these thoughts down first.
For
starters when I was inside I was surprised by the relatively small space that
had some bar style seating as well as a few tables and chairs. There were a
decent amount people but they weren’t in a line. They were sort of checking
their phones and sort of looking up at the enormous menus. I was immediately
disoriented. A man came up to see if I was ready to order but I couldn’t have
been farther away from that goal. I was lost in a sea of bagel and cragel
(croissant/bagel combination) flavors. There were at least as many or more
homemade cream cheese flavors and don’t get me started on the selection of
sandwich modifications.
While
trying to figure out what to get I was overhearing other orders and that just
made me more confused. For instance, someone got an egg, bacon, cheese, on an
egg bacon cheese bagel. There was an order for a rainbow bagel with funfetti
cream cheese. For those who are unfamiliar, funfetti is a frosting by Betty
Crocker (a.k.a. the baker in my house) that comes with sprinkles of all colors.
It was the signature of a homemade birthday cake in my family although I never
liked it and am still not a big fan of frosting or really sweet treats.
My point
is merely that no matter your craving or mealtime it is you are going to find
at least one but probably like ten things that are a perfect fit.
So now
the all-important question, how did they taste?
I picked
a spinach artichoke cragel, macaroni and cheese bagel, and a French toast
cragel. I bought the spinach artichoke cream cheese as well. It doesn’t sound
like a lot but boy was that bag heavy. I thought I had gotten one rainbow bagel
just for kicks but it wasn’t in my bag. No biggie, of the regrets I have that
isn’t one of them.
The
cragels are my new favorite form of bagels. In fact recently I have been a fan
of flagels too, they are just flatter bagels. Both the cragels and the flagels
have less dough than the traditional bagel and are a bit crunchier. I like that
consistency much more.
As for
the flavors I am blown away. The sweetness of the French toast was simple yet
delightful. It was dusted with powered sugar and tasted like there was a hint
of cinnamon and maple syrup. They were so soft I could peel it apart with my
hands but still taste the crisp of the bagel. I ate it many hours after I came
home, refrigerated, and reheated it. It was like it was just out of the oven. I
would like one for dessert every night. It satisfies so many cravings at one
time.
The
macaroni and cheese was surprising to me. In a bagel form it was more like a
lump of cheddar was placed on top of a very dense, dry bagel. It didn’t do
anything for me. I returned to it a few minutes later and was beginning to have
a taste for it. I think the other half would taste better for breakfast with a
side of bacon. I just think mac and cheese is always better with bacon, just
like a slice of pizza I once had a Vinny’s (http://thequeenoff-ckingeverything.blogspot.com/2016/02/for-variety-that-is-vinnies-pizza.html).
Last but
certainly not least we arrive at the spinach artichoke cragel. Once again I am
adoring a cragel! This one was topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese,
which didn’t melt into the cragel but rather stayed on top even after
reheating. When I took a schmear of the spinach artichoke cream cheese and put
it on this cragel the world came alive with the sound of music! The blending of
the flavors and the mixed consistencies were music to my mouth. Now that I know
this I would cut it open and apply the cream cheese normally. The cream cheese
was light and contained chunks of spinach and artichokes and was better than
any dip version you have tasted.
The owner
and creator of The Bagel Store is a Brooklyn native, Scot Rossillo. He mixes
old world bagel making practices with artistry. His rainbow bagel was his first
main stream design. But his competition is seeking to dethrone him. Union Fare
in Manhattan has created a birthday cake croissant that is apparently all the
rage.
However I
am not interested. I only have eyes for the nacho cheese cream cheese next time
and deciding what bagel flavor will go along with it. That pepperoni cream cheese didn’t seem too bad either. I
will be torturing myself like this for days to come.
As Doug
Heffernan on The King of Queens said: “wait until you taste yourself on a
squagel with a schmear”. I bet that will be the next bagel trend and I am
looking forward to it.
In case
you are thinking you will place an order online for delivery to avoid the
lines, no such luck. This is the message on their website:
Do you
believe this?!!! THERE IS A WAITING LIST FOR ORDERS WISHING TO BE SHIPPED!! I
have never seen anything like this in my life and I have seen some crazy shit.
My
favorite example is Ample Creamery (http://thequeenoff-ckingeverything.blogspot.com/2015/07/for-cream-of-crop-ample-hills-creamery.html).
In the beginning of their run they had to close down for four days because they
ran out of ice cream!! That meant they had served up one hundred and thirty
gallons of ice cream that week!! Unbelievable.
The Bagel
Store had a similar experience in February of this year. The doors were closed
for several days so that the team could regroup. They had been selling about
eight hundred rainbow bagels a week since Christmas. The store and employees
were both rundown. Gladly this didn’t too last long.
A final
happy moment today was when I looked up and saw Kourtney Kardashian among the
wall of photos. There was even the cotton candy their family friend Jonathan
Cheban is selling.
For
future reference any place that is a friend to the Kardashians and their
friends, will now be a friend of mine.
Nicely
done, Bagel Store.
For More
Information:
Comments
Post a Comment