REICH COMMUNICATIONS

Battle of the Best Bagel Continues

The battle of which city has the best bagels continues, escalated a bit by a story in today's New York Times.

Bagel aficionados everywhere have traditionally pointed to New York bagels as the absolute best, although Montreal often takes a close second.  Of course, not all New York bagels are on an equal taste footing.  Bagels from corner delis,bodegas and coffee carts usually don't make the grade.  They're often just white bread rolled into a circle with a hole in it.  H&H Bagels were long touted as the gold standard, although I like Ess-a-Bagel.

And childhood memories of fresh bagels out of the oven from a big bagel factory under the El on Jerome Avenue in The Bronx are hard to top.

The Times story tries to debunk the long-held idea that it's the New York water that makes the New York bagel impossible to duplicate elsewhere.  The article claims it's not the water -- it's the baker.  They say a couple of Angelenos have figured it out and have bagels that not only rival, but actually top the famed New York bagel.   

I'll be out in L.A. next month and, time-permitting, I'll try to get a taste for myself.  

The owners of Courage Bagels in L.A., touted as one of the best.  Photo: The New York Times.

Bagel Wars

 

Bagel wars have been going on for decades...probably since the first transplanted Eastern European Jews came to North America some 150 years ago.

Growing up here in New York, I was lucky to have early exposure to great bagels, made in Manhattan, the Bronx or Brooklyn.  I've recounted the days when, as a high school or college student, I'd drive down to the big bagel factory in the Bronx to bring home a baker's dozen...fresh and piping hot right from the oven.

Over the years as I've traveled, I'd sample bagels in other places.  Even major cities like Boston and Chicago couldn't match their bagels to the ones here in New York.  Montreal, I will admit, has some really good bagels.

The west coast, especially the L.A. area, was always seriously lacking when it came to good bagels.  I can't say how many times I was disappointed after being drawn into a bagel shop in California with a promising name like Einstein's or New York Bagels.  It got to the point where I just stopped trying; I usually reserve my bagel-eating for when I'm home or in Montreal.

So an item in yesterday's L.A. Times that linked to a lengthy feature in The Tablet, an online Jewish cultural outlet, caught my eye.  The opening line, under the headline "L.A. Ups Its Bagel Game," is:  Bagels in L.A. suck.

It's an interesting read, describing how over the years New York expats tried to duplicate the famous New York bagel, usually with little success.  Is it the difference between New York water and California water?  Some California bagel-makers even tried importing or "Brooklynizing" the water they used, with no luck.

One L.A. baker, Zach Liporice, has tried following old-school New York bagel recipes. 

"'They came out terrible,' he said. Because, of course, there’s a lot more to a bagel—and to any “soulful” cooking—than mechanically following the steps of some recipe. This is especially true for breads, for which the composition of flours, local water, and temperature during the proofing process can have drastic effects on a dough."

So, the story says, L.A. bakers have pretty much given up trying to duplicate the New York bagel. Instead, they now add their own distinctive L.A. touches to come up with what critics say are some pretty good bagels.  Not New York bagels, but still, good bagels.

We shall see.  I'm heading out to L.A. Thursday for work (and some fun) and I'll try to check out some places mentioned in the article... Maury's in Silver Lake, Pop's in Culver City near Fairfax (where the famous New York-style deli Cantor's is located), and Courage Bagels, near Silver Lake.

I'll try to do some taste-testing and report back here in a future post. 

Wish me happy bagel-hunting.

 

 

Pi (or is it Pie?)

Certain dates take on a significance beyond the date itself.   9/11, unfortunately, will long be remembered as the date of the terrorist attacks on NY and D.C. 

March 14, or 3.14, is known for the numbers the date represents – 3.14, the mathematical constant known by the Greek letter pi.  To math people, it’s the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.  It’s a number that has no end.  Math geeks have calculated it out to the millionth decimal, just for the fun of it. 

But anyone who knows me understands how much I dislike math.  It’s just not my thing.  But those who know me also know that I really like another type of pi – the baked kind.  So what started as a day for math geeks, National Pi Day, has been appropriated by those who make and sell pies – the American Pie Council.

Technically, National Pie Day, which was started in the 1970s by a Colorado teacher, is celebrated on Jan. 23 – that teacher’s birthday.  In 1984, the maker of Crisco shortening claimed it under their sponsorship.  But many food retailers and restaurants use the better-known Pi Day on March 14 as an excuse to promote their wares.

America’s favorite pie in apple, of course.  The survey last year by the Harris Poll came up with a very surprising second-place choice by Americans – pizza pie.  I’m far from the only person who questions that choice.

