Bagel Love! A Poll.

[Oliveloaf]

How do you feel about a nice bagel with cream cheese?

Also, what kind of bagel do you like? What kind of cream cheese?

Do you like your bagel toasted?

Bonus questions:

When did bagels come out of the closet?

I recall not even knowing what a bagel was until I wan in HS. Was I just
living in the shadows, or did the bagel go mainstream in the early Eighties?

[What Exit?]

But I am a bagel snob. It needs to be a real bagel, not one of those pale imitations from chains like Manhattan Bagel. I want a real NY style, Jewish as all heck Bagel. These are divine.

[Oliveloaf]

[Oliveloaf]

But I am a bagel snob. It needs to be a real bagel, not one of those pale imitations from chains like Manhattan Bagel. I want a real NY style, Jewish as all heck Bagel. These are divine.

I have recently become a bagel snob, too. My office was relocated to be just a block from a very authentic Jewish-run bagel/bakery. My God, the bagels there are so much better than chain stuff. I will eat, and enjoy Great American Bagels (a chain that has stores in Chicago), but vastly prefer the real deal.

[Oliveloaf]

[Oliveloaf]

I like an untoasted egg bagel with plain or chive cream cheese. Fabulous.

[What Exit?]

I love a good bagel with cream cheese and chives.

[Zuul]

I was a kid in the '80s, so I don't know if bagels weren't popularized back then or not. All I know is they were my favorite Sunday morning treat of all time. I prefer mine savory. Onion, poppy seed or sesame seed are my favorites, though an everything or plain one is good, too. The ones with berries and stuff aren't bad, but not what I like best.

Toasted with cheese and some smoked salmon.

[Oliveloaf]

I like a nice blueberry bagel, it's not a real bagel to me, but it's darn good.

[What Exit?]

Toasted with cheese and some smoked salmon.

You would probably like my wife's favorite. With Lox.

[Oliveloaf]

I know SarahFeena is a bagel fiend. Looking forward to her take.

[What Exit?]

I have a strong urge to go to one of the handful of excellent bagel places now.

[OtakuLoki]

H&H up on Broadway and 80th. Fresh from the oven. There were consolations when I was living in JC. Untoasted but heavenly. I sometimes accused my former college roommate for choosing his church because of it's proximity to H&H.

Who needs cream cheese.

As for bagels going mainstream, I couldn't say when that happened. I grew up aware of them. And my dad would always mutter the old Spike Jones line: "A bagel, that's a donut dipped in cement." We'd have to go into Framingham to get them, but they were awesome.

Of course, the ideal bagel is as a sammich: untoasted, with lettuce, cream cheese, smoked salmon and a nice thick slice of onion.

[Oliveloaf]

"A bagel, that's a donut dipped in cement."

It was because of this joke that I learned what a bagel was.

[Orual]

I good bagel is a thing of beauty. I like 'em toasted, with a scraping of cream cheese or butter.

[OneCentStamp]

Love, love, love a good bagel with shmear. In general, I prefer savory bagels to sweet - plain are fine, so are garlic, onion, and/or poppyseed bagels.

And lox = god.

[Myglaren]

Never had a bagel. The kids eat them and we have some in the kitchen. One day I may try one but it won't be any time soon.

[artifex]

Bagels are awesome, I don't like cream cheese. I love a savory bagel turned into a sandwich (pastrami would be nice, or maybe toasted with cheese...). Bagels that come in a plastic tube-shaped bag on the shelf at WalMart are a mockery, however.

[runner pat]

We don't have real bagels anywhere near here.

[Sarahfeena]

Love bagels.

Only the non-sweet ones. Blueberry bagels are an abomination. Preferably from a real kosher deli. When I had my last baby, my husband stopped at Kaufman's in Skokie on the way to the hospital and got me onion bagels, cream cheese, and lox. You aren't supposed to eat cured or raw fish when you're pregnant and I was craving some SO BAD. I'll never forget how good that tasted.

I prefer them toasted, but untoasted will do in a pinch. Just please, nothing sweet. It's not a donut (though a good donut has it's own charms ).

[Oliveloaf]

Love bagels.

Only the non-sweet ones. Blueberry bagels are an abomination. Preferably from a real kosher deli. When I had my last baby, my husband stopped at Kaufman's in Skokie on the way to the hospital and got me onion bagels, cream cheese, and lox. You aren't supposed to eat cured or raw fish when you're pregnant and I was craving some SO BAD. I'll never forget how good that tasted.

I prefer them toasted, but untoasted will do in a pinch. Just please, nothing sweet. It's not a donut (though a good donut has it's own charms ).

I don't mind the sweet, but the straight ones are better. Rye bagels are pretty fab with plain cream cheese. Rye is a wonderful grain when left
to its own, simple devices.

[Sarahfeena]

I like all kinds of savory-type bagels: plain, pumpernickel, onion, etc. But what really does it for me is a plain bagel with plain (or maybe scallion) cream cheese. Simple, perfect.

[OneCentStamp]

Oh, and regarding the closet, I grew up knowing and eating bagels. But then again, I grew up in a state where Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur were school holidays.

[Glazer]

Toasted onion bagel. Lightly buttered on one side and plane cream cheese spread thick on the other. Thin slice of country ham in the middle. Heavenly.

[Oliveloaf]

[Peeta Mellark]

True confession: I like to spread cream cheese and pesto on an untoasted bagel, then put it under the broiler until the cheese starts forming a light brown crust. Then I make a roast beef and tomato sandwich with it. It's a very random combination, but very good.

[OtakuLoki]

Dayam - that sounds good.

[Zuul]

That does sound good. I'm going to have to give this a try.

[Oliveloaf]

Pesto on anything is good. That sound especially good.

[Sarahfeena]

Bagels are a killer bread for open-faced sandwiches. I like to put tuna salad on a half a bagel, with a bit of cream cheese spread on it first. Yum. Maybe that will be lunch today, now that I'm thinking of it!

[Oliveloaf]

Bagels are a killer bread for open-faced sandwiches. I like to put tuna salad on a half a bagel, with a bit of cream cheese spread on it first. Yum. Maybe that will be lunch today, now that I'm thinking of it!

And, was it lunch?

[Sarahfeena]

Bagels are a killer bread for open-faced sandwiches. I like to put tuna salad on a half a bagel, with a bit of cream cheese spread on it first. Yum. Maybe that will be lunch today, now that I'm thinking of it!

And, was it lunch?

Turns out, I had no bagels. Maybe tomorrow, if I get to the store in the AM.

[Oliveloaf]

Lame.

[RabbitMage]

I'm pretty basic: plain bagel, toasted, preferably with butter but cream cheese is a close second. I've never had the onion or sesame seed bagels, but I bet I'd like them.