{"id":197525,"date":"2026-04-14T23:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T23:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/197525\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T23:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T23:42:09","slug":"a-new-york-bagel-fest-comes-to-l-a-showing-best-of-west-coast-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/197525\/","title":{"rendered":"A New York bagel fest comes to L.A. showing best of West Coast innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bold flavors and local reinventions were at the forefront of Sunday\u2019s inaugural BagelFest West, where bagel makers from California, as well as Seattle and Colorado Springs, offered their best bagels plus unconventional takes on the bagel sandwich \u2014 from a Passover-style gefilte fish Hillel sandwich<\/a> with beet horseradish and charoset served by San Diego\u2019s Mission Bagel<\/a> to a coffee bomb bagel <\/a>by Tom and Tiffany Levy\u2019s Uncle Stevey\u2019s<\/a> in El Segundo. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe bites that we\u2019ve seen here today are some of the most innovative and groundbreaking bagel bites that I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d said Sam Silverman<\/a>, who founded the original New York BagelFest <\/a>in 2019 and goes by the social media handle Bagel Ambassador<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Silverman has watched the bagel scene west of the Rockies explode, prompting him to bring BagelFest to Los Angeles. It was a sold-out event, with more than 1,000 bagel aficionados from all of California gathered at Wilshire Boulevard Temple\u2019s Audrey Irmas Pavilion<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was about time that someone actually was able to understand how important bagels are to Los Angeles<\/a>,\u201d said David Castillo, general manager of Alex and Sun Sohn\u2019s Calic Bagel<\/a>, known for its viral garlic cream cheese bagels and for bringing Asian flavors and techniques to its stuffed bagels. \u201cIt\u2019s always been about East Coast, Montreal, and I\u2019m glad that we\u2019re finally getting recognized.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cL.A. really has its own scene and its own thing going,\u201d said J.D. Rocchio, co-owner of Belle\u2019s Bagel in Highland Park. \u201cWhat makes an L.A. bagel an L.A. bagel is we\u2019re all very self-determined \u2026 people are pulling from different cultural references, regional references and I\u2019d say if you were to make an L.A. bagel it means you\u2019re doing your own thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bagel shops competed for awards in flavor, texture and creativity, including categories for best bagel, best sandwich, schmear of the year and a people\u2019s choice award. Only 16% of the shops that applied to participate, according to Silverman, were selected to showcase at the festival, which was presented by King Arthur Baking Company in collaboration with the Jewish Food Lab at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, which regularly organizes culinary events to promote Jewish culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up eating bagels from Dunkin Donuts and the grocery store,\u201d said Silverman, a Massachusetts native who started the festival after noticing the lack of a bagel-centered event in New York. \u201cI didn\u2019t know how good bagels could be until I moved to New York 12 years ago, and that\u2019s what sparked the passion and led me down this rabbit hole.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s New York BagelFest drew more than 2,000 attendees. And with the success of Sunday\u2019s BagelFest West, Silverman has already decided to bring the event back to Los Angeles next year.<\/p>\n

\"San <\/p>\n

San Diego-based Mission Bagel was one of the award-winning vendors at BagelFest, winning second place for best sandwich. <\/p>\n

(Angela Osorio \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a kid, bagels were at Canter\u2019s Deli \u2026 or they were in the grocery store,\u201d said Julie Fisher, a BagelFest West attendee and Studio City resident. \u201cNow, there\u2019s a lot of independent bagel establishments for even more choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newer bagel makers also showcased at the event, including Rise Bagels<\/a>, which opened in Irvine in November 2025<\/a>. Although a Seattle bagelry, Hey Bagel<\/a>, won the overall Best Bagel prize, Rise won the Best of the West and Most Creative awards for two entries: its egg salad bagel<\/a> with Tokyo negi schmear and a jammy quail egg and its seasonal fruit bagel <\/a>with fresh strawberries, cookie butter schmear, Asian pear and a beet strawberry ganache.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted a bagel shop that is more representative of what we want to see in terms of elevating bagels to the next level,\u201d said co-owner John Park, a New Jersey native. \u201cThere\u2019s so much talent elevating something that\u2019s been such a traditional thing and the fusion, the different types of concepts that are coming, is making this industry \u2026 a lot more fun and exciting to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually flew down from San Francisco for the event when I saw it was going on,\u201d said attendee Matt Diamond, an L.A. native. <\/p>\n

For Diamond, it is the love, craftsmanship and quality of ingredients that define an L.A. bagel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe toppings, the love that goes into them all, is a real thing,\u201d he said. \u201c[I\u2019ve] grown up with bagels. It is a part of family, it\u2019s part of culture, it\u2019s who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBagels matter not just for what they represent,\u201d Silverman said at the awards ceremony. \u201cThey are a daily bread. They\u2019re sustenance for both the people that eat them and the craftspeople who dedicate their lives and livelihoods to making them. And they have the power to bring people together.\u201d<\/p>\n