No Good Bagels In California

[thickornotatall]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/magazine/why-is-it-so-hard-to-get-a-great-bagel-in-california.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=mini-moth&region=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below or anywhere outside of New York... http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/07/26/magazine/26bagel-eastcoast/26bagel-eastcoast-articleLarge-v5.gif

[rvwnsd]

Although I agree that California bagels are essentially loaves of bread shaped like donuts, the Polish and Jewish communities of metropolitan Chicago would probably argue that they know how to make bagels and their brethren, bialys. I would agree with them.

[Lookin]

Much as I love California, it's a wasteland for some regional foods. In my opinion, you can add pizza and barbecue to the list of things you can't get a good one of, at least in the Bay Area.

 

They have a cheesesteak shop that even ships in the rolls and peppers from Philly, but they can't seem to get the thing right. It's all I can do to wolf down a large one, even with extra cheese and a fistful of TastyKakes. http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif

 

http://phillysteaksubs.com/images/tastycakes.jpg

[sincitymix]

Much as I love California, it's a wasteland for some regional foods. In my opinion, you can add pizza and barbecue to the list of things you can't get a good one of, at least in the Bay Area.

 

They have a cheesesteak shop that even ships in the rolls and peppers from Philly, but they can't seem to get the thing right. It's all I can do to wolf down a large one, even with extra cheese and a fistful of TastyKakes. http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif

 

http://phillysteaksubs.com/images/tastycakes.jpg

 

Ive never had a tastykake. are they good?

[Lookin]

Ive never had a tastykake. are they good?

 

Back in the day, they put Ding Dong's and Ho Ho's to shame. You'd find chocolate up high in the ingredient list, no artificial flavor, and nothing in the way of preservatives as they didn't get shipped out of the Northeast. Sadly, even though they're still not distributed nationally, they started dosing them with stabilizers and cut down on the chocolate. But, in my opinion, they're still the best.

 

The local cheesesteak shop flies them in from Philly too. http://1389blog.com/pix/animated-airplane-smiley.gif

[BabyBoomer]

Ive never had a tastykake. are they good?

 

Butterscotch Krimpets are my favorite.

 

~ Boomer ~

[Steven_Draker]

No good bagels? ... "LET THEM EAT BRIOCHE" !

 

 

 

http://directory.bittawfiq.com/wp-content/uploads/la-brioche1.jpg

[bigvalboy]

Much as I love California, it's a wasteland for some regional foods. In my opinion, you can add pizza and barbecue to the list of things you can't get a good one of, at least in the Bay Area.

http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif

 

Now I'm not Jewish mind you, but some of my best friends are and they swear by Canter's on Fairfax. Spent many a late night there with them, with a line outside and down the street to get in. I thought the food was quite tasty, the staff simply wonderful, the bagels and pastries exceptional, and the pastrami to die for...am I wrong?

 

 

[rvwnsd]

 

Although I liked their pickles (reminded me of Mom's), I was neither a fan of their corned beef nor their bagels.

[bigvalboy]

..I don't do pickles. http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/no.gif

[Rudynate]

Much as I love California, it's a wasteland for some regional foods. In my opinion, you can add pizza and barbecue to the list of things you can't get a good one of, at least in the Bay Area.

 

They have a cheesesteak shop that even ships in the rolls and peppers from Philly, but they can't seem to get the thing right. It's all I can do to wolf down a large one, even with extra cheese and a fistful of TastyKakes. http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif

 

http://phillysteaksubs.com/images/tastycakes.jpg

 

 

That's why they're regional - because you have to go there to get them. I grew up in Western New York. There are regional items from there that you can't get anywhere else (at least not any good). I don't expect to be able to get them anywhere else. If I really had an itch for those items, I could go there and get them.

 

But a lot of this stuff about regional food items, I am convinced, is mostly sentimentality.

 

Years ago, I had a friend who came from Boston. He raved about the pizza from his favorite pizza place in Boston, said it was like no other. For his birthday, someone, at enormous expense, shipped him several pizzas from this favorite place of his. He was transported. Everyone else tried it, and thought it was good, but nothing special. He couldn't understand it.

[+ azdr0710]

speaking of regional products, my Mom loved Pepperidge Farm Very Thin sliced bread (it's now listed under "food for weight management" on their website...jeez)....however, we called and they didn't have it available west of the Rockies at the time.....so I ordered some from some NY place thru Amazon as a gift for her.....with shipping, it came to about $14/loaf.....great stuff, at least back in the day

 

http://i.walmartimages.com/i/p/00/01/41/00/07/0001410007105_500X500.jpg

[sincitymix]

No good bagels? ... "LET THEM EAT BRIOCHE" !

 

 

 

http://directory.bittawfiq.com/wp-content/uploads/la-brioche1.jpg

 

I think those are croissants

[Guest Starbuck]

 

 

Ahhhh, Canters on Fairfax ... there's a memory (thanks, BVB) ... I was there often when I lived in Santa Monica in the late 70s. At the time, the waitresses were mostly women in their 50s and 60s and I, a kid from the East Coast who loved old movies, imagined that at least some of them probably started waiting tables there after their starlet dreams had turned to dust.

