The Very Best Bagels in the US (Yes, Outside New York)

Welcome to the Great Bagel Boom, a series celebrating the vast creative expanses of bagel culture across America—because yes, you can find truly wonderful bagels outside of New York now.

On a recent trip to LA, I drove by one of those block-wrapping lines that’s the telltale sign of a meet-and-greet or maybe a sneaker drop. I circled the block and got a glimpse of my celebrity: Courage Bagels. Crowds of devotees spilled onto the sidewalk, eating their long-awaited meals at tiny outdoor tables under sun umbrellas. Their open-face, pleasantly misshapen Montreal-style bagels balanced hunks of cheddar, rosy slices of salted tomato, cream cheese, and pearls of plump roe, all hidden under wisps of dill.

As you can probably gather, Courage doesn’t follow in the steps of the classic New York bagel. And across the country, similar lines are forming for creative, often-unconventional bagels. At Benchwarmers in Raleigh, North Carolina, bagels come topped with duck rillettes and sour cherry cream cheese or country ham and fancy butter. The New Orleans bagel shop Flour Moon calls its open-face bagels “tartines” and tops them with appropriate panache: roasted carrot spread, duqqa, sunflower seed butter, tahini.

As a trickle of buzzy new bagel shops turns into a full-on bagel boom, bakers aren’t looking to mimic New York quite the way they might have 10 years ago. The New York bagel is as revered as ever, but new approaches are taking shape from Los Angeles to Philadelphia. Bakers are blending influences and regional styles, getting creative with toppings, and treating bagels like a special event.

Whether you prefer them puffy and shiny or dense and chewy, there’s never been a better time to eat bagels. These are our very favorite ones—outside of New York—sourced from BA staffers and trusted contributors. You’ll find that some of these bagels do take inspiration from stalwarts like New York and Montreal, but mostly, they defy neat categorization. That’s part of what makes them so great. —Elazar Sontag, restaurant editor

The full list

Bagelfeld’s, Phoenix

Belle’s Bagels, Los Angeles

Courage Bagels, Los Angeles

Layla Bagels, Santa Monica, CA

Maury’s, Los Angeles

Chicken Dog Bagels, San Francisco

Midnite Bagel, San Francisco

Poppy Bagels, Oakland, CA

El Bagel, Miami

Emerald City Bagels, Atlanta

Sidedoor Bagel, Indianapolis

Flour Moon Bagels, New Orleans

Rose Foods, Portland, ME

Rover Bagel, Biddeford, ME

Bagelsaurus, Cambridge, MA

Benchwarmers Bagels, Raleigh, NC

The Lox Bagel Shop, Columbus, OH

Bernstein's Bagels, Portland, OR

Korshak Bagels, Philadelphia

Pigeon Bagels, Pittsburgh

Starship Bagel, Multiple locations, Texas

Call Your Mother, Washington, DC

Ruby’s Bagels, Milwaukee

Tali’s Bagels & Schmear, Multiple Locations, HI

2940 E Thomas Rd, Phoenix

Tucked in an industrial building near a Crossfit gym on Phoenix’s east side, Bagelfeld’s slings a simple menu of classic bagels so satisfying that even carb-phobic Crossfiters go. New York–born owner Charles Blonkenfeld started making bagels early in the pandemic and sold them at farmers markets before opening his shop in 2022, carefully adjusting the recipe for Phoenix’s high temps.

The bagels Blonkenfeld turns out are New York–inspired but clearly his own thing. They’re thinner and wider than what you might find in most New York bagel shops. The exterior is also more crisp and crackly, giving way to a chewy, not-too-dense interior. When it comes to toppings, there’s a tight menu of cream cheese spreads, such as honey-brown butter and lemon and herb. People tend to pick up their orders and take them to go, but the shop’s gotten so popular that a slew of cafés and restaurants around town are serving their bagels too. It’s no wonder the local athletes come here to fuel up. —Serena Dai, digital editorial director

Pro tip: Stick to classic toppings, like plain cream cheese, and watch out for specials like a nostalgic Asiago cheese bagel.

5022 York Blvd, Los Angeles

On the busy street of York in LA’s Highland Park neighborhood, you’ll find an impatient crowd gathered around Belle’s Bagels, clamoring for their hand-rolled, slow-fermented bagels. In true LA fashion, these bagels break most purist rules. There are inventive schmears, like a bright pink beet cream cheese; an assortment of breakfast sandwiches served with “shalom sauce” (a garlic-herb aioli); and the option to order a latke either on the side or on your bagel.

