And the winner of the Great Bagel Taste Test is …
Not so fast, bubbeleh. We’re talking about the “holy of holeys” here. You think you’re going to find out the answer without engaging in some pilpul, a little talmudic debate? Besides, several bagels shared the honors at the Oct. 11 event at Temple Sinai in Oakland. Surely you weren’t expecting one opinion.
The quality of Bay Area bagels became a national topic July 23 when the New York Times Magazine published the article “Why is it so hard to get a great bagel in California?” and noted that “San Francisco bakeries have tried and tried again to replicate the
chewy, crusty perfection of New York’s specialty. They are still trying.”
In the piece, S.F.-based writer Elizabeth Weil reported that Bay Area bagels don’t meet the high standards of crunchiness and chewiness that epicures, including some local folks, claim to find only in New York bagels.
Yet at the Great Bagel Taste Test in Oakland, at least a few East Bay varieties received praised from all five celebrity judges — including Weil and J.’s Andy Altman-Ohr — and the 120 attendees who cast ballots, among them some former New Yorkers.
The bagels came from Oakland’s Authentic Bagel Co., Beauty’s Bagel Shop and Grand Bakery, Berkeley-based Baron Baking, Alameda’s Levy’s Bagels and Co., and the chain Noah’s. Most were donated, according to organizer Lori Leiber, and the event raised $1,500 for the Alameda County Community Food Bank.
For the blind taste-test, attendees tried six unidentified samples, separated into sections on a marked paper plate. Many helped themselves to shmears, and there was certainly a lot of discussion going on. The brands were revealed only after the judging.
Rita Rosen of Walnut Creek, a self-described “bagel maven” originally from New York, voted for the Baron bagel, because it’s “chewy and most like the authentic bagel, the old-time New York bagel,” she explained. Yet her favorite local product is from Sunrise Bagels Cafe in Concord and San Ramon; those bagels are “more authentic,” she said.
At another table, Daniella Greenberg, age 5, sampled bagels with her friend Ellie Galison, who has been 6 long enough to consider herself “basically 7.” Both Oakland girls preferred the Noah’s and Beauty’s bagels because “they’re fluffy and chewy,” said Ellie, and “taste really good,” noted Daniella. Brian Greenberg, Daniella’s father, chose Beauty’s.
Elaine Binger of El Cerrito, a caterer and volunteer who made egg salad for the shmears table, opted for Beauty’s. It tasted “somewhat like sourdough, ” she said. She also liked Noah’s.
Fellow volunteer Andrea Daniel of Oakland preferred the Levy’s because, she explained, “You can tell the difference between the crust and the inside.” But “it’s not as good as bagels from New York or Los Angeles.”
Meanwhile, emcee and comic Jacob Rubin, was introducing the celebrity judges: Altman-Ohr, J. managing editor and writer of this publication’s “Hardly Strictly Bagels” food column; Katherine Avila, food drive coordinator for the Alameda County Community Food Bank; Sinai’s emeritus Rabbi Steven Chester; Joel ben Izzy, author and storyteller who related the tale of a resident of the fictitious village of Chelm who went looking to buy bagel holes; and Weil.
Before the identity of the bagels was revealed, Weil was asked if she had recognized any of the taste-test samples. Some “seemed familiar,” she said, but she was unsure because she’d tasted bagels for her article “quite a while ago.”
Weil acknowledged that her article had been controversial. “I heard a lot of feelings,” she said, clarifying that she didn’t mean that she “hurt” feelings.
She noted that the headline, which she didn’t write, erroneously implied that she was rating bagels from all of California. Some Los Angeles residents contacted her with praise for their city’s bagels.
Altman-Ohr was the one judge who explained some of his methodology. He applied what he called the “Sealy Posturepedic Test,” he told attendees. “When I push in the bagel, I want it to spring back.” He picked the Beauty’s bagel “because of its nice and crisp crust, and the flavor.”
That made him an outlier among the panel of judges, whose cumulative score placed Levy’s first and Noah’s “a close second,” according to co-organizer Phil Rubin.
Panelist ben Izzy described Levy’s as “a bagel with chutzpah.” Weil picked Levy’s and Noah’s as her one-two, noting that she liked the contrast between the crust and interior of the Levy’s bagel. Chester said he chose Noah’s for its texture because “I don’t like crisp,” while Avila praised it for the “tooth of its crust.”
Among the attendees, Beauty’s was a runaway winner, with Levy’s in second place. Vote totals were not provided.
Mazel tov to the winners. But remember, the taste-test was subjective. As Weil pointed out, bagel preference is “a very personal thing.”