BagelFest started in New York in 2019 as a celebration of the busy city’s favorite on-the-go item — other than coffee and attitude. But after the boiling over bagel fervor of California’s ongoing Bagel Renaissance throughout the past little over a decade, the festival rolled its way across the country from the Empire State to the City of Angels. The 19 exhibits included Los Angeles favorites such as Belle’s and Hank’s Bagels as well as out-of-staters like Hey Bagel from Seattle and Bella’s Bagels from Colorado, in addition to specialized vendors like Acme Smoked Fish. With so many offerings on the table, BruinLife’s Gavin Meichelbock, Julia Gu, Emily Hsi and Amy Miranda couldn’t wait to sink our teeth into what would be a deliciously fulfilling day.
After spinning the wheel of prizes at the King Arthur Bread Flour booth, where Gavin walked away with two sets of bench scrapers, a hat and bagel t-shirt, the team’s first stop was the Acme Smoked Fish stand, ‘cause you can’t have a bagel without lox, am I right? Both the spicy tuna and standard smoked salmon were melt-in-your-mouth buttery. While my preference was for the traditional lox, it didn’t stop me from going back for seconds, thirds and yes, fourths, of either.
Hey Bagel was the first stall we wandered to, serving up salted, sesame, everything and poppy bagels (anything you could ask for, really) to showcase the three schmears they decided to take to their LA debut. Hearing about how Seattle is undergoing its own bagel revolution, owner Andrew Rubinstein told us while bagels once sucked, they are on the up with rolls like theirs featuring high quality bagels with a sourdough tang and salted dough.
The bagels themselves, just as their options suggested, excelled at executing exactly what you want from a bagel. They had a great chew from the first moment your teeth broke through the beautifully browned crust to the dense, but not dry, interior. All of the healthily-dolloped schmears were smooth with great flavor that accented the bagel rather than overpowering its taste. You get tradition from their classic cream cheese, a little twist with the scallion schmear with fried bits for some texture and a curry rendition which was lightly aromatic with a subtle spicy undertone. Apparently, Seattle serves up sleeper hits, and we applauded their Californian inauguration.
Another tourist to the city are Bella’s Bagels from Colorado where, according to Jason Stele, bagels sucked there too. This was, in part, due to how hard it is to make bagels there due to the Rockies’ high elevation, leading to wonky boiling and baking temperatures. But after his wife and business partner Michelle figured out the math, they began rolling their own New Jersey-style bagels; they’re like New York bagels but smaller.
For the festival, they hauled over a spread of deviled egg salad on a roasted garlic and thyme bagel, a Pueblo green chili cream cheese, a white chocolate cherry schmear and hummus for the non-dairy folks. While the flavors sounded promising, other than the Pueblo green chili, a pepper acting as an ode to their Colorado roots, we agreed that the others were not very flavorful. The egg salad was flavorless and the white chocolate could have passed as a lightly sweetened cream cheese if not for the written description.
Needing redemption, Amy shot us over to the O.C. staple Boil & Bake for what were some pretty impressive samples. Having generated a bit of buzz online, we were excited that we did not have to make the long trek all the way to Costa Mesa to finally see how they stacked up against LA bagels. Owner Carlos Perez and chef Luke Bramm house-cure their own lox, a practice Bramm carried over from his Michelin kitchen training, and they use fresh and locally sourced ingredients.
For the festival, they brought over a bagel with plain cream cheese, a cacio e pepe rendition and the Bella, composed of their very own lox, heirloom tomato and a drizzle of olive oil. Even with high expectations, we discovered why people might be inspired to journey all the way to O.C. just for these bagels. The dough had a chewy bite in the crackly crust with a subtle tang from the sourdough, complemented by their plain cream cheese. The salmon was one of the freshest of those offered at the festival, which we remarked upon before finding out that it was made in house. The cacio e pepe bagel reinvented how to think about pasta and carbs. Lightly toasted to allow the butter to seep into the bagel, it provided a great crunch to a simple concept.
Right across the path was Pasadena’s very own Belle’s Bagels. Run by Nick Schreiber and J.D. Rocchio, they are an often cited inspiration for where LA’s bagel rebirth began, and it’s not hard to see why. Their sandwiches taste better than they look — and they are gorgeous sandwiches. The bagels have a phenomenal chew while the lox has a touch of citrus to give it zip, and trust me when we say to not sleep on the cherrywood smoked beets.
A welcome addition from the San Fernando Valley is the one and only Hank’s Bagels. While they weren’t serving Gavin’s go-to, their #3, Hank’s unique sourdough bagels never disappoint, especially with the added zhuzh of cheddar and jalapeno.
To our surprise, one of our bites came from Bruin alumnus Ethan Solouki. Graduating in 2013 with a B.S. in anthropology and B.A. in design and applied arts, he started making graphic design for consumer branding products, now designing posters and logos for the bagel bakery Original Sunshine. Solouki told us these gluten free bagels are made without filler ingredients, seed oils, dough conditioners or bleached bread flours to provide a delicious option to those with G.I. issues.
When tasting Sunshine’s product against sourdough, stuffed and traditional New York-style, all four of us were shocked at how it tasted almost exactly like a traditional bagel. While it was thinner than your average roll, the taste and texture are what matter, and they were not only on point, but had a vibrant everything seasoning to literally and figuratively top it all off with.
At the end of the event, Hey Bagel took home the gold for best bagel while Belle’s cherrywood smoked beet bagel won best sandwich; a win that surely made Belle’s co-owner, Nick Schreiber, very happy as he told me in a separate interview that he actually gravitates toward this one over a traditional lox bagel, joking that, “what little Jewish boy doesn’t like [beets].”
So, to answer the question that has surely been on your mind ever since the words “bagel festival” entered your lexicon: yes, you should go, as long as you are willing to shell out $65 for the ticket. The price will weed out the true bagel enthusiasts. Considering the unlimited sampling, the industry panels and the sheer amount of schmear, having all 19 exhibitors under one roof and at your leisurely perusal cannot be beat. In fact, New York’s rendition of the festival has over 40 vendors, and as the LA Bagel Renaissance continues to make its waves, BagelFest 2027 is sure to be the event to behold as it expands. We don’t know about you, but when it comes to the price of one expensive steak dinner versus an entire day of bagel feasting, we’re going to have to go with the bagels.