Childhood friends Nick Schreiber and J.D. Rocchio launched their business as a backyard pop-up in 2012, setting out to make their vision of the very best bagel a reality: a bubbly crust, dense crumb, and chewy center. A humble foldout table is placed in front of the store, where droves of customers order, place their name, and wait for their bagel to arrive in a brown paper bag. There are a few tables for patrons outside, but those fill up quickly. Mostly, you’ll see people digging into their bagels on public sidewalk seating and around the corner enjoying their bagels in alleyways. —June Kim, head of video

Pro tip: Live a little and try one of Belle’s sandwich specials. From pastrami, swiss, and slaw to crispy salmon skin, lox, and pickled fennel, Belle’s has some unique creations that are not to be missed.

777 N Virgil Ave, Los Angeles

Courage Bagels began as a street food operation in 2017, with founder Arielle Moss selling the Montreal-style bagels she made at home from a basket on the front of a red beach cruiser. In 2020, Moss transitioned the business to a brick-and-mortar store in Virgil Village with her husband, Chris Moss, and the rest, as they say, is an artfully topped open-face bagel and a 30-minute line down the block (a.k.a. Los Angeles bagel history).

Courage’s bagels are crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, smaller and thinner than a New York version and cooked in a wood-fire oven, pursuant to the Montreal standards. They’re served in biodegradable clamshells with a colorful abundance of toppings that match their cute names. The “Run It Through The Garden,” for example, features LA-caliber produce and just enough cream cheese, finished with a serious drizzle of lemon juice and olive oil. It’s possibly the best loaded bagel I’ve ever eaten.

If you, like me, believe that a salted slice of peak-season tomato is the best adornment a bagel could hope for—and you usually scrape off most of the cream cheese slathered on a New York–style bagel to rectify the bread-to-schmear ratio—Courage is well worth finding parking for. —Kendra Vaculin, associate food editor

Pro tip: Because the bagels are served open-face, you can top each half differently; I suggest half “Run It Through The Garden” and half “Simply Delicious” (a straightforward salmon-and-capers situation) on a “burnt everything” bagel.

1614 Ocean Park Blvd, Santa Monica, CA

In a city of cosmetically blessed bagels, the sourdough ones from Layla in Santa Monica still stand apart with a certain California glow. As is common in LA, the bagel sandwiches here are mostly served open-face, and while you could theoretically take a Layla bagel to go, the best way to eat one is in the small bakery’s light-flooded front window. There are no misses on the tight menu, but the Laika is particularly delicious. A pleasantly thin swipe of herb cream cheese coats a bagel artfully layered with smoked salmon, crisp little rounds of cucumber, meaty tomato, capers, pickled red onion, and a flurry of dill and lemon zest. The Pre-Jam tops an open-face bagel with cream cheese, honey, and seasonal fruit. For the sandwich lovers who might huff and puff at a bagel served with its guts on display, Layla’s got you: a scrambled egg and chermoula bagel is slammed shut and wrapped nice and tight.

The bagels at Layla are hand-rolled and land somewhere between New York and Montreal in style, with a shattery crust and a light tang. The shop, which opened in early 2023, is overseen by head baker Sergio Espana, who’s an alum of iconic California bakeries Tartine and Gjusta. It doesn’t take knowing Espana’s pedigree to feel the devotion to sourdough and fresh produce that shines through at this shop. —Elazar Sontag, restaurant editor

Pro tip: Layla’s open-face bagels can be ordered by the half, so you’re able to try several combinations. And don’t think about leaving without a slice of banana bread or a beautifully braided babka muffin.

2829 Bellevue Ave, Los Angeles

Simple is king at Maury’s, an understated corner storefront in Silverlake. This bagel shop is serving up traditional New York–style bagels—featuring a glossy, tight exterior and soft yet chewy interior—with some of the best smoked fish in town. The menu features a refined list of bagel sandwiches, most of which feature an assortment of fish: a variety of lox, smoked trout, kippered salmon, whitefish salad, and even a wasabi tobiko roe. Though any bagel is great here, my favorite is the classic combination of an everything bagel and lox with an airy heap of scallion cream cheese, briny capers, and red onion.

Bagels are a first love for owner Jason Kaplan, whose mother packed him a bagel and cream cheese (and sometimes lox) for lunch every day as a child. Fast-forward to 2014, when he spent a year and a half baking a dozen bagels every day until he perfected his recipe. After selling at the Hollywood Farmers Market, Maury’s opened in 2017 and has become an eastside staple. Though you’ll find some crowds on the weekend, the storefront has settled into its role as a solid neighborhood haunt. —June Kim, head of video

Pro tip: Maury’s bagels are by default presented untoasted, which is how you should enjoy them. And whatever you do, make sure to try a bagel with smoked fish.

