Everything (the bagel)

Real everything bagels have sesame, poppy, onion, garlic, and salt. Putting anise or fennel seeds on an everything bagel is an abomination. I have heard of flyover country bagels having caraway seeds, usually at fake places called “NY bagels” or big non-NY chains like you poor bastards keep bringing up in the thread.

OK, then I guess I just have my parents to blame for not raising me properly. That or it’s an American thing.

Speaking of caraway, I don’t need it on a bagel, but IMO the only good havarti cheese is with caraway, and for some reason all the major brands have stopped selling it. Instead it’s always havarti with dill. Ugh.

So, this Lox you guys keep bringing up, smoked salmon is it? That sounds delicious. It’s threads like this that really make me wish I lived in New York or Chicago. The lack of food variety in Kansas City is fully realized in threads like this one. Though I bet I can find Lox… somewhere. Maybe Einstein’s has it. I’ll have to give that a try.

EDIT:

Aha! I found a place in KC called Meshuggahbagels. And they’ve got everything you guys are talking about on the menu too. It sounds like a real Jewish bagel store. They close at 2pm every day though. Sheesh. That timing will make it hard.

Meshuggah is Yiddish for “crazy” so their name is a good sign, too! Bagels, and sandwiches on bagels are best enjoyed fresh, as stusser pointed out, so I get their hours. They’re a breakfast / lunch place. Try it out and let us know how it is! I’m personally not a fan of salmon, even in its smoked “lox” form, but pretty much everyone else I know swears by it, with cream cheese.

Moving on to a new question:

Assuming a very fresh bagel, do you folks find it better to toast or leave it in its naturally soft and fresh before applying your toppings?

Fresh (hot) bagels should not be toasted. Once they get cold I do toast them.

Exactly. If they are still hot from the oven they’re good as is. Cold but from a good bakery, toast lightly. Mushy crap bagels from a commercial bakery should be toasted within inches of their lives to simulate something edible.

This is correct.

My faith in humanity is restored. Though I’m not so sure about these West Coast bagels I’ve tried.

I live in a small area, we still have Lox here in the one and only real bagel shop we have… which isn’t open on Sundays. I enjoy a lot of bagels, but everything bagels are towards the top despite their mess.

I feel ya. Sticky pieces of onion and garlic everywhere, but worth it.

I thought of another good Manhattan bagel/deli place: H & H Midtown Bagels East, between 80th and 81st on 2nd Avenue. I often grab bagels there when I visit my in-laws. Really good for anything I’ve gotten there, though the bastards (like most NY delis) don’t have fountain drinks.

I’m sure they’re tasty but they aren’t the original legendary H&H, which went out of business around a decade ago when the owners were indicted for tax evasion.

Yeah see, this is how I thought too. Mmm, smoked salmon, I love that stuff! And then you find out it’s kinda weird and cold, and there are a bunch of onions and other crap in there ruining it all… Hope you have a better experience than I did. You’re definitely trying it at a higher quality place! Bagels and lox is a Jewish thing if I’m not mistaken, so I bet they know a bit more about it than Einstein’s does :)

The standard is a bagel with cream cheese, lox, thinly sliced red onions, tomatoes, and capers. All that stuff is authentic.

Lox is supposed to be cold, it’s cold-smoked so it has the texture of raw fish but is preserved by the smoke.

I love my salmon raw or smoked, and when i discovered cold smoked salmon with the texture of raw… heaven.

Lox is supposed to be cold to achieve higher fuel density. Duh.

Same here. We have a local place that has their own smokehouse and has smoked salmon as an appetizer item. It. Is. Heavenly.

On the other end of the scale, I’ve bought store bought shrink wrapped smoke salmon at the grocery store. Nasty. There is a huge variance.

When I sliced lox at a deli we would mix the scraps with cream cheese. Lox cream cheese, yum! Lox vacuum packed in plastic? Great if you like fishy plastic.