Pie popularity seems to vary by region.  Pecan pie, for example, is at or near the top in many of the southern states.  Apple is tops in much of the north and west.  Maine likes blueberry and whoopie pie.

I like apple pie, but if I had to pick my absolute favorites, I’d probably list cherry,  blueberry and strawberry-rhubarb.  That’s not to say I wouldn’t happily chow down on Boston creme, coconut cream, pumpkin or peach pie.  And a la mode, of course.

Writing about this is getting me hungry.  I’m going out now for a slice of pie. 

Happy 3.14.

Bagels ... Good Tastes and Good Memories

 

Thanks to my friend Toby Bloomberg in Atlanta, I'm reminded that today is National Bagel Day.  In her Facebook post, she asked what goes best on a bagel.  My preference ... lox, cream cheese, some onion and maybe a thin slice of tomato.  I also like scallion cream cheese, or on a plain or salt bagel, just some butter melted in if the bagel is hot.

I also told Toby I like New York bagels best, with Montreal bagels a close second.  The Montreal pick is thanks to Mark Goren, who I met at the Blogger Social 11 years ago.  We got into a debate about bagels and he brought me some fresh bagels from his hometown on a subsequent trip to New York.  The bagels he brought were very convincing.

When I was young, bagels were pretty much a Jewish food, found mainly in cities were many Jews lived.  Even back then, New Yorkers were kind of snobbish about our bagels being the best.  "Its the water" was the common reason given.

Bagels, like pizza and tacos, have moved beyond their ethnic roots and are now American food, available almost everywhere.  Thanks to a baker in New Haven, who came up with the idea of selling frozen bagels, Lenders and others are now commonplace in supermarkets pretty much throughout the U.S.  Do they stand the taste test against real bagels?  Not even close.

And thanks to modern technology and franchising, locally-made bagels are found just about everywhere.  Taste-wise, though, it's hit or miss -- mostly miss.  Even chains with Jewish-sounding names like Einstein's and Bruegger's or New York Bagel just don't make it.

I've tried bagels in other places with big Jewish populations and most of the time I've been disappointed.  I haven't yet found great bagels in Chicago. L.A., Baltimore, Atlanta (sorry Toby) nor points east, west, north or south.

Even here in New York, it's not a slam-dunk when you buy a bagel.  Most deli and bodega bagels seem like plain white bread with a hole in the middle.  You have to know where to go for a real good New York bagels -- even here in New York.  Ess-a-Bagel on 21st and 1st and also on 3rd and 51st are among the best.  Zabar's and Zaro's are pretty good.  H&H, if it's still around, was also great.

The best bagels EVER may be tainted by memory, since I haven't had one for more than 45 or 50 years.  There was a bagel bakery under the Jerome Avenue el in the Bronx, just above Mosholu Parkway.  They made bagels that were distributed to other bakeries and restaurants throughout the Bronx and Westchester and maybe also into Manhattan.  And they also sold them to walk-in customers.

Back in the mid-1960s, I would go down to the Bronx many Saturday nights to pick up fresh, hot bagels to bring home for breakfast the next morning.  I'd usually head down around 10 p.m. with my friend Tommy Larkin.  Tommy had a beat-up old 1950 Ford that someone had given him and he was constantly working on it. The floorboards had rusted through, so you could see the pavement moving by under your feet.  For a few weeks while he was restoring the seats, we sat on milk crates, hanging on for dear life every time he made a turn.  And I don't think the heater ever worked in that car.

We'd freeze our tushes off on the way down to the Bronx.  When we'd get back in the car, each of us with a bag filled with a baker's dozen of steaming hot bagels right out of the factory, we'd open the bags to have a bagel on the ride home.  And the steam from those bagels would fog the inside windows and keep us warm for the ride home.  And the smell.... heaven!

There was nothing like those Bronx bagels and, for me, there probably never will be.

Coffee Survey a Hill of Beans

A survey by WalletHub, a financial site, listed the nation's top cities for coffee. 

The survey considered several factors such as number of coffee shops per capita, average cost for a croissant (not sure what that has to do with judging coffee) and average price of a cappuccino.

Portland OR came in at the top of the list, followed by Seattle.  Next were Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and Orlando.

Since they are all smaller cities, I guess New York wouldn't fare well in the coffee shops per capita measurement.  In Manhattan, there seem to be coffee shops, delis and coffee carts on almost every corner.  But then, of course, we have 8-1/2 million people here, so the shops per capita number still will be low. 

And on price, Starbucks everywhere is way overpriced, but you can get a pretty decent cup of coffee at a deli or coffee cart for a buck. That doesn't seem to be taken into consideration in this survey.

