People always say that Los Angeles has terrible bagels.
I'm a former New Yorker, and it's my mission
to find the best bagels in LA.
I know that there are good bagels in LA.
We just have to find them.
To help me in my mission of finding the best bagels
in Los Angeles, I'm bringing my friend Evan Fox
who owns Yeastie Boys Bagels to show me
where the best ones in the city are.
Evan's going to take me to his truck, Yeastie Boys,
we're going to go to Courage Bagels in Silverlake,
and we're going to go to Brooklyn Bagels in Westlake.
We're here
to eat
bagels!
First up, we're heading to the Yeastie Boys truck
parked outside Alfred Coffee in West Hollywood.
This is the famous Evan Fox.
He owns Yeastie Boys, which is right behind me.
Sure do.
So tell me how Yeastie Boys came about.
So in 2014, we were just making bagels out of our apartment
and just for fun.
It was like, "Let's start a band," and we did,
and we started kind of taking them
to people around town to see what they think.
People dug it, and they're like,
"Yo, we should do Coachella."
So I got in contact with them, they're like,
"Yep, great idea.
Let's go." Week after that, we got our first truck,
and then we're now, two trucks later.
So like, what gives you the authority
to take me around LA and show me the best bagels
the city has to offer?
I think I know what I'm doing.
Sydney: Yeastie Boys trucks go all over the city
serving their giant bagels loaded with delicious toppings.
They offer classics like lox and cream cheese
or more hearty options like bacon, gooey cheese, and egg.
Then there are some slightly more, let's say, wild options
like this one made with pastrami, fried eggs,
melty cheese, and turkey.
But before we try their bagels, let's talk a bit
about what makes a good bagel in the first place.
You can hear the...
Crunch.
Yeah, baby.
It's got that shell, you know? You want to hear the,
you want that shell.
So tell me, like, when you were developing this recipe
and developing your bagels, what were you looking for?
What was your hope?
I knew I wanted a chewy inside,
and I knew that I wanted it big for sandwiches.
So see these little bubbles right here?
That comes from the gas convection oven that we use
as well as the proofing time, which is very important
when you make a bagel,
cold proofing like you do pizza.
Any good bagel will have that.
Plus boiling them, those three things,
most crucial component.
I'm learning a lot.
Yeastie Boys makes its bagels at Diamond Bakery
on Fairfax in LA.
It's a legendary institution that's been around since 1946
slinging bagels, pastries, and more.
The bagels are 5 ounces each and remind me
of what I can only describe as the best of both worlds
between a Montréal-style bagel and a New York-style bagel.
But more on that later.
So you have perfected the sandwich bagel?
Yeah, honestly, historically you go to a bagel place,
and you get veggie cream cheese, and there's like
two pieces of carrot and a scallion in it.
Uh huh. - And it's like, wait,
why don't we just add
veggie cream cheese, turkey, bacon, fried eggs,
sprouts, tomato? It's just fun, you know?
Yeah, I wanted, like, a bagel sandwich.
That's what I need, like,
on a Saturday or a Sunday morning.
Hangover life, big time. Absolutely.
Well, we've talked about bagels. I'm starving.
Evan: Let's eat. Sydney: Let's eat.
It's beautiful.
Evan: Look at that.
Sydney: And that is some cream cheese, those are some lox.
That's what's up, and poppy seeds, you can't beat it.
I love the texture that you get
with poppy-seed bagels. - Me too.
It's got, like, the right amount of bite to it.
A lot of lox in here as well.
You know what's up. You know what you're doing.
I'm glad you're taking me on a bagel adventure because
you're the guy. Yo.
I mean, we just moved down the street,
and we see this truck all the time,
and this is my second time, so definitely going
to become loyal to the bagels.
A lot of people like cream cheese on both sides,
bottom and top.
Dude, just 2 to 3 ounces of cream cheese
is way more than enough.
If you're doing top and bottom, it's too much for me.
At least that's my taste.
I agree. - You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, it's not about the cream cheese.
It's about the bagel.
Although there are people that are cream-cheese fiends.
I do know many people who would happily say
that cream cheese is their favorite food.
I'm looking at you, Charlie Weisman.
Charlie.
True story, cream cheese is my favorite food.
I'm excited to talk about it.
That's disgusting.
I'm back in New York already.
Oh, yeah.
