The Baker's Dad

Bagel Heaven. After a few years of visiting nearly every bagel shop in Virginia, DC and Maryland, I’ve finally found a local bagel that I call good. I no longer have to have expensive deliveries from NYC.

Now bagels are a personal thing, of course. Trusted reviewers I’ve followed have led me down the primrose path to utterly awful bagels they called the best. I actually discarded 2 dozen bagels I brought home from Norfolk as complete garbage.

Some reviewers like a bagel shop because they make great bagel sandwiches. That’s not my test. The chance I give to every bagel shop is an un-toasted, freshly hand made, plain or onion bagel with cream cheese. If you want to get all fancy and stuff you can indulge in a chive cream cheese. Nothing more.

From there I want to see color, texture, chewiness, crumb, smell and, of course, taste.

So the winner is …. Bethesda Bagels. This family-owned local business has been in our area for the past 40 years yet until this week I haven’t visited any of their now 5 locations since I arrived in this area in 1995.

Following my usual practice, I dropped in mid morning at the convenient Arlington location. I ordered a plain bagel with cream cheese and I sat on the stool by the window and carefully unwrapped my prize. It was very good. I have had a better bagel from various great spots in Connecticut, New York, and Jersey, but not by much. This as good as it gets in our area and I’m so thankful I can finally end my search for a good local bagel shop.

So, I ordered a dozen to go from the very friendly staff there. Cost me about $2 each, well worth every penny. Got those babies home and prepared most for the freezer only to see that they gave me a few extra bagels on top of the dozen I paid for. I can’t wait to make the trip to Arlington again as soon as this batch runs low and the passenger seat is available for my friends of course.

BTW, the Virginia-based runner up is Bodo’s Bagels in Charlottesville. The place is extremely popular for a good reason and the cool family-friendly vibe helps their bagel taste better somehow. I’d probably add a bit more malt syrup as well as some diastatic malt powder, hand roll them a little larger with an overnight cool rise to make them better but I think their huge popularity probably forces them to skip some of those steps and costs. But you should give them a try.