Also, I'm not sure using the price of a butter croissant is a fair measure.  First of all, it has nothing to with the coffee itself.  And here in New York, the baked good that more commonly accompanies coffee would be a buttered roll or buttered bagel. 

No wonder, then, that New York scored #89 among the top 100 cities. L.A. didn't do too much better, coming in at #82.

Even here in New York, Starbucks seem to be ubiquitous, although there are lots of indie coffee shops serving all sorts of exotic (and costly) brews.  But for my taste, Starbucks is too strong and bitter.  And for me, it's made even more bitter by the crazy prices and the haughty aura of the names for small, medium and large -- vente, grande and whatever. 

Despite scoring #89, I know New York is a top coffee town.  To me, this survey doesn't amount to a hill of beans.  Just gimme a damn medium coffee with milk and no sugar.

I can't believe it IS butter

 

It seems that just as quickly as tastes change in food fads, so too do we see changes -- often total turnarounds -- in what health experts say is good and not good for us to eat.  The latest turnaround was documented in The Wall Street Journal a few days ago, under the headline "America Renews Its Love Affair with Butter."

We've gone from a nation virtually swearing off butter a few decades ago (Paula Deen notwithstanding) to now loving it to the point that every American is expected to consume 5.6 pounds of butter this year. That's 22.5 sticks of butter a year for each of us.

I remember when the health experts told us to avoid too much butter, and margarine became a popular -- a big-selling -- substitute.  We learned, through ads by the likes of Blue Bonnet and, later, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter that saturated fats are not good for us; they clog arteries and can lead to heart attacks.  Vegetable oil-based spreads were promoted as healthy alternatives, with their polyunsaturates.  I'm not sure I ever understood the chemistry of it, but the ads told us they were better for us than the saturated fats.

Now we've learned that the butter substitutes actually have something called transfats, which turn out to be just as unhealthy for us as the stuff we've been trying to avoid in real butter.  That news, coupled with the popularity of cooking shows on TV, where butter is often the ingredient of choice, has brought real butter sales up to a level that hasn't been seen since the late 1940s, when the health concerns first began to surface.

The margarine makers are trying to hold onto market share by using words like "simple" to try to make consumers think their products are chemical- or fat-free and, thus, healthy.

Think of some other food trends that seem to flip back and forth.  Coffee is bad for you -- causes cancer, etc.  Oh wait, no it doesn't.  Health experts now say it can promote memory retention as we age and it may also help with heart health.

Sugar is bad, so let's use sugar substitutes.  Oops, does aspartame used in diet sodas cause cancer?  And isn't saccarine (for many years, the main ingredient in Sweet & Low) a carcinagen?

And whatever hapenned to the anti-oxidants craze?  For a while, it did wonders for sales of red grapes and blueberries.

Well, at least most of us no longer use lard and Crisco for cooking, and we try to limit red meat, some seafoods (mercury) and calves liver (who knows what?).  Until the next report comes out, telling us what else will kill us. 

 

 

Passover

It's as sure a sign of spring as the first robin... Passover.  It's when Jews recall the days of slavery under the Pharoah in Egypt, and the seder, done at home followed by a meal, retells the story.

We can't eat bread for a week, but matzoh's not bad.  And matzoh is used in lots of traditional eastern European Jewish cooking, like chicken soup with matzoh balls and matzoh brei -- essentially a matzoh version of French toast.

So many of us will be at a seder tonight and tomorrow night. We won't be eating bread and many other foods, but we'll be chowing down on lots of other yummy "kosher for Passover" goodies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matzoh brei -- It tastes better than it looks... really.

 

 

 

 

.

Say it isn't so.... please

Hostess has been having financial problems for a while, including going into bankruptcy in 2004 and again earlier this year.  But this time, it doesn't look good for the maker of iconic baked goods including Wonder Bread, Hostess Cup Cakes and Twinkies.

For those of us who grew up in the '50s and '60s, we all knew that "Wonder Bread builds strong bodies eight ways."  I can't recall what those eight ways were, but it had to be true because Howdy Doody and Buffalo Bob told us so.  Wonder Bread was THE key ingredient for all sandwiches.  (This was before bagels became an American food.) 

And Twinkies.  What more could a kid want for a well-balanced nutritious meal?

My favorite was -- and still is -- Hostess Cup Cakes, the ones with either the golden or chocolate topping and the white squiggle down the middle.  I still rely on those to keep me going on a long drive.  It's automatic -- stop to get gas, go to the bathroom, and get a package of Hostess Cup Cakes.

The news reports are saying Hostess has filed a motion to shut its plants, lay off 18,000 workers and liquidate its business.

Please... say it isn't so.