237 Cortland Ave, San Francisco

Chicken is the name of a very cute old lady Chihuahua, and also a wildly popular bagel pop-up in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. Both belong to baker Alex Rogers, who grew up on H&H bagels in New York before working at the esteemed (and now closed) 20th Century Cafe and the naturally leavened pizza spot PizzaHacker. Now he’s popping up at neighborhood butcher shop Avedano’s Meats a couple mornings each week, and the line reliably winds down the sunny block. Rogers personally hand-rolls small batches of a couple hundred bagels at a time, and you can taste the attention to detail. In true San Francisco–style, they feature organic local flour and natural sourdough leavening, developing a serious crust and soft tang.

On Saturdays, he stacks sandwiches with house-smoked trout rillettes and fennel, smoked beets and arugula, or avocado and radishes, switching toppings with the seasons. The fan fave is the “dog log,” featuring a snappy and smoky hot dog, spiraled in bagel dough, and rolled in your seed of choice. But the sleeper hit is the cinnamon raisin bagel, marbled with warm cinnamon and studded with sweet golden raisins. —Becky Duffett, BA contributor

Pro tip: To skip the line, you can preorder for pickup of whole bagels on Fridays or Saturdays. But then again, the sandwiches are only available for walk-ups on Saturdays—and you should really have one. The good news is you can get a good latte from Pinhole Coffee next door to caffeinate while you wait.

2565 3rd St Third Floor, Suite 308, San Francisco

The sourdough culture that flavors the bagels at Midnite is not understated or subliminal. These bagels are powerfully tart and deeply flavorful—before you even get into toppings and schmears. Nick Beitcher, the former head bread baker at San Francisco’s famed Tartine, started his bagel operation as a pop-up in 2018 and has been blessing weekend farmers markets ever since.

Made with organic rye and stone-milled Yecora Rojo flour, even a “plain” bagel from Midnite doesn’t seem particularly ordinary. The outside is more chewy than crisp, giving way to a slightly bouncy, not-too-doughy interior. The buckwheat-black sesame bagel is a nutty, earthy revelation, and spread with apricot jam, it’s exactly what you should be eating as you walk along downtown San Francisco’s embarcadero. While all of the more substantial offerings here are delightful, nothing could bring more joy than ripping into a Midnite bagel spread with a little bit of butter. —Elazar Sontag, restaurant editor

Pro tip: It comes as no surprise that a former Tartine bread baker makes very good bread; in addition to your bagel, buy a buckwheat-black sesame loaf for later.

5004 Telegraph Ave, Oakland

Reesa Kashuk, a ’90s kid from New York, moved to California to pursue a career in advertising in 2014. But she craved the specific style of bagels that she grew up with and started boiling and baking them for family and friends as a hobby. Eventually, Kashuk dropped her advertising gig and started a New York–style bagel business during the pandemic.

Poppy Bagels opened a cute shop with bursts of butter yellows and poppy oranges in Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood at the beginning of 2023. Bagel fans order at the counter and snag a coveted seat in the front bay windows or stroll back to the sunny garden patio. Kashuk’s bagels rely on commercial yeast but get chilled for a slow rise, resulting in that satisfying crackle of fine bubbles right under the skin. Kashuk rolls all her bagels by hand and believes in aggressively seeding all over, resulting in an explosive and outstanding “everything” flavor, in particular. (With nary a caraway seed in sight, if you happen to be a hater.)

While these bagels might be New York–ish, Kashuk has been seduced by California’s seasonal produce, which shines on the sandwiches. The rotating Seasonal Veg sandwich has included such toppings as microplaned purple radishes, thinly sliced avocado, and crimson drips of chili crisp. The Basic gets topped with scallion cream cheese and beefy slices of heirloom tomatoes. The Spicy & Sweet has a kick of jalapeño and honey, while the Honey Truffle gets funky with black truffles mixed into the cream cheese. —Becky Duffett, BA contributor

Pro tip: Come in for an early lunch on a chill Thursday or Friday, and sit down with a beautifully plated sandwich in the garden. Then snag a dozen bagels to go for the rest of the weekend.

6910 Biscayne Blvd, Miami

Whether you swing by El Bagel to pick up a dozen bagels (which live rent-free in my freezer at all times), a package of smoked fish (a citrusy pastrami-like lox), or a bagel sandwich, you’ll leave happy. It used to be a bit trickier to get your hands on El Bagel’s offerings. Owner Matteson Koche started the operation out of his home, transitioned it into a roving food truck operation, and then in March 2020 into a small space in the MiMo district, where he would regularly sell out by noon. Now you can either place an order online or in person, which has streamlined the process. But even with a storefront and reliable hours, you should prepare to arrive on the earlier side and might have to wait around a half hour. These hand-rolled New York–style bagels, with a crisp exterior and soft-chewy interior, are worth it.

