As a native of Montreal, I've long believed that Montreal bagels are pretty special. When we lived in town, it wasn't unusual for us to make late-night bagel runs to Fairmount Bagel. They were so hot and fresh that we often had considerably less than a dozen left by the time we made it back home.
When we moved to London, we came to a city whose idea of a bagel is a roll with a hole in it. There are no real bakeries here (I know, shocking) and that likely won't change given this burg's whitebread sheen. Montreal bagels are, frankly, in a league of their own. We often load up on them whenever we visit the old country, and carefully parcel them out to ensure they last.
A good friend was kind enough to bring us some Fairmount bagels after a recent trip to Montreal. I felt that if we ate them without additional fanfare, we'd be missing an opportunity to capture the magic. So I took a little time before breakfast today to capture them in all their glory.
Your turn: Does this picture make you hungry? Do you do bagels, too?
Posts
24 comments:
I used to eat Sesame Bagels just like the ones in your picture every morning when I lived in Massachusetts, with this delicious veggie cream cheese! oooh, just thinking about it gets me hungry.
Here in Virginia Bagels are, as you described London bagels, rolls with holes in them- oh well, vacation is only 8 months away!
Here from Micheles.
You KNOW the answer to this one. And I SOOOO agree with you. Montreal bagels are extra special. They're sooo delish! Here in my little city we have Rosenfelds and they are good. Not Montreal or NY good, but damn good. My favorites are the real old bagel flavors, sisel, poppyseed, pumpernickel, egg, and water. I don't like all those new fangled blueberry, apple cinamon, etc. flavors. Although I recently had a rosemary garlic that was good.
Onion is my favorite, with a thick slab of lox and a schmear. To die for. It's our break fast meal. We can go through a dozen in nothing flat in our family.
For HORRIBLE bagels, try the Noahs' chain in the Bay Area. They are like round white bread with a hole. BAD BAD BAD.
Michele sent me.
I'm not sure that I've ever had a bagel like you described. You obviously LOVE your bagels; mine bagels have been more like one-night stands.
I like sweet and salty bagels. I like blueberry and this cinnamon sugar bagel a local place makes. I also like the sun-dried tomato and everything bagels.
I haven't eaten a bagel in quite a while now. I've cut out all foods that have been processed. On the plus side, I've lost over 20 pounds, and I have 15.5% body fat. On the minus side, I miss the crunchy exterior and soft, chewy interior of bagels some time. When I get to where I want to be, I'll have a bagel again occassionally, but I'd rather hold out for the kind you described. I may come to London, Ontario this December, so maybe we could make a run for Montreal with loaded cameras.
I may
Fairmount is REALLY the ONLY place to buy bagels and a person doesn't have to feel bad about eating them. 1. the bagels are super delicious 2. they come in that great brown bag 3. they are always fresh and hot and 4. they feel like they are the perfect bagel size. I remember the first time i ate a bagel from a Tim hortons, it was WAY too big and it tasted like heavy bread with a hole in it. weird. This psot has gotten me remembering how yummy those bagels are, i think I might make a trip... I wonder it I can call them and get some sent up?
Ahhhhhh your bagel pic is great. It does make me hungry. However, my vice is a really great scone. Most USAers don't know what a real scone is, and when you mention scones to them they stare at you quite puzzled. I love the choc chip scone the best, semi sweet chips with a sweet bread. It's great.
It's good to drop by, I always love to read your writing.
oh, I soo love bagels. I have a bagel problem..My favorite is Choc. chip bagel with strawberry cream cheese (and a diet coke). Next up, a bagel with egg salad (with a diet coke) and then a bagel sandwich with deli meat, and then a begel breakfast sandwich with egg and spicy bacon.(and a diet coke). Next any kind of bagel with plain cream cheese. I am so hungry now..I could live on bagels if it were possible. The best bagels (that I like) in our area are Noah's bagels, I don't know what you think of those, the next is bagel me, there is only one other bagel store here and I don't care for it. Noah's is a 20 minute drive on a freeway at least. I have to try Montreal bagels now just to compare. I am beginning to think that maybe I don't know what a real bagel tastes like...
good post!
Jenny in Ca
Any food makes me hungry at the moment, after two weeks of mostly salads in an attempt to try and lose weight. I've had bagels once, I think. They're not a big thing in New Zealand, but there is an American restaurant in town, and I once took myself there for breakfast.
