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The great bagel détente

Two bakeries, one street, seventy years of argument over wood-fired dough. A truce, of sorts, has finally been reached.

Ravi Chandran · Food & Culture
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Two people sharing a table with a basket of bagels between them
Desk
Food
Format
Opinion
Reading time
6 min
Published
Oct 12, 2026
Ravi Chandran

Food & Culture

Every city has an argument it refuses to settle. In this one, it is bagels, and specifically which of two bakeries, three blocks apart, makes the right one. People who agree on nothing else will tell you, with total confidence, which side of the street you should be standing on.

The case for both

Both shops boil their dough in honey water. Both bake in wood-fired ovens that never go cold. Both have lines at two in the morning. The differences are real but small: a little more sesame here, a slightly denser crumb there, a different way of saying good morning.

Honey water, wood fire, no arguments before noon.

Sign above one of the ovens

Why the fight matters

I used to think the rivalry was silly. Now I think it is one of the healthiest things a neighbourhood can have. An argument about bagels is an argument about who we are and where we come from, conducted entirely in good faith and with excellent snacks.

So here is my position, and I will defend it to anyone: buy a half dozen from each, eat them warm on the bench outside, and keep the argument going. A city that agrees about everything is a city that has stopped paying attention.

Written by

Ravi Chandran

Eats first, asks questions second, and writes about the scenes in between.

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“Honey water, wood fire, no arguments before noon.”

— Sign above one of the ovens

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