The Montreal vs New York bagel
There’s a religious war going on. A fight for your tastebuds. A fight for the North American bagel crown. It’s a slugfest and regardless of the outcome, we all will be the ultimate winners.
Most people don’t consider the bagel, an unremarkable ring of cooked dough, to be a delicacy. It’s just bread, right? Well, this simple round loop has been elevated to heights not thought possible.
Leave it to the cities of New York and Montreal to lead the charge. New York being the gastronomic epicenter of the United States and Montreal the oft forgotten overachiever that has given us poutine, tourtières and it’s crown jewel, smoked meat.
For New Yorker’s, the bagel is a highly revised, near perfected, huge, puffed up piece of bread. Tasty? Yes, and it’s offered with every topping possible and you can get anything you want on the bagel from avocado to smoked salmon. New York, with their famous water, even has an unfair advantage. To be sure, the New York bagel is a memorable experience. It’s among the best of the best.
However, take a trip up the St. Lawrence to the Métropole francophone des Amériques to find the pinnacle of bagel making. Slaving away in front of old fashioned brick ovens, two famous bagelries work around the clock to supply the quebecois with their ferocious demand for fresh bagels.
Untoasted? Yes. Toasted? God, yes. Fresh? Oh my God, it’s the best thing you’ll ever put in your mouth. For those in the southern United States, imagine a fresh, Hot and Now Krispy Kreme donut, except not sweet. It melts in your mouth. IT MELTS IN YOUR MOUTH. Once that happens to you, there is no going back. That wheat and malted flour will leave you a changed person. There is no recovering. There is the old you and the new you and the new you will now have a life long habit to feed.
You can buy these bagels outside their perspective cities, but the true experience can only be had within, so break out your credit card and book your ticket. The bagels are in the oven and will be ready when you arrive.