 

 

Weekend Thoughts

 

 

Not the real thing

 

The bagel is as American as pizza, tacos... or apple pie.

 

Originally thought of by many as a "Jewish English muffin," the bagel came to this country from eastern Europe -- particularly from Poland -- with the migration of Jews from that part of the world in the late 1880s and into the early 20th century.  And for decades, bagels were pretty much a Jewish food.  Beyond major cities with large Jewish populations, you would never find -- nor even hear of -- a bagel.

Before the advent of bagel stores (seemingly on almost every corner, at least here in New York City), bagels were produced in bagel factories and delivered in the early morning hours to bakeries, delis and restaurants.  I remember, as a teen, driving down to the Bronx on a Saturday night to the bagel factory on Jerome Avenue to get a bag of a dozen bagels to bring home.  The bagels were steaming hot and tasted fantastic.  

Supposedly, New York bagels were the best.  It was the water, we were told.  My cousins in Cleveland, Baltimore and L.A. readily admitted the locally-baked bagels just weren't the same as the real thing from New York.  My Montreal blogging friend Mark Goren challenged me to a taste test a couple of years ago, and I must reluctantly admit that the Montreal bagels he brought down to me were pretty damn good. So I'll re-do that last sentence to read... they weren't the same as the real thing from New York or Montreal.  (I wonder how they compare to the original real thing from Krakow.)  

And then Murray Lender came along.  He took a business started by his father Harry in a New Haven garage and, with his brothers Marvin and Sam, made bagels available to the heartland.  Harry, who came from Poland and hand-rolled the bagels himself for years, began freezing some of his product in the 1950s so he could sell it to bakeries and stores farther from New Haven.  Fresh bagels, you see, don't have a long shelf life, as anyone who's ever bitten into a stale bagel will attest.

Murray led the company as it expanded its reach and became a staple of frozen food sections in supermarkets everywhere.  Lender's frozen bagels became a popular sandwich bread, perfect for whitebread America to enjoy with peanut butter & jelly or ham & cheese.  (Oy!)

Of course, real bagel aficionados frowned upon Lender's.  And the idea of putting PB&J on a bagel was disgusting to those who felt a bagel just had to hold cream cheese and lox.

Murray and his family eventually sold Lender's to Kraft (just this week renamed Mondeeza, or Mondoleeza or something like that).  And bagels, frozen little replicas of the real thing, became an American staple.  Americans last year bought more than 140 million Lender's bagels, worth just under $41 million.  That's a lot more than how many bagels were sold in Israel or probably even Poland.

Bagels -- even the frozen New York (or Montreal) wannabees  -- are now a true American food.  They've been mixed into what my friends Bob and Steven Frissora call America's salad bowl.

Murray Lender died Wednesday in Miami.  He was 81.

No. Please, no. A bagel burger??

 

Weekend Thoughts

Just a cuppa Joe

I had to laugh when I saw the story in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that reported on new procedures at Starbucks that limit the number of drink orders the "baristas" can take.  Now it's only two at a time, so they can concentrate on doing it just right.  Some customers and store managers are afraid that will slow the lines down even more than they now are.

 

The whole Starbucks phenomenon amazes me.  It's another example of how the public can be led around like sheep, to be a part of something that's "cool" (or maybe it's more appropriate to say "hot"). 

 

Now obviously Starbucks has been doing something right.  Just look at how it’s grown from a few shops in Seattle to a nationwide institution that's everywhere – even inside other retail venues like Border's or Citibank.

 

But I never did – and still don't – get it.  The basic coffee is too strong for my taste… and I'm a lifelong coffee fanatic doing 3 – 6 or more cups a day.  But taste aside, I can't stand the whole pricing and size thing at Starbucks.  Whatever happened to small, medium and large?  Ok, even add a jumbo if you want, but what is this venti, tall, grande BS.  If I want a small, let me just ask for a small.

 

And I just don't understand why so many people gladly fork over $3.45 for a medium (ok, a grande coffee) when you can get the same thing at the deli on the corner for $1.  Or the next block over, at Dunkin Donuts, for $ 1.69.  And to my palette, Dunkin's coffee tastes sooo much better.

 

What Starbucks has gotten right is the atmosphere – a place where you're encouraged to hang and chill.  No rush to turn over the tables.  Stay, read the paper, chat with friends, go online.  And they've been smart about using their many locations and high traffic to integrate other things into their menu – like CDs and books. 

 

But when it comes to their basic product:  latte, frappe, venti, whatever… just give me a plain old coffee.  A small one, please.

 

Obviously, I'm way out of the mainstream on this one.  I know.  (If I'm coming across as a grump here, I apologize.  I haven't had my 2nd cup of coffee yet.)