- I'm Cody Reiss and I'm your New York City host
for "5 Buck Lunch."
My love of food has taken me to more than 35 countries.
I've worked as a cook, farmer, and cheese maker.
Now, I'm in NYC in search of the tastiest
and cheapest food my ducats can buy.
Join me as I take you to the dankest lunch
spots for five bucks or less.
- If you're anything like me, you're Jewish.
If you're anything like a bagel, you're crusty
on the outside, deli on the inside,
boiled, but baked, and you might be
a little soft and squishy.
Surprise, surprise.
You're also Jewish.
Nowadays, you can find bagels all over the place.
There are a bunch a different styles.
But one style that is not a style,
is "Bay Area" style bagels.
Now my colleague over in San Francisco, "Nicole."
She said she could find a better bagel in Oakland
than I can find New York.
And after living in Oakland, I am happy
to tell you she is wrong.
Bagels in New York are iconic;
they're really frigging dank.
Let's go find a good one, huh?
He, he!
You're probably wondering, "Uh oh,
what's the hole for?"
See through, or I don't want to know what.
Well, aside from insuring even baking,
the holes are usually put there so they
string them up, through them over their shoulder,
and walk around town with them.
Either that, or you could kinda make
a cool, little candy necklace out of them.
What's the first thing you think of
when you think of Jewish food?
- Ah, just delicious comfort food.
- Ah, I think about bagels and pickled herring,
and weird food that's good, but sounds gross
to people that's never had it before.
- What makes New York bagels better than other bagels?
- They're more confident.
- More confident and maybe a little bit ruder.
A little tougher if ya know what I am saying?
- Well, I think what makes New York bagels good,
is that they're boiled in New York water.
- If I was a bagel, what kind
of bagel would I be?
- One that only has meat.
- Only meat, dude!
- Well, what kinda a bagel do you think I would be?
- Ah, cinnamon raisin bagel with avocado and tomato.
- Damn, this help me thinks I'm screwed up.
- What kind of bagel sandwich would I be?
- Ah, something, something delicious.
- Hell yeah, dude.
- Let's do word association.
When I say bagel, you say...
- Onion?
- When I say Jew, you say...
- You!
- That's right.
Damn, I've been found out that's all the time we have.
Oh yeah!
We made to Ess-a-Bagel guys in Midtown!
Holy crap!
You know, I think this is the kinda place where
you give them a little bit of money
and they just might give you some food back.
I invested all my money in Blockbuster,
and it didn't go so good.
So, I'm just gonna go and see what I can afford.
Let's go on in.
- Thirty to 40 minutes and I'll be sending it to you.
- How long have you worked here?
- Twenty years.
We do a lot more shipping than we ever did before.
- Huh.
- Well almost 100 everyday.
They want their bagels out in a California,
Oregon, Florida, Texas, wherever.
Excuse me, I have to answer the phone now;
that's my job.
- OK, all right.
- Hello.
- Hi, welcome to Ess-a-Bagel.
- Thank you very much.
My co-host Nicole said that there's better
bagels in the Bay Area of California.
Which to me, I was like, "What are you talking about?"
- First of all, New York bagels as a whole,
are just so much better.
- Yeah.
- My aunt started the store over 40 years ago.
- Wow, how do you guys make your bagel?
- It's boiled and baked, is that right?
- It's boiled and baked daily on the premises.
There are no preservatives.
- What can I get for five bucks?
- Well, have a host of spreads
that you can choose from.
Scallion cream cheese, vegetable cream cheese,
Oh my gosh!
OK, well I'm a simple boy.
I'm gonna get an everything bagel.
Toasted, if I could get it open-faced,
with scallion cream cheese.
How much is that?
- Four-fifty.
- I have five, real USA dollars here.
There you are.
- Thank you so much.
- Yeah, thank you.
Ah, hell ya, nice little bagel and cream cheese.
I know, I can hear the haters now --
the trolls saying, "That's a snack.
That's not a lunch."
Listen up, if your not the kinda person
that eats a bagel and smear for lunch.
You probably also have schmutz on your schmeckle.
You schmuck.
Anyway, I'm schvitzed and I can't wait
to dive into into this little boy.
We got a toasted everything classic.
Open style so it gets on your mustache.
Bunch of scallion cream cheese smushed on top.
It's time to dive in.
Mmm!
One thing I like about bagel and cream cheese,
is that its a textural paradise.
You have this hot, crunchy outside of the bagel.
The inside's soft, and then on top you got
this cool, rich, tangy cream cheese
with this bright little fresh flecks
of scallion in it.
You got sesame seeds, poppy seeds, you got
these tiny little poppers.
I could probably smush on this all day.
Anyways, I hope it's clear by now
that you can not get a better bagel,
in the Bay Area than you can in New York City.
So, Nicole, consider that showdown show done.
Don't let me tell you what.
You be the judge.
Come on down to Ess-a-Bagel, New York City
and try it for yourself.
Heck, maybe even you can be Jewish.
See ya next time.
- Hey, if you saved some sheckels
and you cured your bagel blues.
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Watch our previous episode on the best cheap
pizza in the Bay Area.