Pick A Bagel
Yup, this is yet another post about how much I miss my hometown. But trust me. If you were from New York, you would miss it all the time too.
Bagels are one of the best things to ever happen to wheat. They have a firm golden brown crust, they are soft on the inside, chewy to the bite, sometimes warm and toasty, and other times fragrant with melted butter. If you don't enjoy a plain bagel with butter, that just means that you are getting your bagels at the wrong place. Every New Yorker can name off the top of their head their favorite places to get a good bagel. There are always the really famous places like H&H, Absolute, Ess-a-bagel, and Barney Greengrass. But those are at times out of the way or overly crowded.
Because my brother goes to school on the Upper East Side, he spends a lot of time up there and has had a fair number of meals around the neighborhood. His favorite neighborhood pick? PICK A BAGEL. Really their bagels are very dependable quality and this place does breakfast right. The staff is friendly, the service is quick, and their black and white cookies are delicious as well. Plus you know it's legit because they have a display case stacked with Nova, Lox, smoked salmon, and a never ending choice of cream cheeses. There are actually several Pick A Bagels around Manhattan, but this specific one uptown on 2nd Avenue has the best bagels. Don't ask; just go try for yourself. I go all the way uptown just for a bagel sandwich, so you can too. It's just a high quality friendly neighborhood bagel shop.
These are some of my family's favorites whenever we eat bagels (which is at least 1-4x a week):
- lox and scallion cream cheese on a toasted plain bagel
- toasted plain bagel with butter
- white fish salad on a toasted plain bagel
- sausage, egg, cheese, and tomato on a toasted everything flagel (crispy flat bagel)
- lox spread on a toasted pumpernickel bagel
- toasted poppy seed bagel with cream cheese
In summary: I miss New York. Breakfast sandwiches from delis are the best. Get me a bagel.
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Pick A Bagel
1475 2nd Avenue
New York, NY
