EVERYTHING BAGELS EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
FROM CLASSIC TO EXPERIMENTAL, L.A.’S BEST TO NOSH. DON’T FORGET THE SCHMEAR.
JUST AS IN THE Oscar-nominated film from directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, bagels seem to be everywhere all at once lately. This might not be news in New York, where bagels first made their stateside appearance in the late 19th century, but here in L.A., where transplants never fail to criticize us for taking creative liberties with their signature foods (looking at you, New York-style pizza), one can’t help noticing a new crop of bagel bakers across the city. And while you’re bound to find East Coast-style boiled bagels and even Montreal-inspired wood-fired options, you’ll also run into hybrids that borrow from these techniques and more, topped with Santa Barbara-sourced smoked salmon or seasonal farmers market fruit and vegetables. You’ll even meet bagel makers bold enough to claim their style as West Coast, one that’s still being defined as the scene boils over. Here’s an assortment of L.A. bagel shops, from longtime classics to brand-new entrants, that we can’t get enough of.
BAGEL + SLICE
It’s only logical that a half bagel shop, half pizzeria would make one of L.A.’s top spins on a pizza bagel, but Bagel + Slice nails each independently too. Blaze Pizza cofounder Brad Kent launched this concept in 2022 using a blend of sunflower and whole-grain lowgluten buckwheat flours. The everything bagel is the most popular, but the most inspired is the option flecked with dried rosemary and za’atar; they’re enjoyed a la carte, with cream cheese or as part of a bagel sandwich in options such as chicken cutlet with Oaxacan cheese or the quintessential pick: the open-faced Goldilox, which piles scallion cream cheese with lox, dill, capers, red onion and a drizzle of vibrant lemon-infused olive oil. There are New York-style slices and whole pizzas too, but the bialy-like pizzettes are one of Kent’s most distinctive offerings. — S.B.
4751 York Blvd., Los Angeles, bagelandslice.com
BELLE’S BAGELS
The hand-rolled-bagel operation from Nick Schreiber and J.D. Rocchio has lived many lives over the last decade-plus: A home outfit grew into a pop-up out of La Perla, then moved down York Boulevard to a takeout window in the former music venue the Hi Hat. Soon, it’ll be evolving into its very own restaurant and deli along York, set to open later this year. From a small table outside that restaurant’s front door is where you can currently find bagels to go, alongside schmears made with California dairy, onion-laden latkes and whole loaves of olive oil challah. The stars remain the bagels, chewy with just the right amount of bite from the golden outer shell, in classic flavors as well as the more unusual (and fan-favorite) cacio e pepe variety. The tomato jam, perfectly toeing the line between sweet and spicy, is a must-add on any breakfast sandwich. — S.B.
5022 York Blvd., Los Angeles, bellesbagels.com
COURAGE BAGELS
No current discussion of L.A.’s bagel scene can ignore Courage Bagels. The game-changing business began nearly six years ago, when Arielle Skye started selling her compact, smoky-crisp, Montreal-inspired bagels from the back of a bicycle. In October 2020, she and her nowhusband, Chris Moss, moved into the Virgil Village space previously occupied by Super Pan bakery. The lines have been legendary since; these are truly some of the best bagels in the U.S. My standard
BY BILL ADDISON, STEPHANIE BREIJO, DANIELLE DORSEY, BETTY HALLOCK, JENN HARRIS AND LUCAS KWAN PETERSON
order is the Winter in Sardinia — a sandwich layered with sardines, herbs, lemon and a fistful of capers — and also half of a purposely burnt bagel pounded with everything seasoning and draped with smoked salmon. However, no matter what you order or when you show up, there will be a line, and it will be worth the wait. — B.A.
777 N. Virgil Ave., Los Angeles, couragebagels.com
GJUSTA
The bagels at Gjusta are textbook good: crunchy shells with soft, chewy middles. The place is more conservative than most when it comes to the amount of seasoning on the everything bagel, with more of a smattering of dried onion and sesame seeds that allows you to really taste the onion. As good as the bagel is on its own, it’s even better with a schmear of the labneh spread, a couple of slices of pastrami lox and pickled onions. — J.H.