El Bagel nails standards like a bacon, egg, and cheese, but the shop has fun with combinations and toppings too. Koche makes special schmears like a lemon-dill cream cheese and sandwiches like the King Guava, featuring guava marmalade, cream cheese, potato sticks, and a fried egg. While El Bagel is certainly not a secret in Miami, there’s still charm to its low-key strip mall space and lovely staff, who sport some of the best restaurant apparel around. —Kate Kassin, editorial operations associate

Pro tip: Keep an eye on the shop’s Instagram for can’t-be-missed specials (like fry-at-home latkes) and pop-ups (like a Christmas bagel brunch with local restaurant Boia De).

1257A Glenwood Ave SE, Atlanta, GA

Atlanta is no stranger to lo-fi bagels, with chains like Einstein Bros.—and even some local ones—popping up in every strip mall across the suburbs and the city. But when the bagel-loving mother-daughter duo Deanna and Jackie Halcrow opened Emerald City Bagels in 2018, they did so out of what they describe as necessity. “We couldn’t find bagel shops in Atlanta like we had living in New York,” the Halcrows told Bon Appétit at the time. “But personally, I think it’s catching on because people are returning to naturally handcrafted food items.” Sure enough, people caught on quickly to the charm of Emerald City. The cobalt-blue East Atlanta Village storefront, modeled after one of NYC’s classic appetizing shops, has become a destination for folks all over the city.

If you’re just picking up kettle-boiled bagels and spreads, don’t skip the garlic-herb cream cheese, which is among the best I’ve tasted. In addition to excellent traditional schmears, Emerald City makes some creative ones like ranch; green onion and pimento; or toasted almond and fig. If you’re here for the bagel sandwiches (and they’re true sandwiches, not open-face as is all the rage these days), it’s hard to resist the rotating “employee of the month” special, but I love the classic Veg, which comes absolutely stuffed with cucumber, radish, pickled red onions, tomato, and arugula. The lines can get long, so order ahead if you’re taking your meal to go—and keep an eye out for news of the shop’s soon-to-open and much-anticipated second location. —Sonia Chopra, executive editor

Pro tip: Don’t miss the house seltzers, made in flavors like lemon-basil, ginger, and celery. And steel yourself, because it’s hard to resist picking up the branded floss keychains at the counter.

1103 E 10th St Unit A, Indianapolis

While Indianapolis has a plethora of doughnut options, the bagel game is light—a gap that Josh Greeson wanted to fill when he debuted Sidedoor Bagel in 2021, just a few blocks from Mass Avenue and the Bottleworks District. He started honing his craft while working at local bakery Amelia’s and sold his bagels through online orders and pop-ups before demand was high enough to open the small grab-and-go location of Sidedoor.

Greeson’s sourdough bagels are made with locally grown, stone-ground organic flour. He and his team meticulously hand-roll, boil, and bake their bagels, and each one is flavorful and irresistibly chewy—a process that takes three days. Sidedoor’s specialty bagel flavors change seasonally, with different offerings based on the day of the week. A few of the often-available crowd favorites include rosemary sea salt, cinnamon sugar and sesame, and Parmesan black pepper. Top them with schmears such as pepper jelly, bacon-scallion, and the dairy- and nut-free Amazeball spread. Or, opt for a sandwich, like the playfully named BECCY (“bacon, egg, cream cheese, yo”). Whatever you do, show up ready for lines, which snake down the street during the weekend rush. —Iona Brannon, BA contributor

Pro tip: Plan your visit based on the bagel of the day, and order ahead via the website. If you’re going on the weekend or during the morning rush, this will save you a lot of time.

457 N Dorgenois St, New Orleans

With a pastel aesthetic and a cheeky mural illustration of bagels riding a tandem bicycle, pandemic pop-up turned bakery Flour Moon Bagels is clearly the kind of bagel shop where you could just hang out…forever. And you will want to hang out to try owner and ex-pastry chef Breanne Kostyk’s most inventive offerings: a stunning list of “tartines,” or open-face bagel sandwiches that come artfully topped with cream cheese and colorful produce.

The bagel itself is on the smaller side, and with a golden crusted exterior and gentle interior, it’s well-worth ordering on its own. The tartines exemplify what’s happening in national bagel culture right now: They’re piled high, a departure from the bagel’s more utilitarian origins. There’s one stacked with roasted carrot spread, tahini, cucumber, and a poetic pile of herbs, and on my recent visit, there was a special featuring labneh, roasted strawberries, and slivers of pickled fennel. You can’t walk or multitask while eating one of these bagel sandwiches, but that’s okay: You’re going to want to savor it. —Serena Dai, digital editorial director

Pro tip: Check out the specials, posted on Flour Moon’s website and Instagram, and don’t get your bagel toasted.

