A toasted bagel with cream cheese can take your day from good to awesome. We wanted to get to the bottom of where Bay Area locals get their bagel fix, so we asked our Instagram followers for the lowdown. Here are the best recommendations we got for delicious bagels in the Bay!
1. Midnite Bagel
Tartine alum Nick started Midnite Bagel as a place to sell delicious sourdough bagels. The delicious flavor and texture of SF’s famous sourdough bread, together with the aesthetic and toppings of a fluffy warm bagel, makes these an instant win.
Location: Saturdays at the Ferry Building, San Francisco. Also found at Pinhole Coffee, Linea Caffe, Noe Cafe, Manny’s, The Epicurean Trader, and Pastel.
2. Noah’s New York Bagels
This famous bagel shop started in Berkeley as the first New York-style bagel shop. They bring high-quality ingredients to both their bagels and their amazing craft coffee.
Locations: Various
3. Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen
Wise Sons prides themselves on making everything in-house, free from hormones or antibiotics. The pastrami is smoked for 7 hours, their Jewish is legit, and bagels are baked in malt syrup for a firm, chewy crust.
Locations: Various
4. Izzy’s Brooklyn Bagels
Izzy’s is a fully kosher bakery with authentic Brooklyn-style bagels. Make sure to try the Pac-Man bagel sandwich and the deconstructed lox gourmet sandwich. The rye pumpernickel bagel is a fun half-and-half option, but with over 30 varieties of bagels, you can’t go wrong.
Location: 477 California Ave, Palo Alto
5. Boichik Bagels
This Berkeley bagel shop made national headlines when the New York Times declared it had the “best New York-style bagels” in the United States. NY Times restaurant critic and Brooklyn native Tejal Rao declared the bagels to have “the look of Labrador puppies curled up for afternoon naps: soft and pudgy, golden roly-polys.”
Location: 3170 College Avenue, Berkeley
6. Daily Driver
This bagel shop in the Dogpatch is set up with plenty of seating across 2 floors. The organic, wood-fired bagels are delicious! You can also find them at the Ferry Building.
Location: 2535 3rd St, San Francisco
7. Bagel Street Cafe
This family business started in Alamo, CA in the 90s. Since then, it’s grown to include 21 different locations, all serving delicious freshly baked bagels! You can taste the freshness across all their ingredients, and it’s worth seeking out Bagel Street Cafe wherever you go.
Locations: Various
8. Beauty’s Bagel Shop
This popular bagel shops is helmed by Philly natives Amy and Blake. The kettle-boiled bagels come in all the classic flavors, and taste great with toppings including smoked salmon cream cheese, Spero sunflower plant-based “cream cheese,” almond butter, and more.
Location: 3838 Telegraph Ave, Oakland
9. Barton’s Bagels
Yelp reviewers claim to have found the best bagels in Marin at Barton’s Bagels. Flavors include asiago, chocolate chip, everything, blueberry, and much more. You can also get day-old bags for $5 a dozen!
Location: 645 San Anselmo Ave, San Anselmo
10. House of Bagels
Find some awesome NY-style bagels at this underrated spot in Palo Alto. Their cream cheese collection is seriously impressive, and it’s a solid no-frills spot with all the fixings.
Location: 2190 W Bayshore Road, Palo Alto
Featured image: Photo by May Lawrence on Unsplash pi