Bagels

[darkstar965]

Oh, well I can tell you that I *have* had St. Viateur in Montreal, and in general, prefer Montreal bagels to NYC bagels (although I enjoy both). That doesn't address the par-baked issue, but may explain some of my enthusiasm.

Does this mean you've seen the film and enjoyed it?

[weinoo]

I use King Arthur's unbleached bread flour, for no real reason other than that is what they sell at Whole Foods and I live a block from the one in Clarendon. The Clarendon Trader Joe's (a grocery store apparently designed for people who do not know how to cook) doesn't carry bread flour of any kind.

Do you use Reinhart's recipe?

[darkstar965]

The "controversy" swirling over the new Dupont donut place (Cool "Disco" Donuts, Zeke's Donuts, Yet-To-Open Donuts, etc.) got me thinking that a traditional donut, from afar, is of a shape similar to a bagel. And, using logic I'll have to unfold here just a bit, one might argue this is another reason why NY style bagels should be considered superior to Montreal bagels (aside from the historical, cultural and other reasons ).

One of the few big differences between NY bagels and Montreal bagels is the former are savory and the latter sweet. Montreal bagels are purposefully sweetened with sugar and other substances you wouldn't find in a self-respecting NY bagel.

So, I leave you with this: If you want a sweet bagel, get a freakin' donut!

[zoramargolis]

You might like your results even more if you bought a high-gluten flour and compared.

Bread flour is made from hard wheat, and having a higher gluten content is what distinguishes it from cake flour, which is made from soft, lower gluten wheat. "All purpose" flour is made from a combination of the two. I don't know what the difference is between King Arthur's bread flour and high gluten flour, but they are probably not that different.

[saf]

I had them in Montreal many years ago and at the time thought they were the best I'd ever had.

I had them in August and thought they were exceptional. We also enjoyed the Fairmount Bagels.

My husband enjoyed both places with a slight preference for Fairmount, as they have onion bagels and garlic bagels. Also, that's where his Nats hat got the comment, "Nice Expos hat man."

[Joe H]

My wife and I made another pilgramage today from Reston to Bethesda Bagel on Bethesda ave and then on to Bagel City on the Rockville pike. At both-sitting in our car outside- we had ET's, both toasted with light veggie cream cheese and untoasted-straight out of the bin. At both we were fortunate that they brought bagels from the back room, implying they were more recently baked. When we returned home approximately 45 minutes after Bagel City and 75 minutes after Bethesda Bagels we tasted again, both toasted and untoasted.

1. I like the ambience of Bethesda Bagels more. Bagel City has the ambience of a glassed in cafeteria while Bethesda Bagels had some 'character."

2. Bethesda Bagels was 50% bigger @ 1.05 a bagel. For myself there is no question that it's crust was better.

3. Bagel City's .95 bagel had a rye undertone which contributed to a different overall flavor.

4. Bethesda Bagels was doughier inside of the better crust. This was not an "issue" at Bagel City whose overall flavor I preferred.

5. Toasted I preferred Bethesda Bagel overall-it compensated for the doughier interior.

6. Untoasted I preferred Bagel City.

Conclusion: both were worth the 58 mile roundtrip drive. Sitting in our car and picking at the untoasted bagels I really liked the Bethesda Bagels crust. Considering that I usually eat a toasted bagel I would give the nod to Bethesda Bagels. My wife initially preferred Bethesda Bagels but well into her second Bagel City bagel was considering changing her mind.

We now have 18 more bagels, sliced and stored in freezer bags awaiting the two day old followup taste test. I will probably change my mind again.

Now ten days later we are out of bagels. We've averaged almost a bagel a day, each. Eighteen frozen, toasted bagels later neither or us are sure whether we like Bethesda Bagels or Bagel City more. What I do know is that the Bethesda Bagel took one and one half cycles in our toaster while Bagel City used one.

