Festivus Gastronomicus
Review: Kupel’s Bagels
I was twenty-four years old when I tasted my first bagel. At that moment I realized that every baked and boiled ring of dough that came before was an imposter.
Kupel’s Bake & Bagel
421 Harvard St.
Brookline, MA 02446
(617) 566-9528
(map)
Kuppel’s bagels is in the heart of Brookline, which would place it squarely at the center of Jewish Boston. Standards are high and there is no shortage of neighborhood contenders competing for business.
I eat a Kupel’s bagel every morning for breakfast so I had to write a review. While you’re there you can try all thier other tasty pastries or bring home a challah for the Shabbes.
A Kupel’s bagel is a smooth and spongy journey into 3000 years (or so) of beautiful tradition. The texture is absolutely perfect within: chewy and flavorful. The outside isn’t tough, but snappy and is usually hidden by delicious seeds and topings.
Kupel’s makes 20 kinds of bagels a day and my favorite is the Everything Bagel.
The Everything Bagel has poppy seeds, sesame seeds, fennel, oats, garlic, onions- everything! They are so covered with goodies that you can’t even see the bagel’s skin. How cool is that? I like mine toasted with peanut butter in the mornings, but I eat them with lox and tomatoes at the shop.
As much as I like the Everything Bagels, they could use a little less fennel. Really, it’s a bit much and I’m not sure why Kupel’s makes the only everything bagels with fennel that I’ve ever seen.
Another gripe I have is that the Jalepeno bagels don’t taste enough like Jalepeno and aren’t spicy at all. Not sure what the point is there.
It’s important to live close to Kupel’s so that you can shop early. They frequently sell out of all the popular flavors by the mid-afternoon.
No matter though, most mornings they get a huge crowd of hungry folks looking for tasty (and cheap!) bagels and pastries. Thankfully Jen works only a couple of blocks away now, so I don’t have to work so hard to get them anymore.
You all know that I like to report on any cultural experiences I have while eating. After spending a few breakfasts sitting at a table enjoying my lox, I’ve learned an important lesson about sports nutrition kept secret from us gentiles.
Apparently, a toasted bagel with a 1/2 pound of cream cheese and smoked fish is like a Jewish powerbar. I’ve learned this from watching numerous people come in off the street, jogging and sweating from vigorous exercise, and order a bagel 6 inches thick with lox and cream cheese and keep on jogging. Now THAT is some beautiful cultural heritage.