428 Forest Ave, Portland, ME

Rose Foods came onto the Portland bagel scene in 2017, but its hand-painted signage and hex tile flooring could fool you into thinking you’ve stepped into a 75-year-old delicatessen. Still, there’s plenty to the Forest Avenue establishment that’s undeniably contemporary. This spring owner Chad Conley launched a weekly bagel sandwich series in collaboration with a different local restaurant each week. A collaboration with nearby restaurant Regards was a bounty of ’nduja tuna, ranch dressing, and curls of purple radish on a bagel dusted with salsa macha seasonings.

Rose Foods certainly isn’t the only beloved bagel shop in Portland, but it’s peerless when talkin’ fixings. Conley ships lox, sable, whitefish, and Dr. Brown’s up from New York, offering geshmak no other bagel joints nearby can match. Other delicatessen staples, like latkes, chopped liver, pastrami, and bialys prove enticing enough to lure long lines of locals and visitors through these doors.

As for the bagel, Rose Foods eschews the recipe styles of New York or Montreal. Instead, he engineered a bagel ideal for making sandwiches. The shop uses a mix of sourdough and traditional yeast leavening and boils the bagels in a lye solution, like pretzels, albeit slightly more diluted. The resulting bagel has a plushy and accommodating crumb for ample toppings, and a glossy crust that has a nice yield to it—while still tender enough to avoid sloppy bagel sandwich side-spill. —Wilder Davies, epicurious commerce writer

Pro tip: You can’t go wrong with the classic nova sandwich, but check Rose’s Instagram for any new or special offerings.

10 W Point Ln STE 10-204, Biddeford, ME

Rover Bagel is a takeout-only operation in the city of Biddeford’s Pepperell Mill development. The bagels here are wood-fired and combine the best of both worlds: the pleasant chew of a New York–style bagel and the outer char and crunch of those favored in Montreal. All are made using a sourdough starter and a combination of locally sourced flour from Maine Grains and the old standby King Arthur. My go-to is the Cranadama bagel (inspired by anadama bread with a cranberry twist), topped with chili-garlic cream cheese. Sweet, salty, spicy—I cannot deviate from this order, ever. Alternatively, there is a range of pastries and bagel breakfast sandwiches, my favorite among them being the Shift Meal, with bacon, avocado, roasted onions, and hot honey. Rover employs a proper schmear of cream cheese, but not so much that eating one while driving leaves me wearing most of the filling in my beard.

Owners Kim and Alec Rutter opened the walk-up-only take-out window for Rover Bagel in 2021, after first launching as a morning pop-up at a friend’s Neapolitan pizza shop. The duo then decided to go “Full Rover,” opening up a traditional café space in 2017, before closing it to pursue their current takeout-only format—which has suited them brilliantly. I’ve heard many people complain that they can’t find great bagels in Maine, but you wouldn’t know it based on the crowd of enthusiasts that gathers outside of the North Dam home of Rover Bagel on a freezing winter morning. —Joe Ricchio, BA contributor

Pro tip: It is a testament to how delicious Rover Bagel is that I take the time to pre-order a bagel and coffee online. I recommend doing the same to skip the potentially long line. And the bagels freeze well, so make it worth the drive and grab a dozen to go.

1796 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA

In 2013, Cutty’s, a humble sandwich shop in Brookline, Massachusetts, decided to give kitchen manager Mary Ting Hyatt an opportunity to bake her own bagels. With no room for an electric mixer, all of Hyatt’s kneading and shaping was done by hand, and the bagels were boiled in small batches in a roasting pan. Ting Hyatt’s already loyal customer base took a liking to her microbakery operation, and it was no surprise to the community when her bagels conjured up enough support to open Bagelsaurus in Cambridge in 2014.

The bagels at Bagelsaurus receive over 24 hours of slow fermentation and use the same well-fed sourdough culture from Cutty’s. The result is a malty, tangy bagel with a blistery, crackling crust. Menu highlights include a hot-smoked salmon bagel featuring a generous layer of schmear, a fuchsia-hued handful of tart pickled cabbage, deeply smoky flecks of buttery salmon, and a garnish of pungent red onion and dill for good measure. Or for a salty-meets-sweet combo, ask to have a salt bagel smothered in homemade honey-rosemary schmear. My favorite of all is the oil-cured black olive bagel, which I top with slabs of cold butter and jammy roasted tomatoes. And don’t worry, there’s plenty of time to decide what to order, as the line typically coils around Porter Square—keep the neighbor’s driveway clear! —Nina Moskowitz, editorial assistant

Pro tip: Do yourself a favor and swag out in Bagelsaurus merch—a hat with the charming dinosaur-bagel logo is a sight for sore eyes.