Tomorrow our bagel run from Reston will be to Main Street Bagel Deli in Fairfax which won the first "bagel -off."

Have I mentioned that we are also comparing Honeybell oranges purchased at Wegman's with Honeybell oranges shipped from Hale Groves in Florida? For this there is no hesitation: Hale Groves, even @ $2.20 an orange are better.

[weinoo]

Bread flour is made from hard wheat, and having a higher gluten content is what distinguishes it from cake flour, which is made from soft, lower gluten wheat. "All purpose" flour is made from a combination of the two. I don't know what the difference is between King Arthur's bread flour and high gluten flour, but they are probably not that different.

Yes, they actually are.

[darkstar965]

Now ten days later we are out of bagels. We've averaged almost a bagel a day, each. Eighteen frozen, toasted bagels later neither or us are sure whether we like Bethesda Bagels or Bagel City more. What I do know is that the Bethesda Bagel took one and one half cycles in our toaster while Bagel City used one.

Tomorrow our bagel run from Reston will be to Main Street Bagel Deli in Fairfax which won the first "bagel -off."

Have I mentioned that we are also comparing Honeybell oranges purchased at Wegman's with Honeybell oranges shipped from Hale Groves in Florida? For this there is no hesitation: Hale Groves, even @ $2.20 an orange are better.

Joe H -- You MUST include Georgetown Bagelry (in Bethesda) on one of these amazing bagel runs! You also sound like a great candidate for the grandest of grand Bagel Offs to be held late Feb or early March.

[Joe H]

Today we trekked to the edge of Old Town Fairfax-from Reston. I should note that without traffic Bethesda Bagels is only a few minutes further...

Main Street Bagels is a nondescript strip shopping center corner store without any ambience or character to speak of. Inside they prominently feature a slew of sandwiches and endless deli products most of which would not seem to be made in house. Simply, there is little character to the place.

At 1:45 on Friday afternoon they were almost out of bagels. Almost out of ALL bagels. I think there were a grand total of four in the few bagel bins they had.

We bought two of them.

Our fault: we thought we could buy several dozen. We should have known better.

The E. T. was flat with more in common with a pretzel than a bagel. It could have easily sat in the bin since 7:00AM. The day before. As I type this the half that we did not eat was just toasted and it is no better. Something frozen from Safeway and tossed into the woods to a starving pigeon would not have been much worse.

The other bagel was quite another matter: a garlic bagle heavily flecked with toasted chips and a crust that easily rivalled the best from Bethesda. An inch and a half thick (twice as thick as the flattened everything) this was a bagel that would have won any contest, even one in the Bronx or Brooklyn. The interior wasn't as doughy as the Bethesda bagel. I should note here that we did NOT have it toasted, rather straight from the bin.

And we saved half.

That half I have just taken another bite of as I type this. Munch, chomp and chew... the best of the bagels I have tried in this thread.

A great bagel that could easily have come from the edge of the Williamsburg Bridge. On the Brooklyn side.

Main Street has authentic water bagels, just as Bethesda. Unfortunately my comment above stands: there is no "character" to the place. And, it would seem that they do not sell enough bagels to avoid all of the cheap signs for sandwiches and other imported deli that are probably not as good as what is in their name: bagels.

My guess is that Old Town Fairfax is not ready for a bagel like this. They also probably have a problem with consistency-one of the bagels was truly awful. And, with a grand total of four bagels left in the several bins they couldn't be selling nearly as many as they might have expected when they did their business plan.

Afterwards we stopped at the Fairfax Wegman's and bought a dozen everything bagels for $7.95.

Eleven of these were thrown back in the forest behind our hosue with the crumbs of the E. T. from Main Street.

This weekend, needing to replenish our bagel stock, we will return to Montgomery County and Goldberg's. On Sunday, on Georgia avenue in Montgomery Hills, near where I grew up.

