Rise to the Occasion: Why You Can’t Miss New York’s Iconic Bagels

When we lived in New York, our eldest child was 3 years old and our second child was before his first birthday. As a result, children were inevitably quickly exposed to American food. Things like pizza, hamburgers, and cake were so salty and spicy that I ate them at home, but bagels were at least acceptable. My second child tasted a New York bagel when he was 20 months old, that is, before he turned 2 years old.

The best bagel in New York is without a doubt Essa Bagel. It’s ess-a-bagle. There was one on the main street, around 45th Street, and one on 18th Street, where our apartment was. It’s really delicious.

18th Essa Bagel

Actually, when I was in Korea, I didn’t attach much importance to bagels. The perception was that it was just healthy bread boiled in water and had little taste. It was the same when I went to New York. If you go to any supermarket, bagels are commonly piled up and sold for $1. So I used to eat it with cream cheese flavor.

But when I went to Essa Bagel, I realized something. What I ate so far wasn’t a bagel, it was just a bagel, something similar to bread that was ruined while trying to imitate a bagel.

Egg bagel. It might seem boring, but it’s quite delicious.

When I stand at a stand with all kinds of cream cheese on display, I ask about bread. There are many types of plain bread, sesame seed bread, and vegetable bread. When you choose bread, they tell you to just cut it in half and choose cream cheese, but you have to separately tell them to bake the bread. A toasted New York bagel is so crispy, moist, chewy, savory, and delicious even when eaten on its own.

Spicy Tuna Cream Cheese Tomato Bagel

At first, I put in a lot of things. Let’s add salmon, add tomatoes and vegetables like a sandwich, and choose a special cream cheese. I tried a lot of different things and eventually settled on a cinnamon raisin cream cheese on a plain bagel.

Cinnamon Raisin Cream Cheese Bagel. destination

The specialty of New York, especially Essa bagels, is the enormous amount of cream cheese. I don’t add any extra cream cheese and apply it thicker than the thickness of the bagel. This is not applied, but added on top. When you take a bite, it looks like it will squeeze from both sides and spill out, but when you actually eat it, the hardness of the bread and cream cheese go well together, so you can take a good bite.

At first, the taste of cream cheese was too strong, so I packed the bagel home, scraped the cream cheese into a container, and ate it. Even if you do that, the taste is very strong and good. For the cream cheese, I buy a bag of plain bagels from a place like Trader Joe’s, bake it at home, and spread it on.

Salmon Cream Cheese Bagel

Across from Essa Bagel is Tal Bagel. It is said that an employee who worked at Essa Bagel left and opened this place. Maybe that’s why Essa Bagel’s shortcomings – the store is dark and the interior is outdated – were perfectly covered. However, after trying it a few times, it definitely didn’t taste as good as Essa.

Essa Bagel StandTal bagel stand. Definitely bright and appetizing

Looking at the pictures while writing this makes me want to eat it again. The bagel was really delicious. Even after coming to Korea, I tried bagels every time I stopped by a famous bakery, but they didn’t taste that good. There will probably be both memory mulberry and local mulberry, but it was still very delicious. I miss you.

Essa Bagel Goods

When it was time to leave New York, I was sad so I bought some goods from the stores I frequented. Essa Bagel also offered eco bags, so I bought one. Well, isn’t it pretty? It was so weak that it would be difficult to use it as a shopping cart. It is for decoration only.