500 E Davie St STE 107, Raleigh, NC

Benchwarmers—named for the modest athletic abilities of its owners—is driving Raleigh in a new direction when it comes to bagels. The brainchild of Andrew Cash, Joshua Bellamy, and Sam Kirkpatrick, Benchwarmers blends the bagel styles of Montreal and New York at its downtown food hall location. Each of the 5,300 bagels made weekly involve a days-long process from start to finish and sell out within a few hours of opening. The dough is made with flour that’s locally milled from organic heritage grain and goes through a three day fermentation. Each raw bagel is boiled for 60 seconds in a honey-water bath, then baked and blazed in a custom-built wood-fire oven. The end result is a nuanced, complex product, with a slightly smoky crust, a tender, airy crumb, and a bright wheaty flavor

These expertly made bagels act as the canvas for equally good sandwiches. “Duck rillette on a bagel is just a good idea,” says chef John Knox of one of the shop’s beloved bagel sandwiches, which also features sour cherry cream cheese. “It gives us the opportunity to do something high-end in an easy, buttoned-down way.” An avocado sandwich stuns thanks to the inclusion of smoky-sweet charred grapefruit glaze. The space, tucked underneath a corner stairwell, is styled in a retro-sports aesthetic, with old-school lockers and basketball rings doubling as wall art. Benchwarmers affirms that the athleticism required to push yourself to greatness can be realized off the field and channeled into something as unassuming as your morning bagel. —Brigid Washington, BA contributor

Pro tip: Regulars know that there’s an off-menu #11 bagel, a changing weekend special that is always a showstopper.

772 N High St #106, Columbus, OH

Unlike its predecessors in the Midwest, which largely trafficked in convenience-food bagels, the Lox Bagel Shop turns out excellent bagels that blend the styles of New York and Montreal. Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of High Street in Columbus’s Short North Arts District, the shop’s charming fish logo welcomes in old and new customers alike for freshly baked, hand-rolled bagels.

The shop, helmed by owner Kevin Crowley and chef and managing partner Silas Caeton, keeps things simple with just four bagels: everything, plain, sea salt and herb, and sesame. But when you start to get into the bagel sandwich options, it can start to feel overwhelming—in the best way. The Lox, a classic bagel sandwich, features capers, onion, cucumber, and cream cheese. A vegan version of the sandwich is made with nori-cured carrots. Other sandwiches include a cauliflower melt, a take on a Cubano, and a mustardy pastrami. No meal is complete without an order of the shop’s crispy croquette-like fried potatoes on the side. If savory sandwiches aren’t your thing, the shop also boasts a strawberry and pink peppercorn jam that pairs very nicely with a toasted sesame bagel and a freshly poured mimosa. —Angela Lee, BA contributor

Pro tip: The real secret here lies in keeping up on social media, to see what special will be featured next. You’ll be rewarded with bagels piled high with soft shell crab, mortadella, and lots more.

816 N Russell St, Portland, OR

When Bernstein’s Bagels opened in 2017, the existence of the shop was something of a well-kept secret, still emerging like a rumor whispered by the city’s small-but-hungry contingent of East Coast transplants and nosh-seeking Jews. Could there really be a place making actually great bagels in Portland?

Well, the secret is out. Today Bernstein’s is something like a municipal institution, drawing a crowd of quick-parkers up and down N Russell Street in the historic Frederick Torgler Building (the shop is to-go only). On busy weekend mornings, there is a line rain or shine for bagels from cofounders Noah Bernstein and Peter Hurteau, who parlayed a career in Portland’s underground music scene into a bagel shop that occupies a neat duality: Portland heart, Northeast Jewish soul.

For something simple and wonderful like a sesame bagel—a touch chewy, softly malty, a bit crunchy but with plenty of give—Bernstein’s is consistently outstanding. This is the canvas for a distinctively Portland take on bagel sandwiches. The Popper, for instance, merges pickled pepper schmear, avocado, egg, and sweet onion, while a house-made Oregon trout salad sandwich is redolent with caramelized fennel and Old Bay. The trout salad is perfect on an everything bagel from Bernstein’s, which leans a little harder here on the caraway than you might find back east, achieving a sort of savory-herbal union that amplifies the balance. —Jordan Michelman, BA contributor

Pro tip: Bernstein’s core menu of bagels is supplemented by ever-changing sandwich specials and schmears, always accompanied by a Bob’s Burgers–esque menu pun. I once ate a truly strange cheeseburger schmear here, complete with ground beef, pickles and ketchup. It was an odd and memorable experience—and proof that one should always check the specials.

