# What's the best bagel? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 19, 2002, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bagel/124587 "2002-08-19T13:59:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DarkWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee59a6/32.png) [@DarkWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkWriter)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bagel/124587/21 "2002-08-20T04:19:55Z")
The cinnamon crunch bagel from [url=http://www.panerabread.com/index.php]Panera\*\* is a bit of heaven on Earth. Untoasted, with a thin layer of cream cheese. Mmmmmmmmmm. Sheri ---
**Author:** ![DarkWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee59a6/32.png) [@DarkWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkWriter)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bagel/124587/22 "2002-08-20T04:21:01Z")
I meant [Panera](http://www.panerabread.com/index.php). :o ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bagel/124587/23 "2002-08-20T13:03:53Z")
You’re all heathens in need of a taste bud transplant. Cinnamon? Raisin? Blueberry? OFF WITH YOUR TONGUES! The only real bagels are poppy seed or sesame seed, from St-Viateur, Fairmont, or that place in the Faubourg in Montreal. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bagel/124587/24 "2002-08-20T13:37:09Z")
Barbarian-No offense, but I think your obvious lack of taste stems from the poppy seeds clouding your brain. 😉 Hehehe… ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bagel/124587/25 "2002-08-20T15:02:56Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by Meatros_ > You do know what those ‘raisins’ look like, right? If’n you don’t, all I have to say is that I had mice who “made raisins”. mmmmmm…raisins… 😃 bella–who won’t go into what blueberry bagels look like [sub]::coughcoughswirledsewagecough::[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Humble\_Servant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/47e85d/32.png) [@Humble\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Humble_Servant)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bagel/124587/26 "2002-08-20T15:06:16Z")
When I married my nice Jewish boy from Sheepshead Bay, we had a lot of things to reconcile. The Catholic/Jewish thing, the Midwest/New Yawk thing, the house/apartment thing. And then, of course, there were the bagels. I used to enjoy a nice cinnamon raisin bagel with lox and lite vegetable cream cheese. Now, we get our bagels fedexed from H&H (along with the hand-sliced smoked sturgeon from Zabar’s). Said bagels are plain, or salt or onion. Compromise is important to a working relationship. Why, imagine my surprise when I found that my loss in the bagel battle was actually rather… pleasant. Re-education and cultural diversity for everyone! ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bagel/124587/27 "2002-08-20T15:19:14Z")
If it ain’t hard and chewy, it’s a roll with a hole, not a bagel. Bagels are made to be salty/savory. Sweet bagels are just wrong. (exception made for that french toast bagel because it’s so wrong it’s right. Almost a pastry.) Ditto for fruity cream cheese… ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bagel/124587/28 "2002-08-20T15:19:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by belladonna \* > \*\* > bella–who won’t go into what blueberry bagels look like > [sub]::coughcoughswirledsewagecough::[/sub] \*\* Now that was just cold and uncalled for!! Not to mention untrue! 😉 Swirled sewage, pssshaw! More like an accurate picture of the heavens, swirling around a bagelly center, to provide lovingly fulfilling food for the soul. Beautiful deep sea colored blue nuggets of delightfulness to entice the tummy, swirling in its silent siren call to enchant the consumer. There could be no sweeter thing! ---
**Author:** ![CheapBastid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@CheapBastid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheapBastid)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bagel/124587/29 "2002-08-20T22:43:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sivalensis \* > **Gotta be a plain, untoasted bagel, warm, with nothing on it.** I’m with you on this. A pox on the sweet bagels! Gimme a plain (or a nice Egg) Bagel with butter and I’m a happy man as well. ---
**Author:** ![japatlgt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@japatlgt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/japatlgt)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bagel/124587/30 "2002-08-21T01:21:11Z")
Toasted onun wit butta. ---
**Author:** ![Narile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@Narile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Narile)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bagel/124587/31 "2002-08-21T03:26:44Z")
Have two Panera’s near me, and love the asiago bagel (Love the asiago focaccia even more, but the thread is bagels.) Plain, nothing on them. Same with the cinnamon bagel, yum. And a plain toasted bagel is always enjoyed. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bagel/124587/32 "2002-08-21T06:04:34Z")
A stale bagel, because you can throw it away without eating it. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bagel/124587/33 "2002-08-21T11:20:29Z")
Poppy or sesame with plain cream cheese, and lots of it! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bagel/124587/34 "2002-08-21T13:10:50Z")
Rule number 1: All bagels must be boiled (in the manufacturing process). If it’s not boiled, it’s not a bagel. Rule number 2: Fruit in bagels are an abomination against God. Rule number 3: Reread rule number 1. If the outside isn’t hard a crusty, it’s just round bread. Rule number 4: Toasting, while a decadant practice, is acceptable if the bagel is over a day old. A fresh bagel should never be toasted – it’s naturally crunchy. Rule number 5: A truly great bagel is one that’s still warm from the oven. Rule number 6: Bagels and cream cheese are a marriage made in heaven. Butter is acceptable as a second-rate subtitute for the real thing. Now that we’ve established the ground rules, I’m quite flexible. Poppy, sesame, or “everything” are quite acceptable, but, given the choice, I’d go with an onion bagel with veggie cream cheese, probably from Bruegger’s. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bagel/124587/35 "2002-08-21T13:22:20Z")
Realitychuck-You are OBVIOUSLY a fundamentalist, and you know you can’t spell fundamentalist without “mental”. Why I agree with the 6 Bagel Commandements for the most part, I totally disagree with Commandment number 2. I think your translation is wrong. See when you translate Ancient Greek to English you have to know the context in which it is spoken. You simplified the Commandment by saying “Fruit in bagels are an abomination against God.” When in all actuality the Ancient Greek reads like this: “Fruits in bagels are an abomination against God”. Taken in its original context this was to mean that people who made love to bagels were an abomination. They fouled the sacred food. Fruit by the way was the ancients way of saying “strange person”, not the modern connotation of homosexual. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bagel/124587/36 "2002-08-21T15:22:20Z")
In order of preference: Cinnamon Raisin, Salt, and Plain. All with cream cheese slathered on them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bagel/124587.md?page=1)