Noah's Bagels

Even goys should be so lucky

Before moving to Washington, we hadn't had much experience with bagels aside from the "eight to a bag" type you could pick up at any supermarket. These resembled real bagels approximately the same way hot dogs and mac'n'cheese resemble real food.

Then we went to Noah's. Ahhhh... bliss.

Pretty soon it wasn't unusual for us to be picking these up for breakfast in bed, or selecting a baker's dozen and a container of cream-cheese shmear to take in to work and make our colleagues very happy people. We loved our neighborhood Noah's, so much so that when we moved out of the area we had to make pilgrimages to the nearest one to get our fix. It has simply the best bagels available in a restaurant chain.

The folks at Noah's have managed to get the texture of a bagel just right—ever so slightly tough and crunchy outside, deliciously chewy inside. Our favorite flavors are garlic, onion, chocolate chip, egg, and orange cranberry. Get the bagel of your choice toasted and shmeared if you like—you may want to tell them to take it easy on the shmear, however, since in their generousness they tend to load it with enough for two bagels.

We also looked forward to Fridays, where if we were there early enough we could get challah bread fresh from the oven, hot and yeasty and substantial without being weighty—everything good bread should be.

The price of Noah's flavored shmears has gone up recently, so we don't pick up a container of this as often, opting to stop by a supermarket on the way home for soft cream cheese instead.

It's this simple: if you appreciate a good bagel, go to Noah's. Now if only they had more locations...

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