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SAN FRANCISCO  

House of Bagels

(415) 752-6000  •  houseofbagels.com
House of Bagels, a San Francisco Legacy Business, has been providing New York-style bagels to the Bay Area for 50 years. They take pride in not rushing their bagels, allowing them to rest overnight, to “proof” so they achieve bagel perfection. Then the bagels are boiled in water and baked on stone. Bakers also make artisan breads (challah! rye!) from scratch, and they fill their display cabinets with hamantaschen, black and white cookies, rugelach and Russian tea cakes and tasty pastries. 

Schlok‘s Bagels & Lox

schloks.com
Once a pop-up operation during the pandemic, Schlok’s — new this year to Readers’ Choice — opened a storefront in March featuring their seeded-on-the-bottom bagels and dill-cured lox. Owners James Lok (a fine-dining veteran) and Zack Schwab, a partial owner of the Snug in the Marina, offer bagels inspired by East Coast technique but “with some San Francisco improvements.” Sandwiches also are on the menu, as are schmears to go, including scallion, garlic, baked tomato, caper and more.

EAST BAY

Boichik Bagels

BERKELEY
(510) 858-5189  •  boichikbagels.com
Bagels! Bialys! Cream cheese shmears, fish and salads are found here too, all inspired by the owner’s fond memories of the now-defunct H&H Bagels in New York City. Opened in 2019, Boichik has baked its way into the hearts, minds and stomachs of J. readers. Good news: Boichik’s bagels also are sold in Bay Area coffee shops and markets, and a second location has just opened in Palo Alto; a bagel plant in West Berkeley is under construction. 

SOUTH BAY/PENINSULA

Izzy’s Brooklyn Bagels

PALO ALTO
(650) 329-0700  •  izzysbrooklynbagels.com
Vaad Hakashrus of Northern California supervises Izzy’s, which is proud to offer more than 30 varieties of bagels, from the traditional to the most complex. This popular kosher eatery in Palo Alto, which serves breakfast and lunch, also has wild lox, shmears, salads and cookies, and caters for many a Silicon Valley home and business. No wonder Izzy’s makes it into every issue of Readers’ Choice! 

NORTH BAY

New York Bagels

MILL VALLEY
(415) 381-3599 

Back again on J.’s Readers’ Choice list, New York Bagels, located in the Strawberry Village Shopping Center, serves up great New York-style bagels topped with lox, a shmear, hummus or whitefish. Readers nostalgic for their East Coast roots also can order breakfast bagels with egg; egg and cheese; or egg, meat and cheese. And if it’s lunch you had in mind, choose from cold or hot bagel sandwiches, many with clever names. 

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