W.,
I think that this is a little off the topic, so I turned it into a new one. In NY, people need to feel that they know where to find the best anything: bagels, pizza, you name it. It started as a Jewish thing, but they've been widely available since I was a kid in the early 70's. Now, there's so much competition that the bigger, older bagel bakeries come out on top. Once you leave the city, it's really hard to find a great bagel. I left NYC for Connecticut 3 years ago, and have yet to find a great one here.

By d. on Friday, December 24, 1999 - 09:37 pm: Edit

I live in L.A. and it is an absolute nightmare to drive more than 10 miles for anything. Best bagels that I know of around here are Noah's bagels. I do love bagels and lox and good croissants, but usually just grab a bag of bagels from whichever store I'm shopping at for groceries. I do it more for convenience, since I don't like to deal with traffic.

By W.DeBord on Monday, December 27, 1999 - 11:43 am: Edit

Most of the people don't know what a good bagel should taste like, period. If you've never gotten them from a good old Jewish Deli you don't own a clue.

We have all the well known chain bagel shops in my area. The only comparison the average person had was frozen "Lenders" in the grocerie store. So these "New" chain stores had little competition. Then came the big fluffy bagel shop and I think they reminded people of the "Lenders" as if that was what bagels should taste like (not that chewie style). So they cut into the least educated palate market.

You do hit on a funny thing, people in Chicago are the same as people in New York. They do pride themselfs of having the knowledge of where they can obtain the best "what-ever" and the cheapest "what-ever". Weird though this isn't as important to suburban people.