What I really love about these bagels
is that the bottom also is like a pizza.
Yes. - Like pizza crust
on the bottom.
This is delicious. You know what's up.
Thank you.
So please show me all the other bagels
that I'm missing out on.
Let's go crush it.
And let's prove that LA has awesome bagels.
The next day, I met up with Evan
at Courage Bagels in Silverlake.
We're here to get the best bagels ever.
All right, so it's Sunday. - Yes.
You left your truck.
Yeah, I left my business.
To come here. - Yeah.
And eat Courage Bagels.
Worth it.
Absolutely, so they are set up at Broome Street
General Store, which is really kind of bougie,
and everything in there's really expensive,
but I also want to buy it. $70 candles.
$70 candles, but you can also get really delicious bagels.
I'm really, really excited to try these ones.
I am a big Montréal-style-bagel fan.
How do you feel about Montréal-style bagels?
Evan: My favorite style.
Sydney: Really?
Yes. It's...
So for sandwiches no, but for just everyday bagels
and bagels and cream cheese, just eating them, 100%.
Can you explain to me what the difference between a
New York-style bagel and a Montréal-style bagel is?
For sure, for sure, so the New York-style bagels
are fat, plump, chewy.
It's almost like a mini Neapolitan pizza.
They're so fat and plump.
Montréal, they're usually boiled in honey,
so they're a little sweeter.
They're artisan. They're much thinner
and crispier and crunchy,
and it's almost like you have to really sit there
and enjoy it.
Yeah, what he said.
Partners Arielle Skye and Chris Moss offer
farm-fresh toppings like heirloom tomatoes,
cucumbers, and labneh for their Montréal-style bagels.
I lost my job, and I didn't really know
what I wanted to do, but I wanted to do something.
And I worked for a really crappy company,
so I was like, I need something like real and pure
and like with my hands.
And that just turned into bagels randomly,
and shortly after that, I started selling them
on my bicycle around the neighborhood.
And then last summer, we got into a farmers market,
and now here we are.
She's obsessed with the history of bagels
and bread in general, which is so fascinating.
So she started reading to me from this book,
and in this book it was talking about how bagels
represent Jewish courage, which we both, like, love.
And right when she said that, I was like,
"That's the name, Courage Bagels."
There's no commercial yeast, so they're all
wild-yeasted, and we kind of adhere to principles
of baking that are probably thousands of years old.
You know, flour and water left out to collect
the natural bacteria and yeast that are in the air
and on people's hands and in the flour itself.
It makes for a much more digestible bread or bagel
in this case, and it also makes the flavor incredible.
The texture, we get this really crisp almost
like a glassine crust, but then inside
it's tender, and it's chewy, and it's really flavorful.
Sydney: The thing that really sets these bagels apart
for me though is that you can get them slightly burnt.
I know, it's kind of weird, but it's super delicious.
The one thing New York bagels definitely don't have
is fresh produce like this.
Fresh tomato, fresh cucumber, the onions even smell good.
Like, where do get a tomato like this?
Not in New York, that's for sure.
Seriously.
All right, let's go for it because I'm dying.
It's so crunchy.
Yeah, it's really good.
Mmm-hmm, like, I love how it's burnt.
It's a little nutty,
and the labneh is just, you know,
it's really mild and nice and, like, light I think
compared to traditional cream cheese.
They must put some lemon juice in here too.
Mmm-hmm, this rules. It's so good
Yeah.
This is California for me.
100%.
Holy cow.
Yes.
I think these are some of the best lox I've had in LA.
I was just going to say that.
Yeah.
Where is this from?
I don't know. I didn't even ask.
I just saw lox, and I said, "Yes, give me lox."
Lox aren't like prosciutto, don't call me.
Got to be paper-thin like this.
You can call me. I'll eat any lox.
Thanks for leaving your truck today to come.
I know, worth it.
Crispy, crunchy, Montréal-style.
Much different than the other bagels we've had. I love it.
Our last stop on this bagel tour is Brooklyn Bagel Bakery.
The shop opened in 1953, but it had to close in 2015
due to a wall collapse in the original space.
In 2018 though, it made a triumphant return
and has gotten back to cranking out some
of LA's favorite bagels.
I've been coming here since 1982.
Every day I would come, and one Saturday I came,
Saturday night, and they would open after Shabbat
at 8 p.m.,
and I would see the fire on, just started the oven,
and fresh bagels in half an hour, one hour.
