This summer, San Francisco’s culinary scene witnessed an unexpected surge in bagel taste tests, with results that surprised even the most seasoned food critics. The so-called ‘sourdough bagels’—a curious contradiction—claimed the top spot in some local rankings, leading many to question their authenticity. A prominent California-based chain made an appearance in the top 10, despite widespread acknowledgment of its subpar offerings. Meanwhile, Boichik’s, long revered as one of the premier bagel shops in the area, delivered only mediocre results in these trials.
In response to the puzzling taste test outcomes, Mission Local decided to conduct its own evaluation. The objective was straightforward: to identify which San Francisco bagels genuinely resembled those from the world-renowned bagel capital, New York City.
To guide our taste test, we established three main criteria, thanks to input from an AI tool and a passionate New Yorker: crust, crumb (the texture of the bagel’s interior), and overall flavor. Our testing pool was limited to bagels available within San Francisco city limits, deliberately excluding options from the East Bay, which have been touted as exceptional. This restriction also meant we could not sample The Laundromat, which faced an unfortunate oven malfunction on the day of our test. We intentionally opted out of sourdough bagels, as many tasters felt they deserved a category of their own and should not be mixed with traditional bagels.
Our judging panel consisted of four New Yorkers and one California native, who had lived in close proximity to a famous New York bagel shop for four years. The bagels were tasted in two rounds, each featuring four plain bagels, with cream cheese offered as a companion. The best two bagels from each group advanced to a final taste-off, where tasters sampled both plain and sesame or poppy seed options.
What we discovered was largely disheartening. One taster expressed frustration, remarking, ‘You know what’s good about this bagel? There’s not a lot of it, and I can taste the cream cheese.’ Many bagels disappointed the panel, with some being deemed stale or reminiscent of ‘wet Wonder Bread.’
However, amidst the gloom, three bagels shone brightly. Our top pick was Bageletto, a newcomer that opened just this past February near Mission Local on 14th Street. Although our tasters were initially skeptical about the plain Bageletto bagel—citing its lack of a golden-brown color and crisp crust—the impressive blistering on the bottom was acknowledged. To everyone’s satisfaction, it was also the most flavorful bagel sampled.
In the second round, the sesame bagel from Bageletto secured its victory. One taster noted it was the bagel they were ‘drawn back to repeatedly.’ Rich D’Aloia, the shop’s Brooklyn-native owner, revealed that he spent months perfecting the bagel recipe, opting to exclude barley malt to avoid a sweetness that could compromise the bagel’s taste—his top priority. Bageletto’s focus is on upscale bagel sandwiches, which feature locally sourced eggs, prosciutto, and imported provolone, further underscoring their commitment to flavor.
The runners-up were a tie between Boichik’s and Schlock’s. Boichik’s bagels were praised for their outstanding crust and crumb, which one taster argued were indicative of a genuine New York bagel. However, the same barley malt that gave Boichik’s its coveted texture also rendered it overly sweet, which affected its overall impression among tasters.
Contrastingly, Schlock’s bagels garnered praise for their desirable chewiness and compressibility, meeting a crucial threshold of ‘squeeze.’ However, it was marked down for being slightly too salty.
As the event wrapped up, one judge shared bagels that had been mail-ordered from New York. Even after being defrosted and reheated, these bagels eclipsed the fresh San Francisco offerings, leaving a lingering sense of tragedy among our tasters. Ultimately, it became clear that even the best bagel in San Francisco could only aspire to reach the heights of the genuine article from New York City.
image source from：missionlocal
