Midtown Lunch

Ever since my visit to the newly opened Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. in Beverly Hills, I’ve been kind of in the mood for bagels.  And, while their bagels were definitely good, and I liked their ice coffee ice cubes, the rest of the nonsense will probably keep me from being a regular customer (I’m looking at you pizza melts).  So, where does one go for bagels in this town? Noah’s is terrible (real bagels are not completely flat on one side), and most people who have moved here from New York will say don’t bother looking. And yet Bagel Broker, near The Grove, seems to come up in conversation a ton- kind of like Joe’s and Vito’s on the similarly maligned L.A. pizza front.

While I’m no bagel aficionado, I do consider myself a bit spoiled on the bagel front after living a few blocks away from the H&H Bagel factory in Midtown West for five years.  Bagel snobs will love to tell you that H&H is overrated, but I can’t imagine anything better than walking 2 minutes on a Saturday morning and picking up bagels that are warm enough to heat your hands through the bag.  The take away?  A less than perfect fresh out of the oven bagel is always better than a perfect but stale bagel.

Bagel Broker certainly feels right.  There are no wraps or photos of Larry King on the wall.  Just a simple menu of bagels, bagel sandwiches, and a selection of breakfast options (which are likely the best value.)

I like that you can get a bagel with lox for under $10 ($8.25), and even though they call it a “sandwich”, it is served open face with lox, cream cheese and red onion placed in equal amounts on both halves- the way it should be.  Olives and potato salad?  No thanks.  But that giant pickle was tasty.  I asked what the freshest bagels out of the oven were, and was told plain.  The bagel wasn’t hot, but it didn’t need to be toasted- which is always a good thing.  Slightly crisp on the outside, super chewy on the inside.  Not transcendental, but definitely good stuff.  Like I said… not an aficionado.  But it seemed good to me, and the price is definitely right.  Their whitefish salad on a bagel is $6.70, and they do breakfast bagel sandwiches for around $5.  Plus, a dozen bagels is $9, and you get two for free.

Unadulterated innards.

Is my search over, or are there better options available?  What’s your go-to bagel spot? Put it in the comments.

Bagel Broker, 7825 Beverly Blvd # 5, 323-931-1258