Breakfast: Cake for Breakfast...The Bagel Store is a Mad Scientist!

After my depressing encounter with Vic's Bagel Bar the other day, I decided to treat my taste buds with ol' faithful- The Bagel Store. I never know what I am going to get in here since they are constantly rotating new and wacky flavors. As I walked in, I saw something was different...is that a red bagel??  Holy Mother of all things doughy and delicious, it was a RED VELVET BAGEL. I rubbed my eyed to make sure I wasn't delusional. Yep. Red velvet bagel...

As I approached the counter the nice guy behind it smiled 

Me: Oh My God... a red velvet bagel?

Nice Guy (laughing) : Yep!

Me: I'll take it!!

Nice Guy:  Sure, what do you want in it? We have red velvet cream cheese too

Me ( almost fainting from what he just said): WHAT? Wow... I guess that would be too much red velvet for me.. how about just plain cream cheese?

Nice Guy: Sure! Sliced and toasted?

Me: Nah, just sliced, cream cheese on the side

I wanted to toast it at work. I am they type of weirdo that waits til I get to the office to eat my breakfast because I think eating on the subway is gross. Yet if they toast it right away, I am also the weirdo that thinks it wont be at it's "yummiest" potential if I do wait an extra 30 minutes to eat it. So my solution? Toast it at work, so that it will still be piping hot and crunchy.

Red Velvet Bagel with Cream Cheese

After it was out of the toaster, it was soft and actually cakey- bordering on falling apart. There was not much crunchy shell that a normal bagel would have coming out. I slathered on the cream cheese and took a bite. The perfect balance of bagel/ red velvet cake ratio, the denseness of a bagel with the soft bouncy recovery of a cake. I took another bite. The taste was most definitely red velvet, milky cocoa flavor, almost bitter but in a good way. I took a third bite. The cream cheese added just the right smooth creaminess, but I wished it had been blended with a little powered sugar. Not sweet enough.

Price: $1.80

Verdict:  Would I get this again? Maybe. Or perhaps I will try the red velvet flavored cream cheese paired with the featured coconut bagel instead...

The Bagel Store

247 Bedford Ave

Williamsburg NY 11211

www.thebagelstoreonline.com

Breakfast: The Bagel Store

Ahh....breakfast, the most important meal of the day. Why not start it off with a carbo-load of delicious bagels and fatty cream cheese?! This place is on the way to the L train in Williamsburg and a very popular place to get bagels. My belly was ready!

Outside, super hipster art mural

Hipsters waiting in line for their bagels. It got SO crowded in here and the lines were very chaotic ( it was also a Saturday).

Sesame Bagel with Vegetable Cream Cheese

I asked for it toasted and it barely came out with a light tan. However, it was extremely fluffy, doughy and super chewy. All the aspects I look for in a bagel. It could have used another sprinkling of sesame seeds to completely cover the top however. The cream cheese was the winner, with actual chunks of veggies  in each bite. None of that pulverized stuff, they gave a generous spreading of this on the bagel.

Price: 2.75

Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter Bagel with Banana Cream Pie Cream Cheese

While in line I had to get a "dessert" bagel. The problem was that along with their 15 different flavors of cream cheese, they also have limited edition flavors . I ended up changing my mind 3 times before picking the banana cream pie (I could tell the guy taking my order was getting annoyed).

The bagel was a lot more dense and tough than the sesame. Swirls of cinnamon and raisins were in each bite I took, but I really couldn't taste the peanut butter. Perhaps it was because the cream cheese flavor was so strong, and not in a good way. I was expecting chunks of real banana mixed with sweetened cream cheese, but what I actually got was a HORRIBLE fake banana flavor (reminiscent of a banana laffy taffy) and way too much yellow dye. Definitely not getting this cream cheese again.

Price: $2.75

Verdict: I really love getting my bagels here, especially because they have very interesting flavors (apple pie flavored cream cheese is on my list) AND, right now they have a bacon, egg, and cheese flavored BAGEL, yes.. literally an all in one breakfast.

The Bagel Store

754 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211-3750

www.thebagelstoreonline.com