Put a pot of coffee on, it’s Nosh’s Breakfast Week 2024. The dean of science fiction Robert Heinlein once said “one should not attend even the end of the world without a good breakfast,” and we here at Nosh could not agree more. All week long we are celebrating local roasters, bakers and brunches, and the latest trends for the morning meal. Check back each day this week for new stories on the East Bay’s breakfast scene.
More Breakfast WEEK Stories
Let’s just get this out of the way. New York has the best bagels. We’re not here to tear you away from your strongly held bagel beliefs, we just want you to pause for a moment to appreciate how much progress the East Bay has made when it comes to this circular, boiled-then-baked breakfast item notorious for sparking fierce debate.
In just the last three years, several new bagel establishments have opened and, together with the existing ones, they have been baking tirelessly to change the perception of the Bay Area bagel. The last bagel taste test Nosh undertook was back in 2017, when many of the East Bay bagels we tested this time around were yet to be even whispers on the street. So, it felt well past the time to do a second taste test, with some returning bagels and others fresh to the scene.
A bit about our credentials: We have none, except to say that we frequently eat bagels, and as one of our judges, Oaklandside reporter Eli Wolfe, put it, we’re “a friend to all bagels!” In addition to Eli and myself, the other four judges were: Nosh editor Tovin Lapan, Cityside audience engagement editor Alejandra Armstrong, and Oaklandside reporters Azucena Rasilla and Natalie Orenstein. Some of the judges were steeped in East Coast bagel-snobbery prior to moving west, and others on the panel grew up in traditionally bagel-poor areas, like Arizona and, until recently, Northern California.
The Rules
Now that you know the judges’ impeccable credentials, we’ll move on to the air tight rules of the test. We chose the five most prominent and talked about East Bay bagel spots. We know there are other contenders strewn through the East Bay, but we couldn’t taste them all. We focused on places where bagels are a core product and all bagels were tasted blind, removed from any identifying packaging.
After a heated debate, we got all plain bagels and left them untoasted. We had Philadelphia cream cheese (although we’re sure the cream cheeses each spot makes are amazing, we wanted to keep it consistent to not skew our taste buds). For every bagel, we made sure to take a bite without the cream cheese, and then judges were free to add cream cheese if they liked.
The bagels were all picked up the morning of the taste test, which was conducted promptly at noon. We can’t confirm when exactly each bagel was baked, but we assume they were all made that morning, and they were all eaten roughly with the same amount of time between pick up and first bite.
Scoring
To keep the Nosh bagel taste tests consistent, we stuck to scoring similar to the 2017 edition.
Bagels were scored on three characteristics: (1) texture and appearance of the exterior crust, (2) the quality of the crumb, and (3) the overall taste. We scored each characteristic between 1 to 5, with 5 meaning the shop had achieved bagel perfection, and 1 meaning it was so bad we almost spit it out. Half-points were allowed. We then averaged each of the six scores to get the totals for each bagel across all testers and categories.
While opinions on what makes a great bagel varied between testers, the rankings were mostly consistent across the six judges. Below are the results of our extremely expert and undeniably thorough bagel scrutiny. They are listed from lowest to highest ranking.
Wise Sons
Brothers Evan and Ari Bloom and their friend Leo Beckerman opened Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen in San Francisco in 2012. In 2020, Wise Sons bought Beauty’s Bagels, which was a Montreal-style Oakland bagel shop that was part of the 2017 bagel taste test. At the time, they converted Beauty’s second location to the first Wise Sons shop in the East Bay. Wise Sons closed their downtown Oakland location this year, leaving their Temescal location as their only East Bay shop.
Average Score: 2.7/5
This bagel was just not a favorite of the group. Eli loved the crust, something Alejandra agreed with, saying it had a “nice color/shape.” Wise Sons’ bagel-making process includes boiling them in malt syrup to “ensure the crust is firm and chewy,” according to the website. Eli was disappointed by the interior, “but the crust is so good I want to believe this was a fluke,” he added. Natalie found that the bagel was “a bit tough to bite through.” The general consensus was that the bagel didn’t have a lot of flavor, and was bread-y.
Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen: 3838 Telegraph Ave., Oakland; Open daily 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.; www.wisesonsdeli.com
Boichik
Boichick is celebrating its fifth anniversary on Friday, Nov. 29 at their Sixth Street Berkeley location. Emily Winston opened Boichik in 2019 on College Ave in Rockridge. The New York-style bagels are well known for being lauded in a 2021 New York Times article for competing with the best bagels of the Big Apple. In 2017, when Nosh conducted its first bagel taste test, Boichik was still operating as a pop-up. Now, there are nine locations across the Bay Area.
Average Score: 3.2/5
Right off, this bagel stood apart for being lighter than the rest, “which has me suspicious,” Alejandra said. The taste was surprisingly sweet, something which the group was split on if they enjoyed or not. Overall, the consensus was this was an average, solid bagel. As Eli put it, “This is every bagel I ate at Hebrew school. It gets the job done with no pizazz.” Tovin agreed, “Doesn’t stand out in any one way, but all-around good bagel.”
Boichik Bagels: Berkeley Bagel Factory, 1225 6th St., Berkeley; Open daily 7:30am – 1:00pm; Berkeley College Ave., 3170 College Ave.; Open daily 7:30am – 1:00pm; boichikbagels.com
Bageltopia
Bageltopia’s bagels are made by co-founder Dan Graff, who originally began making his bagels under the name Baron Baking in 2012, which was featured in Nosh’s 2017 round up. Bageltopia opened in April of this year as a partnership between Graff, Fellini Coffeebar founder Jeff Davis, and Sam’s Log Cabin co-owner Mike Daillak. Bageltopia’s bagels are made with a four-day cold proof and ferment time before boiling and baking. They also line their baking trays with a “custom linen” which helps create an “ideal crust.”
Average Score: 3.4/5
Everyone in the group finished their bites of this bagel ranking it somewhere in the middle of the pack, but with some variance in overall impressions. For Natalie, the bagel was “not particularly memorable.” For Eli, “this is the bagel the other bagels look up to — a real role model.” The texture was chewy/doughy, and overall the judges were split on exactly how chewy and doughy a bagel should be.
Bageltopia: 1401 University Ave., Berkeley; Open Tuesday through Sunday, 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; www.thebageltopia.com
Poppy Bagels
Reesa Kashuk opened Poppy Bagels in Temescal in 2023. Kashuk is from New York City and created a bagel after missing the ones from home. Poppy Bagels calls its entries to the East Bay lineup “authentic, hand-rolled bagels inspired by California.” In other words, they have the “taste and chew” of an east coast bagel but use local ingredients.
Average Score: 3.6/5
This glossy bagel was all about the chew. Azucena found the bagel to be too chewy and Alejandra decided she didn’t enjoy the “distinct taste,” but the rest of us loved the interior texture. It’s pretty much my top criteria for a good bagel. While we didn’t have it toasted, Eli said, “I know in my heart this bagel would toast up real good.” Tovin also enjoyed the subtle malt flavor, adding “perfect for an egg sandwich,” which, coincidently, Poppy does offer.
Poppy Bagels: 5004 Telegraph Ave., Oakland; Open Wednesday through Sunday, 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; www.poppybagelsca.com
Hella Bagels
The overall winner of the 2024 Nosh Bagel Taste Test is a newcomer that edged out the competition by a sesame seed. Hella Bagels’ owner, Blake Hunter, was born in the East Bay, which is rare on this list of mostly East Coast-bakers (although Hunter’s parents were from New Jersey). He started making bagels out of his home during the pandemic, and in March of this year opened a brick and mortar location in Albany. Hunter calls his bagels “NY Inspired.” They are “hand rolled, kettle boiled, and baked fresh daily.”
Average Score: 3.8/5
Our winner was another chewy bagel with just the right flavor. Tovin commented on the exterior texture, calling it great with “just the right ‘snap.’” Azucena didn’t like how chewy the bagel was, and Natalie found it to be a bit dense, but said she thought it might’ve just been the batch. Alejandra really liked the “almost salty” taste. And Eli said that despite it being the last bagel he tried, he ate the entire thing. “I’m gonna be thinking about this bagel for a day or two,” he said. “There’s something there.”
Hella Bagels: 1019 San Pablo Ave. Albany; Wednesday through Sunday, 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; www.hella-bagels.com
Grand Bakery bagels are still the best out of all of these. Maybe the company is too small these days to make it into the competition with the big boys. Their challah is the best too. Buy at the Berkeley Bowls. they also sell out of their small bakery in the Food Mill on MacArthur in Laural/Diamond.