Golden opportunity for indulgence
Stellar bagels, coffee, ordering and pickup prove a winning combo
A sudden craving for smoked salmon led me to White Oak neighborhood fixture Golden Bagels for takeout last weekend. Yet it was the assertive round flavors of a flat white espresso drink that sparked a grateful epiphany in Golden’s parking lot, before I had even cranked up the motor to drive home.
I sipped the micro-frothed double shot through that little square hole in the plastic lid of its cardboard cup, surprised — nay, overcome — that it tasted like the nectar of the gods.
How many months had it been since a human being had pulled a proper espresso drink for me? Such a little thing, seemingly; so easy to take for granted in my old, lucky life. I felt absurdly grateful, which I find myself doing more often these days.
Golden, which opened in early 2018, has switched entirely to takeout for the present. It has developed an excellent, confidence-inspiring system for curbside takeout — one of the best I’ve yet experienced. The online menu is detailed down to whether you want your bagels sliced or no, toasted or no, whether you want them singly or by the dozen, with poppy seeds or whatever else.
All the various cream cheese spreads come in 4-ounce, 8ounce or 1-pound cartons. Sandwiches, sides, coffee drinks — all there, with photos, in an intuitive layout. You can pay online and schedule your pickup for later, which I’ve found is key to my ease of use. Or you can order by phone, if you prefer.
A well-thought-out pickup station on the coffee shop’s side patio made me comfortable from the moment I pulled my car into a space in front of it. Banners encouraged social distancing and mask-wearing. A masked staffer came out to hand me my order right away. Napkins, coffee stirrers, straws and the like were set on a railing, along with a huge pump jar of hand sanitzer.
And oh, that first sip of coffee. Golden’s co-owner Avi Katz was a pioneer of serious local coffee roasting in Houston, and his shop’s bagel-making game has gotten stronger since my last visit there, a little over a year ago.
There’s more of the requisite stretch and chew to the Golden Bagels these days. I took several single, unsliced bagels home and froze them. Toasted later in the week, their tight, shiny surfaces offered just the right resistance. Eating them felt like an activity, and that’s what I want in a bagel.
I devoured my Nova salmon bagel in a flash, not minding too much that the house-coldsmoked fish had a saltier cure than I remembered. (I just scraped off all the capers in self-defense.)
There’s something so indulgent about the slip-side of a glossy salmon slice against a cushion of cream cheese, with red onion to edge the flavors, that eating the Nova bagel felt like an act of self-care.
Then I had stuff for later snacking and lunching in the days ahead. I squeezed some lime on Golden’s avocado spread so it wouldn’t turn brown overnight, then layered it on a poppyseed bagel with the shop’s lively Israeli salad, a chop of cucumber, tomato and red onion. I had some grape tomatoes on hand, so those went on, too. I felt healthier just looking at it.
The bagels came out of the freezer one by one, in great shape to be split and toasted and eaten for breakfast. One day butter and Texas ruby red grapefruit jelly from Confituras, the Austin small-batch producer, was the bagel combo, along with a fried egg. Another day, my favorite Golden cream cheese spreads — scallion and dill, with its fresh, herbal lift; and roasted garlic, with its rounded allium bloom — gave a toasted bagel even more presence.
Honestly, if I had to do it over again, I’d have bought 8-ounce containers of the spreads instead of 4-ounce. I wish I had ordered more bagels, too. But I did congratulate myself for one menu hack: I was out of milk for my morning coffee and loath to brave the corner store. So I ordered a glass of whole milk to go. It lasted for days.
Got a hungry group? Here’s another hack: Order a big lox or Nova platter with 2 pounds of cured salmon, a dozen bagels and all the fixings. Sounds like brunch to me.