1700 S 10th St, Philadelphia

There’s always a line outside South Philly’s Korshak Bagels—and for good reason. A Korshak breakfast sandwich is so crisp and chewy, one bite will leave you feeling like Liz Lemon on Sandwich Day—a result of owner Phil Korshak’s 20 years of bagel expertise.

Korshak’s bagels are made with a natural wild yeast-fermented starter named Helen Mirren and go through a 48-hour slow-rise process before being boiled and baked to crisp and chewy perfection. You’re made to feel comfortable by the warm staff, who are excited to talk you through the bagel-making process and recommend an order. It’s a no-pressure environment to make the important decision between a sesame bagel with scallion cream cheese and an “egg-rything” bagel with whitefish salad. Sure, this sounds hard when there are approximately 50 people waiting behind you, but at Korshak you’re among people who understand the importance of the perfect bagel order.

There are options if you want something traditional, but I like to take the sweet path, with the Banana Foster Wallace. It features marshmallow fluff and warm banana tahini jam on a cinnamon raisin bagel, and it’s the kind of sandwich I think about long after that last bite. —Esra Erol, senior social media manager

Pro tip: Follow Korshak on Instagram to keep up with specials, like the Valentina or the Sweet Charlotte (…rampling…), and be sure to get there 20–30 minutes before it opens. Lines form fast!

5613 Hobart St, Pittsburgh

“It would be hand-rolled, it would be boiled, it would be cooked directly on stone,” is how Gab Taube, owner of Pigeon Bagels, envisions the “Pittsburgh bagel.” Since 2019, Taube’s been busy making that vision a reality and drawing long lines every day. In Pittsburgh, Pigeon’s fresh-made menu of bagels is a true rarity. The bagels have a soft crumb that breathes out steam when sliced, and a nice crunch on the crust. The lox and whitefish are rich and smoky; the cream cheese levels are pleasantly modest; and the everything bagel has the same devotion to balance—no hard pops of garlic or intense gusts of onion. I could go on: the buttery-sweet rugelach and challah buns, the creative vegan options (carrot lox!), the fig and honey schmear, and the house-made hummus, all of it 100% kosher.

But Pigeon’s connection to Pittsburgh goes beyond its well-curated menu. After building buzz at farmers markets, Taube opened a shop in Squirrel Hill, a storied and resilient Jewish community that’s been shedding legacy delis and restaurants for decades. So while Pigeon’s sleek, retro branding may brace you for a younger clientele, you’ll find as many chatty retirees in three-piece-suits here as you will elder millennials thumbing their phones. And everyone shuffles with excitement when Pigeon opens at 7:30 a.m., which is what makes the place a gem: It returns Squirrel Hill–and Pittsburgh–to its “city of neighborhoods” roots while still looking forward. —Mike Scalise, BA contributor

Pro tip: Rise and nosh. Pigeon’s line forms quickly, so show up early. The shop’s takeout only, so have an eating plan in place. Luckily, both Davis and Schenley parks are nearby.

Multiple locations, Texas

Gone are the days when the best bagel you could hope for in Dallas was a piece of bagel-shaped bread. Enter the downtown outpost of Starship Bagels, an order-at-the-window joint that offers only bagels, schmear, veggies, and a single protein: lox. If it doesn’t highlight the bagel, it’s not on the menu.

Between the walk-up window and Main Street’s iconic eyeball sculpture, a few tables dot the walkway, but many Starship customers don’t bother to sit; they just grab and go, New York–style. It was precisely owner Oren Salomon’s goal to bring New York bagel culture to Dallas. Salomon and his crew bake with an old-school bagel board, a wooden plank wrapped in soaked burlap. The board keeps one side of the bagel cool while the other side bakes. The result is that famous New York crunch on the outside and soft chewiness on the inside.

There’s a precision to everything that comes out of Starship’s two locations. For instance, Salomon tested 120 versions of the spice blend za’atar before choosing one for the za’atar bagel. For a jalapeño schmear, the team partially ferments jalapeños, achieving just the right balance of heat, sweetness, and crunch. They use the expensive, hard-to-work-with, and somewhat difficult-to-procure malt syrup because, according to Salomon, all the best bagels have malt syrup. “A bagel is not sandwich bread,” he says of Starship’s bagels. “It’s the main attraction.” —Diana Spechler, BA contributor

Pro tip: Get there early. On weekdays, Starship caters to the fast-moving downtown work crowd, but on the weekends, it’s a destination. After 9 a.m., the line gets long.

