Over the summer, San Francisco news outlets have attempted bagel taste tests, with results even they admitted were surprising. Sourdough bagels, a contradiction in terms, topped the charts. A California-based chain landed in the top 10, despite bagel aficionados knowing their product is subpar. Boichik’s, widely regarded as one of the top bagel spots in the area, did middling at best.
Mission Local was intrigued and confused by the results, so we embarked on our own taste test. Our criteria: Which San Francisco bagels are actually closest to ones you find in the worldwide bagel capital, New York?
The bagel taste test on full display. Photo by Maggie Kadifa.
We had three criteria, developed with the assistance of AI and a highly opinionated New Yorker: Crust, crumb (the texture of the inside of the bagel), and flavor.
We used the San Francisco Chronicle’s list as inspiration, and limited our bagel options to just ones available within San Francisco city limits. That sadly eliminated what we’ve heard are some excellent options in the East Bay. Also (tragically) eliminated: The Laundromat, because on the morning of our test, they had an oven malfunction.
We also excluded any shop specializing in sourdough bagels. Our tasters were not inherently opposed to San Franciscans making a sourdough bagel, but believed those deserved their own category, and shouldn’t be compared to the real thing.
Our panel of judges were an admittedly unscientific selection of four New Yorkers, plus one California native who lived down the street from one of New York’s most famous bagel shops for four years.
Our five testers tasted the bagels in two groups of four, all with plain bagels. Cream cheese was available. The top two in each group then advanced onto a final, during which tasters tried the plain again, plus sesame or poppy seed.
What we found? First, a lot of disappointment. “You know what’s good about this bagel? There’s not a lot of it, and I can taste the cream cheese,” one taster said of an early sample. Other bagels tasted flat-out stale, or like “wet Wonder Bread.”
But there were three bagels that stood out in a good way. In the top spot was Bageletto, which opened in February down the street from Mission Local, on 14th Street.
Bageletto is the winner! Chart by Kelly Waldron.
Our tasters were initially hesitant about the Bageletto plain. The crust on the top of the bagel, they said, didn’t have the golden-brown color or crisp they wanted. However, the blistering on the bottom of the bagel was “impressive.” It also was the best-tasting bagel they tried.
The sesame seeds clinched the win for Bageletto during the second round. Thanks to those seeds, one taster said it was the bagel she “kept coming back to eat.”
The judges’ comments didn’t surprise Bageletto’s owner (and Brooklyn native) Rich D’Aloia, who refined the shop’s bagel recipe over months. Barley malt is often what gives bagels that golden-brown, crispy crust, D’Aloia said.
But, he leaves malt out of his bagels because he doesn’t like the sweet taste that it can bring. And D’Aloia’s top priority is taste. The bagel shop’s signature products are upscale bagel sandwiches: Think egg, ham and cheese except the ham is prosciutto, the eggs are from a local farm and the cheese is an imported provolone. D’Aloia didn’t want malt interfering with that.
Bageletto’s unbaked goods sitting in their kitchen. Photo by Maggie Kadifa.
Why did the sesame seeds taste so good? D’Aloia said he took the time to find a high-quality source, and always makes sure to coat the entirety of his bagels, top to bottom. He demonstrated on a freshly baked sesame on a recent Thursday in Bageletto’s kitchen — no sprinkling on top here.
The runners-up were tied for silver: Boichik’s and Schlock’s. Boichik’s bagels are, tasters said, barley malt-forward. That landed them with the best crust and crumb. This, one taster concluded, feels like a real New York bagel. But tasters also docked Boichik’s because that same barley malt made it too sweet.
For what it’s worth, that’s actually a common pitfall of bagels in New York, one taster said. Even Boichik’s perceived flaws were authentic.
Schlock’s scored well for texture, too. It was chewy. It had a good squeeze. One taster showed it to the peanut gallery of non-New Yorkers looking on that day as an example of the right amount of squeeze. It was docked for the opposite reason as that of Boichik: It was a little too salty.
At the end of our test, one of the judges defrosted bagels he mail-ordered from New York to share. This is when true tragedy struck. Even defrosted and then reheated, the New York bagels were better than any of our San Francisco options, which were ostensibly made that morning. In San Francisco, even the best bagel will only get you so far.