I would like to believe that Main Street Bagels is much more consistent and, if we had shown up at eight in the morning (as we should have) there would have been hundreds of bagels in the various bins, all equal to the one garlic bagel which I thought was worthy of the Williamsburg Bridge.

Certainly worthy of Bethesda Avenue.

[darkstar965]

Yes, they actually are.

Weinoo's four-word assertion has always been my belief from childhood. That's when I think I first heard of something called a "high gluten flour" or "high protein flour" being the type used in the best bagels (and pizza crusts btw). As an adult, I'd been told that by a bagel baker in NY somewhere but several years ago. I'm not a baker personally and have never made bagels at home so had to do a bit of research to better support this belief.

It's a matter of protein content. Bread flours made from "hard wheat", "winter wheat" or even "spring wheat" seem to run around 9% to 11% protein. High-gluten flour, such as the "Sir Lancelot" sold by King Arthur is over 14% protein.

Here's a discussion from an online baking website that offers some clarity.

And here is the King Arthur product where you can see bagels specifically referenced.

Finally, a good clinical treatment of the difference between most "bread flours" and "high gluten flour"

Bottom line, the difference is about 3-4% protein which is significant since nearly all flour has less than 15% protein. All the sources make clear that the high-gluten flour is best suited for things like bagels and pizza crusts because they require more structure and firmness. And, because the high-gluten flour is typically more expensive than lower protein flours, this is why most bagel shops looking to cut corners will go with the more affordable bread flours. I think this is a major difference to people who can taste the difference but don't have a lot of flour and baking expertise. Bagel aficionados will talk about a better bagel having "better chew" or "less yield" and that's usually due to the protein content of the flour. The choice of flour really is a big difference maker between bagels, the huge range of wonderful other breads, and "rolls with holes."

[DonRocks]

The "controversy" swirling over the new Dupont donut place (Cool "Disco" Donuts, Zeke's Donuts, Yet-To-Open Donuts, etc.) got me thinking that a traditional donut, from afar, is of a shape similar to a bagel. And, using logic I'll have to unfold here just a bit, one might argue this is another reason why NY style bagels should be considered superior to Montreal bagels (aside from the historical, cultural and other reasons ).

One of the few big differences between NY bagels and Montreal bagels is the former are savory and the latter sweet. Montreal bagels are purposefully sweetened with sugar and other substances you wouldn't find in a self-respecting NY bagel.

So, I leave you with this: If you want a sweet bagel, get a freakin' donut!

A golden oldie: Doin' The Donut Thang - I Tore Through Tori, at Amernick, Komi, and Colorado Kitchen

(Yes, the Komi of old had both Sebastian Zutant and donuts - and it was cheap, too!)

darkstar965, are you implying that all Montreal-style bagels are unworthy? You seem to be slipping in some potshots, but I'm not sure. I'll come right out and say that if so, you're wrong! I love New York style bagels, and I love Montreal style bagels, and they are both fantastic.

[darkstar965]

A golden oldie: Doin' The Donut Thang - I Tore Through Tori, at Amernick, Komi, and Colorado Kitchen

(Yes, the Komi of old had both Sebastian Zutant and donuts - and it was cheap, too!)

darkstar965, are you implying that all Montreal-style bagels are unworthy? You seem to be slipping in some potshots, but I'm not sure. I'll come right out and say that if so, you're wrong! I love New York style bagels, and I love Montreal style bagels, and they are both fantastic.

Don, I hope it's apparent that all 'very strong' views on bagels (short of obvious stuff like whether they have HFCS or other monstrosities in 'em) are at least half kidding/tongue in cheek. I grew up with NY bagels and thus will argue they're better without fail. In the same way that I'm quite certain that the Cincinnati Reds are the best baseball team despite others who'll take big issue with that statement.

I do kind of wish the Quebecois wouldn't call the Montreal bread a "bagel" since it doesn't have a ton in common with the original bagels of eastern Europe. History, however, should matter. Eggs and sugar were expensive. They weren't in the original bagels.