 

Anyway, I never had a bagel there. Always ordered the matzo ball soup and a Brooklyn Ave*

 

* Choice of Pastrami or Corned Beef with Cole Slaw and Russian Dressing on Rye

[+ Funguy]

Yep, Canters. But i also love Langer's. Their pastrami and rye is to kill for. in all my time I have not had a bagel there.

When i bring bagels home I get them from Western Bagel and they are terrific!

[Guest Starbuck]

I think those are croissants

 

Brioche ... Croissant ...

 

The important thing is that they are buttery and just baked and you are gazing at them through the window of your favorite patisserie on a beautiful morning in Paris. You have gone there to buy one for you and one for your handsome lover. He was still asleep when you tiptoed out of the apartment. You exhausted him last night. After a strong café and a pastry in bed, the two of you will brush the crumbs from the sheets and you will have him again.

 

It's all good.

[AdamSmith]

Brioche ... Croissant ...

 

The important thing is that they are buttery and just baked and you are gazing at them through the window of your favorite patisserie on a beautiful morning in Paris. You have gone there to buy one for you and one for your handsome lover. He was still asleep when you tiptoed out of the apartment. You exhausted him last night. After a strong café and a pastry in bed, the two of you will brush the crumbs from the sheets and you will have him again.

 

It's all good.

 

M.F.K. Fisher come back as a gay man!

[bigvalboy]

Yep, Canters. But i also love Langer's.

 

Yes..ditto to Langer's

[bigvalboy]

Ahhhh, Canters on Fairfax ... there's a memory (thanks, BVB) ... I was there often when I lived in Santa Monica in the late 70s. At the time, the waitresses were mostly women in their 50s and 60s and I, a kid from the East Coast who loved old movies, imagined that at least some of them probably started waiting tables there after their starlet dreams had turned to dust.

 

Anyway, I never had a bagel there. Always ordered the matzo ball soup and a Brooklyn Ave*

 

* Choice of Pastrami or Corned Beef with Cole Slaw and Russian Dressing on Rye

 

Ha!...They're all still in their 50's and 60's. Yep, right of the old Hollywood, when it was in its hay day. And yes...the Matzo ball soup with Pastrami, cole slaw and Russian Dressing on Rye....Bravo!! Fond memories of those LA nights.

[Nebost]

Brioche ... Croissant ...

 

The important thing is that they are buttery and just baked and you are gazing at them through the window of your favorite patisserie on a beautiful morning in Paris. You have gone there to buy one for you and one for your handsome lover. He was still asleep when you tiptoed out of the apartment. You exhausted him last night. After a strong café and a pastry in bed, the two of you will brush the crumbs from the sheets and you will have him again.

 

It's all good.

 

I think you are missing out on a career as a gay romance novelist

[Guest Starbuck]

speaking of regional products, my Mom loved Pepperidge Farm Very Thin sliced bread (it's now listed under "food for weight management" on their website...jeez)....however, we called and they didn't have it available west of the Rockies at the time.....so I ordered some from some NY place thru Amazon as a gift for her.....with shipping, it came to about $14/loaf.....great stuff, at least back in the day

 

http://i.walmartimages.com/i/p/00/01/41/00/07/0001410007105_500X500.jpg

 

AZDR, it was two years ago this month that I sent my first PM (to you) and you gave me the "green light" on the first guy I hired. It turned out that he was Exactly The Right First Guy -- told me I was a good kisser, dissolved my anxieties, and I was (as the saying goes) "back in the saddle again." So here is a modest payback for that -- two easy recipes for THE BEST USE of PEPPERIDGE FARM VERY THIN WHITE BREAD ...

 

Cream Cheese and Chutney Dip

1 – 8 oz. package cream cheese

¼ cup sour cream

1 tsp. garlic powder

1-1/2 tsp. curry powder

1 bottle of chutney

Mix first four ingredients thoroughly. Spread chutney on top. Serve with Tidbits.

 

Tidbits

Pepperidge Farm Very Thin White Bread

Trim crust off bread. Cut in half on the diagonal. Bake on a cookie sheet at 250 degrees until toasted.

Scoop up an ample quantity of Cream Cheese and Chutney Dip on each Tidbit.

[Frequentflier]

When I was young and living in NYC, Sunday morning bagels and the NY Times was a routine with friends. The bagels were of course amazing (NY pizza I remember was great too). Over the past couple of years during visits to NYC it seemed very hard to find a "bagel" shop. Have I been looking in the wrong areas?

[Daverwr]

I lived in Manhattan for 10+ years and quickly learned that NY artisans made the best of those (and dumplings, etc). But, I was amazed by the bagels at Manhattan's in the Desert, a delicatessen in Palm Springs and Palm Desert, CA. I have no idea where the source them, but they are unbelievable! They brought tears to my eyes.

[Kenny]

On the downside, LA bagels aren't as good as NY bagels. On the upside, LA doesn't judge quality of life from bagels.

[Kenny]

Oh, and why are NY bagels different from LA bagels? It's the water. (Bagels get boiled before baking.) NY has great, soft, fresh water, LA not so much -- even when the chlorine, lime and other hard stuff is filtered.

 

And have you ever had a New York taco? Ugh.