Looking for the pet shop that used to be here on Main Ave, OG. Free treats. Photo by Jean Bredin, Blogfinger staff. May 27, 2020.
Around town with Jean. She also has a joke, but mine, at top, is funnier?
Jean says, “When is a bagel not a bagel? When it’s over the ocean; then it’s a seagull.”
Win a prize: Send us your funny idea for the headline for this post. Send it by comment below. —PG
SMILEY LEWIS. From the original soundtrack of The Irishman:
Speaking of bagels, we had given Wegmans high marks in the past. They scrupulously followed the classic procedure to create a bagel with a crunchy thick crust and a chewy interior.
But, for some strange reason having to do with viral spread, they decided to eliminate the boiling in water step which promotes the crust. As a result, their bagels are now ordinary. They also don’t let you select individual kinds of bagels. They want to sell them prepackaged.
All in all, now it’s the Hot Bagel Bakery in Oakhurst on Monmouth Road near West Park for me. They hand roll their bagels and they continue the boiling step. As a result they taste the best, and their crunchy exterior is especially good —try the onion variety and ask them to toast it twice and add cream cheese for a schmear. They also have coffee, and Rook is across the street.
My one objection to the famous Hot Bagel Bakery is that their bagels are as fat as your head. I like them narrower so that the crust to interior ratio is higher. Wegmans is thin like that, and the current variation is passably good if you toast them. We like to cut the middles out of the Hot Bagel fat dimensions for the best result.
By the way, Wegmans also stopped cutting their lox (smoked salmon) by hand, but they do have a packaged, never frozen variety from the Hudson River Valley; it is surprisingly excellent. You can find it opposite the fish counter.–Paul. @Blogfinger. (you can search our archives for the Hot Bagel review.—we did it twice)
Headline Suggestion:
Bagel’s- Come here for a schmear!