For the record, the Montreal thing is a fine and worthy bread; a sweet, rich and lovely treat indeed. I like it too. And, I'd like it even better if it came straight from the right oven ("no more than 30 minutes from the oven" as DanielK feels critical) in the middle of Vieux-Montréal.

It would just be better for all concerned if they stopped calling the Montreal Thing a "bagel." It isn't. They should call it something more appropriate like "pâtisserie de magie de Montréal" or PM2 for time-oppressed Americans who don't speak French.

P.S., And, thanks for the reminder that I never made it to Amernick's Bakery or Colorado Kitchen, opportunities now gone forever.

[weinoo]

Weinoo's four-word assertion has always been my belief from childhood. That's when I think I first heard of something called a "high gluten flour" or "high protein flour" being the type used in the best bagels (and pizza crusts btw). As an adult, I'd been told that by a bagel baker in NY somewhere but several years ago. I'm not a baker personally and have never made bagels at home so had to do a bit of research to better support this belief.

It's a matter of protein content. Bread flours made from "hard wheat", "winter wheat" or even "spring wheat" seem to run around 9% to 11% protein. High-gluten flour, such as the "Sir Lancelot" sold by King Arthur is over 14% protein.

The only issue I see with this is that I think it's all-purpose flour that is the flour with a protein content of around 11%, whereas bread flour is generally in the 12% range. Still, When we're discussing protein contents that are 12% vs. protein contents that are over 14%, that's over a 15% difference in the protein content, which makes a huge difference as to how well the finished product comes out.

Here are the protein contents of King Arthur flours (which I think are the best easily obtained flours):

KA A/P = 11.7%

KA Bread = 12.7%

KA High Gluten = 14%

So the difference between KA'S bread and high-gluten is over 10%.

As someone who is constantly pulling out whatever remaining hair he has over the quality of my various baked goods, flours drive me crazy!

[darkstar965]

The only issue I see with this is that I think it's all-purpose flour that is the flour with a protein content of around 11%, whereas bread flour is generally in the 12% range. ...

Truly fairies-on-the-head-of-a-pin stuff here but I believe that different flour manufacturers have different protein content levels across product lines. So maybe not all A/P is 11; not all bread flour 12. Not sure what serious bakers would say about KA being the "best" flours but I've heard that too and they surely have been at it the longest, dating back to pre-revolutionary times. BTW, if you have interest and have never been up to Norwich, VT to visit them, it's very much worth it; such nice people in a newer and beautiful facility. I had a chance to do it a few years ago and, even though I'm not a baker, I loved it and learned a lot. I imagine if baking was a serious hobby, a KA trip would be like Disneyworld. And the surrounding area is gorgeous with lots to offer for a long weekend.

The numbers you post for KA are from their website but the big point is that high-gluten flour does seem to be a materially distinct product from A/P and "Bread" which have varying protein content depending on the mfr. That all matters only because the high-gluten yields a discernably firmer, denser chew characteristic of the most traditional (and some would argue "best") NY bagels.

[Joe H]

Calvert Woodley-not H & H but they are authentic and trucked in from New York. For the life of me I cannot remember the name of the bagelry but we bought E. T.'s My guess is that they were many hours out of the oven so a real comparison-without toasting-is unfair.

BUT, I just toasted one and feel comfortable that a comparison of "toasted bagels" is possible.

The Calvert Woodley authentic New York bagel has more seeds, more of "everything" crusted on both the top and the bottom. In fact having been in Munich a few months ago I was actually reminded of German seeded rolls which I absolutely love. Similar to the Main Street and Bethesda water bagels these have a very good crust. In fact just after leaving the store I ate the crust on both the top and the bottom leaving the chewy center alone.

The actual flavor of the bagel did not seem to be different from the Fairfax and Bethesda bagelries. But it was night and day different from Bagel City.

