What Makes a New York Bagel Different
The New York bagel debate is both delicious and endless. The conventional wisdom is that it comes down to the water — New York City’s notoriously soft tap water, with its low mineral content, produces a different dough texture than anywhere else. The other key factor is the boiling method: authentic NYC bagels are boiled in water (often with malt or lye) before baking, creating the chewy interior and shiny, crackly crust that define the style.
Whatever the science, the result is unmistakable. Here’s where to find the best in the city.
Classic Lower East Side and Manhattan Institutions
Ess-a-Bagel (multiple Manhattan locations) is the benchmark for the dense, oversized New York bagel. Their everything bagel with scallion cream cheese is one of the most iconic food combinations in the city. Lines out the door on weekends are a reliable sign of quality.
Murray’s Bagels in Greenwich Village is a perennial top-five contender. Their bagels are slightly smaller and more traditional than Ess-a-Bagel, and they’re one of the few shops that still bake in small batches throughout the day. The hand-rolled, kettle-boiled method shows.
Absolute Bagels on the Upper West Side has a devoted following for its sesame and poppy bagels. The shop is cash-only and no-frills, which is exactly how regulars like it.
Brooklyn’s Best Bagel Shops
Davidovich Bakery in East Williamsburg supplies many of the city’s restaurants and delis but also has a retail operation. Their water bagels — plain, no sesame or poppy — are extraordinarily good and demonstrate the pure technique underneath all the toppings.
Bergen Bagels in Crown Heights is a neighborhood gem that’s earned a citywide reputation. The wood-fired oven produces a distinct char on the crust that distinguishes them from the standard boiled-and-baked approach.
Bagel Hole in Park Slope is the anti-everything bagel: small, traditional, hand-rolled, and deliberately unadorned. They’re the size bagels were in the 1960s, before supersizing became standard. Purists love them.
Queens: The Underrated Bagel Borough
Utopia Bagels in Whitestone, Queens, wins nearly every serious bagel ranking for a reason. Their bagels are hand-rolled, kettle-boiled, and baked in a rotating deck oven — the full traditional process — and the results show in every bite. The egg bagel and the bialy are both outstanding. They ship nationwide, which should tell you something.
NY Bagel & Bialys in Rego Park is a Queens institution with loyal regulars who drive from Brooklyn and Manhattan to get there. The bialys may actually outshine the bagels.
New-Wave NYC Bagels Worth Trying
A newer generation of bagel shops has emerged that applies artisan bread techniques to the traditional form. The Bagel Store in Williamsburg is known for rainbow bagels — a colorful, swirled dough that photographs spectacularly. The taste is sweeter than traditional, but the novelty is part of the experience.
Black Seed Bagels, with locations in Nolita and the West Village, bridges the Montreal-style (smaller, sweeter, wood-fired) and New York-style approaches. Their smoked salmon sandwiches are exceptional.
Bagel Etiquette and What to Order
For first-timers: order your bagel “toasted” if you want it warmed, “scooped” if you want some of the interior dough removed (controversial among purists), and specify your schmear — cream cheese, nova (smoked salmon), or butter. The everything bagel with plain cream cheese is the classic gateway order. For a full NYC experience, try lox with cream cheese, red onion, tomato, and capers on a sesame bagel.
Most of the best bagel shops open early (some by 6am) and sell out of certain varieties by early afternoon. Go early.