Not too many people can do as original
as they can do here.
It's unbelievable what they do.
Sydney: Their production facility makes thousands
and thousands of bagels for both the shop and for wholesale.
The bagels are slightly smaller than
what you might find in New York, but they definitely
have more of an old-school feel
than other places we've tried.
I have not had these bagels yet.
Let's try 'em.
And it's got that nice tap that you want to hear.
Yeah, oh wow, dang.
Yeah.
OK.
I love poppy seed. The texture is so good.
You've got to try this.
Yeah, let's trade. Here, take the other half
of mine. Trade.
Oh yeah, yeah, what are we doing?
Was not expecting that.
And you know what else I like about this is the size.
Three-and-a-half-ounce bagel, that's what's up.
Right size.
The reason I really like these.
Yeah.
Sometimes when you toast it, the chewiness, like, is gone.
Yeah, and that's a thing in New York,
like you don't toast the bagel.
You don't toast them. - Yeah.
So here they make them hot, so they're doing that, but
it has that chewy texture.
I like the crunch on the outside.
The other thing that I love is the original sign
that they have with the original prices.
A quarter for a bagel, 25 cents.
How you gonna have a baker's dozen for $2?
It says if you buy $59 worth of bagels in cash,
you get a free dozen.
Ready for that.
I think that we've done a pretty good job
eating here today.
And these bagels are pretty great.
I agree.
Yeah, right size, good chew.
Different method than what Evan uses,
so it's kind of fun to see how LA
has different kinds of bagels,
and great to see that they have reopened
and kind of saved this legendary business.
This is such a beautiful spot.
It's an institution for sure.
The time has come. We've eaten some of LA's best bagels,
and now I have to pick my favorite one.
First up, Yeastie Boys.
So the thing about Yeastie Boys is that they're
the best version of, like, a New York-style bagel
meets a Montréal-style bagel.
And I'm from New York, but my mom's also Canadian,
so it combines my two favorite things.
The Yeastie Boys bagels are big enough
and, like, hefty enough for you to be able
to load them up with whatever toppings you want.
I'm talking cream cheese. I'm talking bacon.
I'm talking lox. I'm talking cheese.
Next, Courage Bagels.
Courage Bagels are more of the Montréal-style bagel.
They're on the other side of the spectrum of bagels
that we've tried in this experiment, if you will.
They're really crispy on the outside,
nice and chewy on the inside, but there's a ton
of little air pockets of dough, and that comes from
the natural-yeasted dough that they use.
And so there's little pools that you can fill up
with cream cheese or labneh or whatever other
toppings you want, and I really, really liked that.
And finally, Brooklyn Bagel Bakery.
They're definitely more of like an old-school-style bagel.
It reminds me the most of New York
of all the bagels we tried.
They make a slightly smaller bagel,
which is kind of nice if you're not looking
to eat a giant sandwich
and you just want some cream cheese, some lox.
Nothing fancy, Brooklyn Bagel Company is perfect for that.
It's definitely the place you would go
to grab a bag of bagels to bring to the office.
There's something for everyone in LA,
and I think that after seeing all the different bagels
that we tried, nobody can say that LA
doesn't have good bagels. We've proven that they do.
So there.
If I have to pick a favorite,
it's gonna be Courage Bagels.
I know, I'm sorry, but they're Montréal-style.
I have a soft spot for that.
It's my personal favorite.
Everyone else I'm sure has a preference.
But for me, it's gonna be Courage Bagels.
The reason I loved Courage so much was because
the outside's really crispy, and the inside
is really light and airy.
It's not heavy. It's not dense.
And I love that they give you the option
to buy a burned bagel because I love
that really nice depth of flavor you get
from burning something just a little bit.
And their toppings are premium.
I mean, like I said, the heirloom tomatoes,
the nice olive oil, the sea salt, the labneh, the za'atar.
They run the gamut of interesting ingredients,
and bagels are all great, but when you add something unique
like that, it just takes it to another level.
I hope we've shown you that LA has awesome bagels.
We're having kind of like a bagel renaissance
in Los Angeles right now, so I hope you go try some of them.
Let us know if we missed anywhere, and enjoy.
Paul, come here.
All right, so Paul and I are going
to eat some more bagels, right, buddy?
He also wants to go find some dogs. OK, bye.