I wish I could have had this a few minutes from the oven. Certainly the seeds, toasted garlic and onion chips were more plentiful and preferred by me over anything I've had in the D. C. area. But the actual bagel itself, toasted and excepting this, was no better than the others.

Curiously, even with trucking this in, it was a bit cheaper than several of the D. C. area bagelries.

Toasted, D. C. more than held its own.

[Genevieve]

Got a relative coming to town for a while who'll be staying and working in D.C. (don't know where yet).  In Arlington, I'd recommend Brooklyn Bagel Deli, but where in D.C. proper do you highly recommend bagels these days?

[DonRocks]

Got a relative coming to town for a while who'll be staying and working in D.C. (don't know where yet).  In Arlington, I'd recommend Brooklyn Bagel Deli, but where in D.C. proper do you highly recommend bagels these days?

Bullfrog, DGS, WTF and BreadFurst if they offer them, Georgetown.

[eatruneat]

Bullfrog, DGS, WTF and BreadFurst if they offer them, Georgetown.

Bullfrog bagels are also available at a few places around DC. I know Glen's Garden Market has them as well as Big Bear Cafe.

[hopsing]

Does any place serve H&H bagels anymore?  They were the closest to the Brooklyn bagels I grew up with.  Brooklyn Bagels, despite the name, does not do it for me.  I used to get H&H at Calvert-Woodley or Arrowine, back in the day.

[DaveO]

Bethesda Bagel is at 1718 Connecticut, North of Dupont Circle.  Honestly haven't had them in years, but back in the day, I thought Bethesda Bagel was one of the best bagel places in the area.  (mostly got them out of bethesda).  I think Brooklyn bagels are pretty good, (and the owners are very nice) but if Bethesda bagel has same quality as they did in the past its far closer to a good NY bagel than brooklyn bagel, imho.

But beware, per Yelp, they have killer long lines.

...and btw:  I think the following is a terrific response to a complaint review:

Response from the ownerin the last week

Hello Chris, I apologize for the negative experiences that you have been having. Honestly, we are always trying to improve our system. When we first opened, we tried operating like our Bethesda location does, complete fail. We quickly learned that we needed to have better line management. When we got busier, we learned that that wasn't a solution in its own, so we started writing tickets. When it was clear that we were on the right track, we recently upgraded to a new POS system, which has had its growing pains, but overall it has been successful. As you previously said, it is insane between 9am-1pm on the weekends. We are constantly hiring new employees and striving to be better. We are always brainstorming new ways to improve. If you don't want to wait, we always bag bagel-only orders on the spot, so you only have to wait to pay for those(you don't have to wait for the line to prep them). We recently (as of this week) started doing bagels with cream cheese and bagels with butter as soon as they come in, so you don't have to wait for those either. As I previously said, we are always striving to do better. I understand your frustration, and I apologize. Due to the extreme demand and the fact that we customize literally everything for each order, there can be a delay. As for the forgetting of your order, that is unacceptable. Usually, when I see someone who has been waiting longer than normal, I pull them aside and apologize and give them a gift card. It gets zoo-like in there and sometimes the tickets get mixed up. Email me @ danny@bethesdabagels.com and I'll leave a gift card for you in the store. I hope you give us another shot!

[DanielK]

Bethesda Bagels in Bethesda offers one of the better bagels in the area, so I'm sure their DC store is worth visiting.

[DonRocks]

Bethesda Bagels in Bethesda offers one of the better bagels in the area, so I'm sure their DC store is worth visiting.

Huh. I didn't even know they had a DC store or I would have listed them.

[pras]

Bethesda Bagels in Bethesda offers one of the better bagels in the area, so I'm sure their DC store is worth visiting.

Plus 1 for Bethesda Bagels.

[Genevieve]

Thanks all! I have passed the recommendations on.

