The Best Bagel in NY

Thanks for the link. I am not that much of a bread eater. I don't like bagels. But I do have a friend who does. I'll forward the link and see if she may be interested.

Whenever I want a bagel( which is not very oftenl I just walk across to H&H Midtown Bagels East( no relation to the H&H on the UWS). located on Second Avenue between 81 and 80th streets. They have mini as well as regular bagels in a wide variety of flavors and are happy to toast them for you as well. You can actually sit at one of their tables and consume your bagel unlike the other H&H which doesnt have any seating.

I've been there a couple of times. I like it, but I like crustier bagels rather than doughier ones, and I find H&H to be on the slightly doughier end. Then again, they are better than Englands bagel-in-a-bag any day of the week!

Oh, this is a seriously important topic. Last fall I had an out of town visitor who of course wanted to have a real NYC bagel of the highest quality, but I actually couldn't come up with many options in my neighborhood, and felt that I'd failed the test on that one. So I need to find a good quality bagel in case this subject comes up again.

Although I don't eat bagels, what is your best or most favorite bagel sandwich. My girlfriend likes a bagel with scrambled eggs and cream cheese.

@ hhusted I seem to like my bagels toasted with a bit of butter ( I am such a sucker for butter)and if I am feeling really decadent then cream cheese.

@hhusted I'm a fan of the everything bagel with scallion cream cheese topped with tomato, avocado and sometimes onion - depending on how onion-y I feel.

I like the NY classic style with lox...which in Europe they spell "lachs."

Came across this, which looks really interesting: http://www.tenement.org/vizcenter_events.php Maria Balinksa, BBC journalist and filmmaker, is giving a talk at the LES tenement museum next Thurs to discuss how the bagel migrated from Poland to NYC.

@NeverSleeps Oh, cool.

@NeverSleeps I couldn't find the talk you mentioned on the website, since the date just passed. But I enjoyed skimming through some of the upcoming talks. The one on the King of the Bowery in March sounds great.

@NeverSleeps I got really involved with the Tenement Museum website because of your posting, and ended up finding this great project they have online to mix your own folk song. Nice! Take a look: http://tenement.org/folksongs/

The Tenement Museum is fantastic! Their gift shop is also a great source of really unique, interesting NYC (and some just random) gifts - perfect for a small but special present for a birthday or holiday. I bought a teeny-tiny Italian tarrocchi card set (barely an inch long/wide) there once

@ajadedidealist I'm a fan as well, and you're right about the gift shop. It's unique as far as museum gift shops go in that they have some good coffee table books and interesting little trinkets, like charms for a bracelet.

@DBlack that link was fantastic thanks.

How we got here from bagels! But it's a nice site @DBlack, thanks.

@DBlack That's weird, I thought that talk was for next Thursday?

Sorry...

I'm obsessed with the Tenement Museum! I've taken people on a couple of different tours there. And, is it just me, or did you first see one of the apartments and think . . . huh, I was kinda expecting it to be a little bit smaller . . . that's so sad. Nevertheless . . .

@JenMac Yeah...those tenement apartments were more spacious than my old LES dwelling. I've also seen a few apartments in the neighborhood that looked just like them. Of course they weren't crammed with huge families or anything.

I'm guessing they didn't seem too spacious when 15 people were sharing one.

So are there a lot of tenement buildings with the original layouts still standing in the LES, then?

....assuming they'd be renovated by this point.

I know it's very crowded with a family. But, it was usually like a family of 5 -- which isn't as bad as I thought for the space. I mean, granted, there was no electricity and the stoves were all on. So, it was basically like living in pitch black hell . . . but, a roomier hell than I had imagined.