Multiple locations in DC, MD, VA, and CO

My first time visiting Call Your Mother, I ordered the Mountain View bagel sandwich, and it was so good that—I know this might sound too on the nose—I called my mother to tell her about it. The decked-out everything bagel is utterly slathered in seeds and seasoning, with not an inch of beige in sight. It sandwiches cheerily fluffy scrambled eggs and melty cheese boasting that TikTok-ready pull. You have to delicately hold the edges of the bagel with your fingertips, lest the avocado comes oozing out. And in the middle of it all, nestled among those fillings, is a crisp-chewy latke. The bagels here recall New York deli classics, but they’re a little Montreal-sweet as well, filled with toppings you won’t find at a traditional deli.

This creative bagel and others like it are the work of partners Daniela Moreira and Andrew Dana, who opened their first deli in DC to immediate fanfare in 2018. Call Your Mother now has 12 locations, including a brand-new outpost in Denver. Moreira, who is the executive chef, infuses Call Your Mother’s menu with ingredients and flavors inspired by Dana’s Jewish heritage. There’s the Sun City, a pastrami bagel featuring bacon, spicy honey, and “bodega-style” eggs; the Regency, which bundles egg salad, pickled carrot, radish, and kettle chips on a za’atar bagel; and non-bagel offerings like babka muffins and black-and-white cookies. Call Your Mother has become DC’s go-to bagel spot, and the operation’s so popular now that lines frequently spill onto the sidewalk during the weekend rush. When you go, try the latke-filled Mountain View (or any of the bagels, really) and don’t forget to, ahem, call your favorite family member to rave about it. —Karen Yuan, culture editor

Pro tip: The seven DC locations can get crowded during weekend brunch hours, so you may want to grab and go. If you’re visiting the flamingo-pink Georgetown spot, you can order a lemonade and picnic along the Potomac River.

636 S 6th St, Milwaukee

There’s nothing like the rosemary-sea salt bagel from Ruby’s Bagels, a food truck that’s been serving standout ones since 2019. Owner Daniela Ruby Varela’s hand-rolled bagels are buoyant with a crisp golden brown crust composed of tiny microbubbles, a telltale sign they were boiled before baking. Find them Friday through Sunday at Zócalo, a food truck park just minutes from downtown Milwaukee in the Walker’s Point neighborhood.

The rosemary-sea salt bagel goes very well with the sweet fruitiness of Ruby’s house-made strawberry cream cheese—a star feature from the small business. But there are plenty of other options to love, including sesame, poppy seed, plain and cinnamon-cranberry bagels, all waiting for their schmear. Bagel sandwiches here keep things classic, with options like a bacon, egg, and cheese, and a veggie-packed vegetarian option. The Guilty Guava, a plain bagel with cream cheese and house-made guava jelly mimics the guava-and-cheese empanadas Varela’s family makes for special occasions.

Ruby’s offers a small menu of coffee drinks, including a cold brew spiked with rose and white mocha. But if brunch vibes are what you’re after, head to the Zócalo Tavern for a Bloody Mary, michelada, or mimosa to enjoy alongside your bagel. —Lori Fredrich, BA contributor

Pro tip: On weekends the bagel truck opens at 8 a.m. Arriving early or pre-ordering your bagels online is a necessity if you want the best selection. Keep your eye on the Ruby’s Bagels Instagram feed for limited offerings, like its wildly popular dill pickle cream cheese.

Location varies, Hawaii

Tali’s Bagels & Schmear is one of the few places in Hawaii making New York–style bagels. And these bagels are stunning, with a crisp, slightly bubbled exterior and a chewy inside—a contrast best highlighted in Tali’s mini bagels. But what really sets Tali’s apart are the dozen or so schmears that owners Talia and Kelly Bongolan-Schwartz make from scratch. The bakery, birthed on Instagram during the pandemic, features spreads inspired by their backgrounds. Talia’s grandparents on both sides of the family were Jewish food purveyors in Queens, New York, while Kelly’s grandfather came to Hawaii from the Philippines to work the plantation fields.

At weekend farmers markets, marlin they’ve smoked themselves is folded into a smoked whitefish salad, and a bright ube spread is made with real ube (not the ubiquitous florid extract). A lomi lox spread takes lomi lomi salmon (a Hawaii condiment of salted salmon, tomatoes, and onions) and folds it into cream cheese. There are always a handful of vegan options, too, like the Israeli, with parsley, tomato, and cucumber punching up a tofu-based spread.

About a year ago, Tali’s scaled-up from baking at home and selling on Instagram to renting an incubator kitchen and supplying four farmers markets across Oahu that attract homesick New Yorkers. And soon, New York transplants and local converts alike will be able to nosh at Tali’s new brick-and-mortar space. —Martha Cheng, BA contributor

Pro tip: Pre-order for pick-up at the farmers markets. But the weekly changing bialys are only available for walk-ups, so set your pick-up time for earlier than later or you risk missing out!