[Al Dente]

I used to get bagels from a joint on Mass Ave in Capitol Hill. It was between Schneider's ( ) and the Heritage Foundation ( ). Is it still there? I remember it being pretty good.

[KeithA]

My current DC favorites are Breadfurst, Baked by Yael across from the zoo, and Bethesda Bagel - north of Dupont Circle.  For people who ate fresh bagels before 1990, you may like the first two as they have smaller size and chewier crust bagels that are more traditional (which I like).  The downside of the first two is the limited varieties - mostly plain,sesame, and everything (might be something else at Baked by Yael too).  Another downside of Breadfurst is I've had really really good bagels there but sometimes like some of their breads they come out overdone/slightly burnt.

For most people who have eaten bagels only since they became mainstream circa the 90s, Bethesda Bagel is your go to - it has large, more pillowy bagels (still good) and in 20 some odd varieties.

[bullfrog is probably a good choice too - but I've only had tried them once at Open City at the Cathedral so won't opine generally]

Outside of DC, I'm still partial to Bagel City in Rockville (partly because they were my bagels growing up) - a big smaller, more traditional but still offer lots of choices.  Their onion and egg bagels are still my standards I compare against.  I wish Breadfurst and Yael made onion bagels.

[mr food]

Bagels at the Bagel Place aren't bad.

[DanCole42]

Did I miss it? Where's the love for Bagel Buddies in Fair Lakes?

[DonRocks]

Did I miss it? Where's the love for Bagel Buddies in Fair Lakes?

I've only been there once, and it was awhile back, but I liked it a lot.

[Bob Wells]

We used to go to Bagel Buddies a lot more often. It's always been solid.

Tip: Get one bagel with cream cheese, then another bagel on the side. You should have enough CC for both bagels.

[lhollers]

I used to get bagels from a joint on Mass Ave in Capitol Hill. It was between Schneider's ( ) and the Heritage Foundation ( ). Is it still there? I remember it being pretty good.

You're thinking of Bagels & Baguettes. Solid, but not spectacular, especially with Bullfrog moving in just down H. Lines out the door on Saturday and Sunday mornings, though.

[DanCole42]

I've only been there once, and it was awhile back, but I liked it a lot.

They have a ton of different bagels (pumpernickel, rye, asiago, blueberry, marble, etc. etc.) and cream cheeses (sundried tomato, bacon scallion, spinach artichoke, etc. etc.) and all kinds of different bagelly sandwiches (reuben, little italy, real lox with capers and stuff, etc. etc.). I'm not really a bagel snob, but everything's baked on site and the people are really nice.

[MarkS]

Keith-having grown up in Brooklyn in the 60s and 70s and having lived on 60th and 2nd in NYU in the 90s I will say Bagel City gets my vote around here. Funny though when I go back to NY Broooklyn Bagels on 8th ave in Manhattan is my go to.

[Rieux]

The bagel place on P st, across from the Palomar hotel, is pretty good! Bagels, etc.  Not amazing, but good enough for someone who grew up with real NY bagels

[sistinas]

I'm a big fan of Ize's bagels in Rockville near the White Flint Metro -

 

[Kev29]

On 11/11/2018 at 1:43 PM, DaveO said:

I’m confused about Goldberg’s and/or my mind is playing tricks with me.   Was there not a good quality bagel shop either where Goldberg’s is located or nearby as far back as the 90’s??

My mind is telling me there were area wide top quality bagels due North of downtown Silver Spring in the 90’s.   I was picking up good bagels from there at the time.   Was that Goldberg’s???   It’s website says it opened in 2004.

I grew up North of Silver Spring in the 90s and I can't recall decent bagels nearby back then. In the 70s and 80s it was all about Bagel Master in Wheaton (RIP)

[DonRocks]

On 11/13/2018 at 2:17 PM, Kev29 said:

I grew up North of Silver Spring in the 90s and I can't recall decent bagels nearby back then. In the 70s and 80s it was all about Bagel Master in Wheaton (RIP)

I haven't been in many years now, but The Bagelry on Vital Way (a vital cut-through for those heading eastbound on Randolph Road, and turning right on New Hampshire Avenue) wasn't that bad for a neighborhood place.

