#12 - Brooklyn Bagel Bakery's Hearth Water Bagel

“This place scares me!” John said as we drove through the mostly abandoned streets of Flipinotown last Saturday morning. After a few weeks of Create-A-Plates and Foo-Detours, the blog was in desperate need to get back to it’s original roots and John was in desperate need for some carbohydrates. Problem is, even though we are only 12 pLAtes in, the destinations for some of these restaurants are a bit outside the bubble of my 90046 zip code. So in order to cross another pLAte off the list, we had to venture to the outskirts of Downtown LA to visit the Brooklyn Bagel Bakery.

For anyone who has immigrated to California from the east coast, they know that bagels in LA are a real problem. It’s right up there with the Twizzlers vs. Red Vines debate. Seriously west coasters…Red Vines taste like waxy plastic with food dye. Twizzlers for life! Back to bagels - as a kid growing up on the east coast, my Saturday mornings consisted of my father taking me to Bagelicious (Ridgewood!) and I’d order a (still warm) plain bagel slathered in melting cream cheese with a Snapple Grapeade on the side. It’s not wonder I ended up looking like this.

Since moving to LA nearly five years ago, I just haven’t been able to find a lightly toasted gift from the gods that can stack up to the bagels back east. Yes you’ve got your Bagel Brokers and Noah’s Bagels…I’ve had ‘em, I’m unimpressed. 

This is a real bagel, not a roll with a hole is the grand statement emblazed on the Brooklyn Bagel Bakery’s website. According to the reviews, this place has bagels that are cooked the proper way. No, they don’t import the water from New York (which I thought was the proper way). Instead, they boil the bagels before baking them, which according to the owners is more time consuming but makes for a better bagel.

After nearly walking into a gospel church service going on next door, John and I found our way into the factory-like store that Brooklyn Bagels calls home. One could be easily overwhelmed by the diversity of doughy delights waiting in bins behind the counter. They’ve got your standards like Sesame, Onion and Egg, but in addition they also offer options like Banana Nut, Jalapeno Cheese and Strawberry bagels for the sweet tooth.

Despite the abundance of variety to tantalize your palate, all of the flavored donuts are made the west coast way. To get the “properly cooked” Brooklyn bagel, you need to order carefully. Tucked away in the corner, like a diamond in the rough (Aladdin anyone?), is the Hearth Baked Water bagel. This is the real deal…the reason people have been coming back to Brooklyn Bagels for nearly 60 years.

In order to properly taste the difference, I ordered one Hearth Water bagel and John went with a Sesame. Much to my dismay, the cream cheese was not slathered on in heaping clumps. Instead, the thickly lipsticked woman behind the counter sold us individual cream cheese packs (which by the way, are “not for individual sale”).

John – “Where do we sit?”

Me – “Well this place isn’t exactly known for its ambiance.”

We settled on a lovely spot down the street…aka the front seat of my Mitsubishi Eclipse.

“Smell the carbs!” John exclaimed as he spread apart his sesame and got to work on the cream cheese. I ended up leaving mine totally plain in order to really ascertain the unique flavor promised from the Hearth Baked. To my surprise there was a distinct difference between the two bagels. John’s was definitely the puffier of the two. All around the sesame was chewier and softer. My bagel, like most east coasters, had a tougher exterior. The outer skin of the ring was almost elastic-like as I peeled away pieces of the bagel. The crust definitely had a richer density, but the inside still had the doughy texture we’ve come to love about bagels.

As we cleared our plates…errr…laps, I think it’s safe to assume we both silently contemplated a return trip in the near future. In fact, Brooklyn Bagels will be celebrating St. Paddy’s Day with batches of Green Hearth Bagels from March 14-17. So this year, instead of Erin Go Braugh…make it Erin Go Bagel!

Brooklyn Bagel Bakery

2717 Beverly Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90057

(800)-78-4BAGELS