The Side Dish: Bagels
The Taste Buds have opinions about the iconic bread roll
Hooboy. We are really flirting with the third rail of Austin Food Discourse with this one. There are many folks who think that there are no good bagels to be found in Austin, and there are those, like me, who disagree.
The primary point of stasis for this disagreement is that no Austin bagel could ever compare to New York bagels, but I think that’s a false dichotomy. Some people believe that New York bagels are “better” because of the water. (That’s also a myth.) Saying that no one in Austin can do bagels as well as people in New York is just another form of silly homerism, just like Texans say there’s no good BBQ outside of Texas.
Acknowledging that there are indeed good bagels to be had in Austin, the Taste Buds assembled at my house in a quest to find the best bagel available. The best bagel needs to have a shiny crisp exterior (which is created by boiling the dough in a quick water bath for a minute or two before baking) that gives way to a chewy, bouncy interior. (Flavor matters too, of course.)
We sampled plain bagels from six different outfits around town1; our first bites were of the bagel on its own, then with a daub of plain cream cheese. Everyone went at their own pace, tasting carefully, discussing, and making notes. After everyone had sampled all the bagels, we ranked each one according to our preference, from 1 (favorite) to 6 (least favorite). Each ranking of 1 earned the bagel 6 points, 2 = 5 points, 3 = 4 points, 4 = 3 points, 5 = 2 points, 6 = 1 point. The maximum points possible was 48. I’ll also tell you how much a half-dozen bagels cost.
The Taste Buds assembled for this ranking were Darla, Katie, Rachel, Sally, Harrison, Laurel, and Camilla. (And me, obviously.) I’ve included a sampling of their tasting notes with each bagel. Read on to learn which Austin bagel should be invited to your next brunch.
“Did not finish. Strong sour flavor.”
“Yuck.”
I hadn’t heard of Muzzy’s until about a week before we did this tasting, so I added them to my list at the very end of the planning process. The first thing we noticed was the appearance. Yes, a bagel is supposed to have some blistering from the boiling stage, but this bagel looks … injured. The next thing we noticed was the smell, which was an unfortunate combination of yeast and glue.
Friends, this was not a good bagel. The texture was okay, but the flavor was just bad. As in, at least two of us spat it out. Listen, I’m not one to crap on someone’s dreams. I hope that Daniel Cacheaux, chef and proprietor of Muzzy’s, achieves success in his culinary endeavors. Tweaking his bagel recipe would help.
Price: $12
Score: 8/48
“Interesting texture; the crust could have a little more bite. Hint of molasses?”
“This is a bagel-shaped dinner roll.”
Every time I go to the Sunday farmers’ market at Mueller, there’s a line 60 people deep at the David Doughie’s stand. (I like to preorder a half-dozen and skip the line.) These are very pretty New York-style sourdough bagels, made with Barton Springs Mill flour. I actually like these bagels a lot, so I was surprised by their lack of popularity among the Taste Buds. They’re a little sweet, and have a nice, bouncy texture. The primary complaint about these bagels was that they were not very flavorful and also had a strange aftertaste.
Price: $15
Score: 17/48
Note: The next four bagels were very close in ratings; every one of them was at least one person’s first choice.
“Outside is kinda tough. Tastes like a baguette.”
“Excellent flavor; crust is delicious. Nice and chewy!”
I’ve got some complicated feelings about Rosen’s that I’ll not share here (but feel free to ask me in person!), but the general opinion is that these are pretty decent bagels. Sally mentioned that she could taste whatever they had added to the water during the boiling stage (in a positive way), so I think that’s worth mentioning. Because when we’re talking about approximating New York water, we’re talking about pH levels, I guess. Anyway, this is a passable bagel that I, personally find fairly bland. The main descriptor the Buds had for this bagel was “chewy.”
Price: $10
Score: 30/48
“Pretty, smells good, dense, good!”
“Kinda sweet, goes well with cream cheese.”
I’m probably going to completely undermine my credibility when I tell you that I enjoy peanut butter on a bagel. The first time I went to Nervous Charlie’s, I really wanted peanut butter for my bagel and they didn’t offer it as a schmear. I was deeply affronted and didn’t go back until it was time to order these bagels. The prevailing wisdom is that NC’s ships in their dough from New York (“from famous dough specialists who have been perfecting their recipe for more than 100 years”). I want to know what they’re putting in their water for the boiling stage, because every single Taste Bud commented on the sweetness of this bagel.
Price: $12
Score: 33/48
“Nice texture; wouldn’t mind a little more hint of savory in the crust.”
“Crust nicely chewy, especially on bottom. A solid plain bagel.”
The Far West location of Wholy Bagel is right by my doctor’s office, so it’s become a ritual for me to go straight to WB for breakfast after getting my yearly checkup. I feel like this bagel shop is kind of underrated, in that it doesn’t get mentioned in the various discussions about Austin’s best bagels, and I just don’t understand why. The crust is appropriately crisp, the crumb is bouncy and chewy, and the flavor is nice. This was also the least-expensive half-dozen of all the bagels.
Price: $9.75
Score: 36/48
“Chewy, taste, has a nutty flavor.”
“Right amount of chew and nice flavor.”
When Laurel was attending Kealing Middle School, I would sometimes preorder a breakfast sandwich from Rockstar, which is right around the corner. There’s one that comes with cream cheese and raspberry jam that looks like a murder scene when you eat it, but the umami of the cheese and tart-sweetness of the jam hit all those pleasure receptors. I’m also partial to just an egg and cheddar cheese sandwich; there’s something about the chewy exterior of the bagel giving way to the reassuring heft of a fried egg and the comforting fat of the cheese. If I’m feeling sassy, I’ll get a rosemary salt bagel, but I really prefer the simplicity of a plain bagel. Three Taste Buds ranked this as the best bagel, three ranked it second, and two ranked it third, so it earned the top spot by five l’il points.
Price: $10
Score: 41/48
Next month, the Taste Buds tackle oat milk lattes!
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I was going to include Biderman’s in the tasting, but they wanted $20 for a half-dozen bagels, which I thought was preposterous, so I struck them from the tasting list. Also not included in the tasting are Casper Fermentables and Wham Bam bagels, simply due to time and budget considerations.