[curiouskitkatt]

Speaking of bagels, has anyone been patient enough to wait for the bagels at  Call your Mother ?

I plan on popping into the District sometime over the holidays, and want to plan way ahead for places I want to go. Just want to get a gauge of how far ahead I  need to be in line.

[cjsadler]

On 11/15/2018 at 9:53 AM, curiouskitkatt said:

Speaking of bagels, has anyone been patient enough to wait for the bagels at  Call your Mother ?

I plan on popping into the District sometime over the holidays, and want to plan way ahead for places I want to go. Just want to get a gauge of how far ahead I  need to be in line.

If you go to Timber (they own CYM) on weekends, you can get the same bagels without a wait, though there aren't as many options.    For two coffees and two egg sandwiches it's like $24 (after tax and tip), though, which is more than I want to pay for this type of thing.   I had a danish the other weekend and it was awful, so as tempting as they might look, resist.  The bagels are good, but I actually like Bullfrog's better.   

[curiouskitkatt]

7 minutes ago, cjsadler said:

If you go to Timber (they own CYM) on weekends, you can get the same bagels without a wait, though there aren't as many options.    For two coffees and two egg sandwiches it's like $24 (after tax and tip), though, which is more than I want to pay for this type of thing.   I had a danish the other weekend and it was awful, so as tempting as they might look, resist.  The bagels are good, but I actually like Bullfrog's better.   

I don't mind standing in the line if said product is worthy, but I wholly appreciate the heads up. In my time living in DC, it seems commonplace to stand in lines for things.

[DaveO]

Interestingly...on Sunday morning I stopped at the new Bethesda Bagel location now open in Rosslyn.   NO LINE.   NO WAIT.   Actually quite stunning.  OTOH, on a weekday morning as people were going to work there was a very long line--an unusual reverse customer phenomena for a bagel place.

[KeithA]

I like Timber bagels, and Bethesda bagels. Bullfrog are good too. I haven't been to Call Your Mother yet and in the past Georgetown Bagelry was good but its been a few years. I also grew up on and really liked Bagel City in Rockville but its been a few years and they have some awful yelp reviews now so it may be hit or miss. I do like the smaller size bagels at Bagel City. Baked by Yael bagels across from the zoo are ok but my wife is not a fan and the flavors are limited. Breadfurst bagels are overcooked often and are not soft on the inside as a bagel should be.  I once tried Pumpernickel bagels in Chevy Chase DC and thought they were awful. I recently got some plain bagels for the kids at Firehook and I don't know why but they were sourdough with a distinct sourness which of course turned off the kiddos. 

[Bob Wells]

44 minutes ago, KeithA said:

I like Timber bagels, and Bethesda bagels. Bullfrog are good too. I haven't been to Call Your Mother yet and in the past Georgetown Bagelry was good but its been a few years. I also grew up on and really liked Bagel City in Rockville but its been a few years and they have some awful yelp reviews now so it may be hit or miss. I do like the smaller size bagels at Bagel City. Baked by Yael bagels across from the zoo are ok but my wife is not a fan and the flavors are limited. Breadfurst bagels are overcooked often and are not soft on the inside as a bagel should be.  I once tried Pumpernickel bagels in Chevy Chase DC and thought they were awful. I recently got some plain bagels for the kids at Firehook and I don't know why but they were sourdough with a distinct sourness which of course turned off the kiddos. 

Thanks for the tip on Firehook. We live near the well-camouflaged mother ship on Flint Lee Road in Chantilly and I go there fairly often but have never tried the bagels. BTW, if you are out there, Chennai Express on Lee Road across from Target/Costco should be a must-try.