This summer, San Francisco news outlets took on the challenging task of bagel taste tests, unveiling results that caught even experts by surprise. Surprisingly, sourdough bagels — a true contradiction — ended up topping the charts. Meanwhile, a California-based chain made it into the top 10, despite longstanding recognition of its subpar products among bagel enthusiasts. Notably, Boichik’s, which is often hailed as one of the city’s best bagel shops, performed disappointingly in these tests.
Determined to uncover the truth behind these surprising findings, Mission Local decided to conduct its own bagel tasting event. The focus was clear: to identify which local bagels came closest to those found in New York City, the undisputed bagel capital of the world.
To guide our tasting, we developed three key criteria with help from both artificial intelligence and an opinionated New Yorker: we evaluated the crust, the crumb (the bagel’s internal texture), and the overall flavor.
Inspired by a list from the San Francisco Chronicle, we limited our bagel selection to shops within San Francisco’s city limits, which inadvertently excluded promising options from the East Bay. Tragically, we also had to leave out The Laundromat, as they experienced an oven malfunction on the testing day.
Moreover, bagel varieties specializing in sourdough were excluded from our taste test. While our tasters were not against the concept of sourdough bagels, they agreed that such creations deserved their own category and should not be compared with what they deemed the “real thing.”
Our panel consisted of an unofficial group of four New Yorkers, along with a California native who had lived just a short walk away from one of New York’s famed bagel shops for four years.
In two rounds, testers tasted plain bagels, with cream cheese offered as an accompaniment. The top two bagels from each round moved on to a final taste test, where tasters revisited the plain bagels and also assessed sesame or poppy seed varieties.
The results were disappointing. As one taster lamented, “You know what’s good about this bagel? There’s not a lot of it, and I can taste the cream cheese.” Others reported bagels that were either stale or reminiscent of “wet Wonder Bread.”
However, three bagels stood out from the rest in a positive way. Topping the list was Bageletto, a newcomer that opened in February on 14th Street, not far from Mission Local’s headquarters.
Initially, our testers expressed hesitations about Bageletto’s plain bagel, citing a lack of the golden-brown color and crunch they expected from a quality bagel. However, they praised the impressive blistering on the bottom and ultimately deemed it the best-tasting bagel they encountered during the test.
The sesame seed version of Bageletto’s bagel secured its victory in the final round, as one taster remarked it was the bagel she “kept coming back to eat.” The owner of Bageletto, Rich D’Aloia, a Brooklyn native, explained that he had extensively refined the shop’s bagel recipe over several months. Typically, barley malt contributes to a bagel’s golden color and crispy crust. However, D’Aloia abstains from using malt due to its sweetness, which he prefers not to interfere with the flavors of his upscale bagel sandwiches.
When questioned about the delicious sesame seeds on his bagels, D’Aloia attributed it to selecting a high-quality source and ensuring that each bagel was thoroughly coated from top to bottom, explaining that there is no sparing on the seeds.
Tied for silver, both Boichik’s and Schlock’s bagels garnered decent scores from our judges. Boichik’s bagels were recognized for their barley malt-forward taste, yielding an impressive crust and crumb. One taster noted, “This feels like a real New York bagel.” However, this same sweetness led to a minor critique, as tasters found it a touch too sweet.
Interestingly, this phenomenon is not uncommon among bagels from New York, as noted by one taster who characterized even Boichik’s drawbacks as predictably authentic.
Schlock’s bagels also impressed with their chewy texture and satisfying ‘squeeze.’ This aspect drew admiration, with one taster showcasing it as an example of ideal texture to observers who weren’t originally involved in the tasting. However, it was critiqued for being overly salty.
As the testing concluded, one judge shared bagels he had mail-ordered from New York, which, even when defrosted and reheated, emerged as superior to any of the freshly made options from San Francisco. Despite the anticipation and excitement around the local bagel scene, it became evident that even the best San Francisco bagels could not compete with those hailing from the Big Apple.
image source from：missionlocal