Here from Michele's
Isn't it weird how good bagels are hard to come by? Great picture. Now I want to eat a ton of bagels and fresh baked bread and cheese. I want lots of cheese. Thanks man. Thanks a lot.
Here via Michele.
I love bagels, I was introduced to them in the US but they are not available in Spain!!! although there is a bakery in every corner. Your picture makes me very hungry, I have the perfect cup of coffee but I am kind of missing something!
I had never eaten a proper bagel until I moved to Switzerland and we met our Canadian friends who shared one of their precious imported bagels with me one morning. Since then, I have developed a passion for bagels but sadly, you just can't get them here. And now our Canadian friends are back in Canada and the supply of Canadian bagels has dried up. I'm probably a lot sadder than I should be (you know, in the grand scheme of things) about the lack of bagels in my life now.
mmmmm.... st.viateur bagels too. esp. after a night out in the plateau/mile-end... a bag of piping hot bagels dies the trick to absorb the alcohol. Being a current Montrealer - you love, honor and obey the bagel.
Mmmmmm... great pic. I haven't eaten anything this morning yet, and those bagels sure do make me feel hungry.
I used to really be into the bagel thing. My fave was cinnamon raison with peanut butter slathered all over it. But bagels are extremely high in calories! And I had to give up the peanut butter, too.
Now I have bagels only a few tims a year, as a rare treat.
I was always a St Viateur's bagel guy when in Montreal. Haven't found them in BC yet, but I'm hoping! Hiya Carmi!
That picture does make me hungry, but can I make a confession? I've never eaten a bagel!
I love bagels.
I've even RANKED my favorite bagels.
Post-Yom Kippur, I think I ate three of them, with the "special bagel toppings" like whitefish salad. Then I called my mother and proclaimed that bagels were the best food ever.
In fact, I think a bagel from here is going to be my lunch. I still haven't made it to Target from my comment last night, so maybe I'll buy them there.
It's funny you'd comment on no real bakeries there. We had the same issue when we moved to Orlando FL for 14 years. There are no real bakeries there either, and it's a city of 200,000 + sprawling satellite cities.
No bakeries.
We move to LA, and there are bakeries, real ones, everywhere.
Love a good chewy egg bagel with lox and cream cheese.
~S :)
Mmmmm, I'm SOOO hungry! And yes, I love bagels, but I'm sure they aren't nearly as good as the ones you taook the picture of!
Just lately I have been eating plain water bagels..about one each week! I do love them...Of course, growing up in New York, where the BEST Bagels are made kind of spoils you for all the rest! Though, the ones I have been getting are pretty damn good!
Michele sent me back again , my deaqr Carmi!
Carmi, Carmi, Carmi... no bakeries in London? Ah, you must not have been to Angelo's on Trafalgar (not the newer monstrosity in the North End). As a fellow Montrealer, I have found safe haven there. Even my father-in-law, who is quite the epicurean, makes a bee-line for Angelo's when he comes up from Montreal.
That being said, we're frequent visitors to Fairmont when we make our pilgrimages back home. And don't forget about St-Viatur Bagel... almost as good as Fairmont. In fact, at times they're better!
Jay
Jay, I concede your point about Angelo's. It is indeed a mecca to the rarefied world of baked goodness.
Although I acknowledge its place in the pantheon of London's culinary scene, I nevertheless lament the fact that one has to drive across town to get to it.
The concept of the neighborhood bakery to which one can simply walk seems to be lost on this burg. I spent many Sunday mornings as a child walking to our local bakery (The Dirty Bakery, as it was lovingly known). Such experiences simply don't happen here.
Bagels are nice.
Bakeries are nicer.
But, these would not be considered "nutritionally balanced" even with the sesame seeds.
But again... they are soooooo good.
oh heck yea they make me hungry! i love sesame bagels... i had one the other night with veggie cream cheese on it from tim hortons... with a cafe mocha! wish i could go get one now!
(i'm a little behind in visiting)
Your picture inspired me to eat like 5 bagels last week. They are just that good.
Twittering a classic, ay?
Thank you for making me want to get in my car (which I don't have now, but did I October 2006) and drive to Montreal. And I LIVE right next to NYC. I had no idea there was another kind of special bagel.
I think I really need a bagel. Now. (And I should disclose that I'm not keeping KFP, so I'm probably not jonesing as much as you are. I think I'll stop at Dunkin Donuts on the way to Target and get a bagel for both of us. And G-d will probably smite me and I'll choke on it. But it will be worth it, because bagels is tasty.
Post a Comment