Fri 23 Dec 2005
Absolute Bagels
2788 Broadway (On the East side of Broadway, 107th-108th)
212-932-2052
On Weds I went to Gourmet Garage and Lenny’s bagels during the transit strike and did a quick comparison. Just a few days ago I went to Absolute Bagels up the street on Broadway. My friend Olivier was here visiting from France for a few months for work and swore that this was the best place in NY for Bagels. Better than H & H, etc. In fact he wanted to walk from 50th street all the way up to 108th up Broadway with his wife to have her sample the prized bagels.
Not one to discount his culinary preferences, I decided to check this place out myself. Funny as it is, this is another one of those Bagel joints run by Chinese - not like that makes a difference but everyone in the store is Chinese. I was able to sneak a photo this time as the owner was sweeping up the front of the store. Anyhow I got a poppy seed bagel to compare and brought it home to try out. Once again, I toasted the bagel and spread butter and some honey over it. Absolute bagels are smaller in general compared with Gourmet Garage’s bagels, and less fluffy than Lenny’s. The taste however is far apart from Gourmet Garage and Lenny’s - The absolute bagel has a chewy crunch and the flavor has a more doughy taste than Gourmet or Lenny’s - definitely the best of the 3 Bagel restaurants reviewed so far. Now, just got to work my way the Upper West side and compare some others like Zabars, H&H, Whole Foods, Fairway(which I think are H&H)…
My bad, I thought I heard them speaking Chinese but it looks like these guys are Thai. Maybe just one of the workers is Chinese.
-S