320 Sunset Ave., Venice,
(310) 314-0320, g justa.com
LAYLA BAGELS
Opened at the top of the year on a cozy stretch of Ocean Park Boulevard next to Ghisallo, Layla Bagels comes from brothers Harry and David Wexner and partner and general manager Kai Johnson, with Sammi Tarantino serving as head chef and Sergio España as head baker. Sourdough bagels are handrolled, boiled and baked fresh each morning, available plain or sprinkled with poppy seeds, sesame seeds or everything seasoning. The nearby Santa Monica farmers market lends blood orange, grapefruit and other seasonal fruit to such items as the Pre-Jam bagel slathered with cream cheese and drizzled with honey. There’s also a smoked salmon bagel sandwich and one with scrambled eggs, aged cheddar and chermoula chile oil, plus a handful of vegan options. The bagel shop also just introduced sourdough challah bread on Fridays. — D.D.
laylabagels.com
MAURY’S BAGELS
On sunny weekend mornings, the crowd — flocking with kids and dogs in tow from the surrounding Silver Lake neighborhood — spills onto the sidewalk. Just as popular as Jason Maury Kaplan’s everything bagels are the ones dusted with za’atar. His are chewy, dense East Coast-style bagels to eat on their own or as the foundation for schmears, smoked fish and fish salads, served sandwich-style or open-faced. Lemon curd bagels are a seasonal specialty, and they’re a pretty perfect brunch food. A bagel of your choice is slathered with blueberry cream cheese, topped with lemon curd and sprinkled with toasted pistachios. — B.H.
2829 Bellevue Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 380-9380, maurysbagels.com
SAINT-RAF BAGELS
Of the L.A. bagels I’ve tried recently, I was most impressed with the ones at Saint-Raf Bagels, a business inside the 1802 Roasters coffee shop in Cypress Park — the bagel-and-coffee matryoshka doll that’s exactly what we all need in life. The bagels are tender and chewy, satisfying to pull apart and with that slight alkaline shine characteristic of so many good ones. You can’t go wrong with the classic smoked salmon and cream cheese combo, or a whitefish salad that goes particularly nicely with a poppyseed bagel that’s so densely covered in seeds, you can barely see the bread beneath. My favorite might be the salt and pepper bagel, however, which has a sharpness reminiscent of a plate of cacio e pepe at a good Roman restaurant. — L.K.P.
1206 Cypress Ave., Los Angeles, 1802roasters.com/saintraf
TOMORROW BAGEL
These hand-shaped bagels are worth setting a Sunday alarm clock for. Helmed by Alex Crow and baker Saranee Muengfoo, Tomorrow Bagel popped up at coffee shops like Obet & Del’s and Alibi before moving into its current stall at the Hollywood Farmers Market every Sunday. The bagels are boiled and baked, but what makes them stand out is a barley malt syrup that lends a golden hue and a toasted and nutty flavor. Available with za’atar and sea salt, poppyseeds, sesame seeds, everything seasoning or onion, the bagels are so thoroughly coated that hardly any of the dough is visible until you take that initial bite. Stock up on bagels to take home or order a bagel sandwich with such toppings as lox, tomato, red onions, dill, capers and extra virgin olive oil, or scrambled eggs, cheese, bacon and Thai chili honey, with rotating seasonal options. — D.D.
1600 Ivar Ave., Los Angeles, @tomorrow_bagel
YEASTIE BOYS
Some of L.A.’s favorite bagels can be found at Yeastie Boys’ roving food trucks, where founder Evan Fox shares his take on the New York-style bagel. Yeastie’s handrolled bagels are designed to be plump, doughy and extremely squishable to stand up to the onslaught of schmear and other items they manage to cram between the halves. These aren’t just bagels, they’re vehicles for folds of lox, slabs of hash browns, pit-smoked pastrami, jalapeño cheddar schmear, pucks of turkey sausage, yolk-oozing fried eggs and other savory options. The $5 order of mini bagels allows for multiple schmears on two sized-down bagels, but for those looking to level up, the Reubenstein, one of the trucks’ most popular items by far, reimagines the classic Reuben on a heaped everything bagel that’s been flipped upside down for maximum grillage; it’s a wholly satisfying meal in ode to the iconic sandwich by Reuben Kulakofsky — a distant relative of Fox’s. — S.B.
8420 Melrose Place, Los Angeles, yeastieboysbagels.com