Why can’t the world just admit Montreal bagels are the best and leave it at that?
We see that the New York Times is stirring the pot again, with a post on its City Room blog proclaiming, quel surprise, that Montreal bagels are no match for New York bagels.
Here’s an excerpt from the blog, which sent someone to fetch bagels from Fairmount and St. Viateur, though no word on how long the beauties sat in their paper bags en route:
City Room brought a few dozen Montreal bagels back to share with co-workers to gauge their reactions, wondering if our co-workers would swoon over the Montreal newcomer or stay loyal to their native bagel.
Perhaps it was a home-court advantage, but the New York bagel clearly won out among those who had an opinion to offer. The assessments of the Montreal bagel: “like New York pretzels without salt,” “completely flavorless” and “dense, a little tough, and totally bland.”
Well, we at The Gazette beg to differ. Been there, done that. In our head-to-head tasting with N.Y. bagels back in 2000, the Montreal specimens won out. Likewise, in subsequent battles with some bagels in Toronto and Hamilton, Ont., the consensus was the same: There’s nothing quite so perfect as a Montreal bagel.
Photo: A Fairmount bagel from our Toronto head-to-head tasting in 2006.
Credit: Richard Arless Jr., The Gazette
