The 17 Best Bagels in New York City Right Now
The New York Times
The age-old debate continues.
There are few things New Yorkers like to argue about more than bagels, especially now that we’re at a bagel inflection point.
Bagels have been getting bigger and fluffier for the past couple of decades, with the traditional methods (hand-rolled in ropes, cold-fermented overnight, baked on a burlap board) changing to accommodate new generations of New Yorkers and their tastes. But there are those who would say the city’s buzziest versions are hardly bagels at all.
Some of the choices below (listed in alphabetical order) are true-blue New York versions; others are far from it. Some are great on their own, while some truly shine in sandwich form. Some may be the ones you loved as a kid, and some might be from that shop you’d never set foot in. Of course, you’re within your rights to disagree — what’s more New York than that?
Upper West Side
Bagels have a few origin stories — some more believable than others — but the bagel we know and love came from Eastern Europe to New York’s Lower East Side with Jewish immigrants in the early 20th century. Absolute Bagels represents a later generation of bagelry. The shop was opened by the Thai immigrant Sam Thongkrieng, who learned the craft at New York establishments like Ess-A-Bagel. His hand-rolled bagels are near perfect for devotees of a chewy crust, and worth both waiting in the omnipresent line and taking out cash for.
East Village, West Village
