RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

There has been an independent bagel shop in North Chapel Hill for at 
least 5-6 years now. It's called Bagels on the Hill, and it's on Weaver 
Dairy Road in the same stripmall as the BBQ Joint.

I used to eat there occasionally & while the bagels were 
head-and-shoulders above Bruegger's (well, a freshly-formed dog turd 
would be head-and-shoulders above Brueggers), even a 
hot-fresh-from-the-oven Bagels on the Hill bagel was still kinda meh.

Maybe it's the yeast, actually, or the overnight retardation; they 
seemed to lack that yeasty complexity that would've/should've developed 
from that. I haven't eaten there in ages, particularly now that the BBQ 
Joint is there, because really, when you pull into that parking lot, how 
can you *not* have a tasty BBQ sandwich?

Although I'm not driving by there at 8:00 a.m. so perhaps it would be 
different then. Point being that perhaps in the intervening years 
they've dialed-in their process a little better. Mebbe I should stop in 
again. Although I assume that if they were really great, somebody 
would've said something at some point.

RE: Kossar's bialys: Don't make me cry. They start losing their 
astonishing mmmmmmmm-ness within about 15 minutes of leaving the store 
(and by an hour later they're merely outstanding), so I dunno about 
mailorder; would be like mailorder BBQ.

Ross

Duncan Murrell wrote:
> re:  Bagels
>
>   Bagels take a lot of time, although the dough is pretty simple:   
> flour, dark brown sugar, yeast, salt. Then it's got to rest a couple  
> hours. Then you form the bagels, and rest them overnight, sometimes  
> in a fridge. Then you boil them a couple minutes , flipping once.  
> Then you bake them at really high heat, like 450. Then you serve them  
> immediately.
>
> It's not like dropping fresh dough into hot fat, like a doughnut.  
> Freshness is key --  you should be eating it within an hour of the  
> bagel popping out of the oven. All of which selects for an  
> independent bagel maker with a shop in an area where people gather or  
> pass by in the morning. I assume the chain bagel shops cut corners --  
> the process involves a lot of heat energy and time -- because that's  
> what chains do.
>
> I don't know much about the other bakers around here, the small  
> independent outfits, but it would seem difficult for them to make  
> great bagels in any significant numbers without having someone whose  
> main job is bagels and without having a few big kettles just for  
> bagels. Maybe someone else knows how they make their bagels.
>
> Until some crazy person comes along and decides to open an  
> independent bagel shop (and pickle shop/stand, if I had my way), it's  
> Bruegger's. Kind of sad. (Chesapeake Bagel Factory -- another chain  
> -- makes slightly better bagels, but I'm not sure if they're located  
> around here. Einstein Bros. isn't so hot.)
>
> Finally, even in New York there's debate about what a proper bagel  
> tastes like, and some old-schoolers will only eat the small, crunchy,  
> dense kind, while others think the proper bagel is large, crunchy and  
> chewy. Both styles are "authentic," but they're definitely different.  
> I suppose it comes down to the care and individual attention and  
> freshness.
>
> You can order Kossar's bagels and bialy's (and watch mpg clips of  
> someone named John making bagels) here:
>
> http://www.kossarsbialys.com/
>
> Also, I get my pickles and sauerkraut from Picklelicious in Teaneck,  
> NJ :  www.picklelicious.com .  Some friends like the NYC Pickle Guys  
> (www.nycpickleguys.com), but I haven't tried them. The lady at  
> Picklelicious apprenticed at Guss's. ("Guss'" pickles are now  
> available at A Southern Season back in the deli section, but they're  
> made by a larger company that bought the Guss name a few years back.)
>
> d
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Jan 4, 2006, at 9:15 AM, grady wrote:
>
> > While this is undoubtedly correct, I'm still waiting for someone to
> > conduct some kind of scientific inquiry into *why* the bagels down  
> > here
> > have to suck so bad. There are various theories--the water being one
> > popular one--but goddamnit, the sheer quantities of decent bagels  
> > in the
> > northeast would suggest that it's not rocket science.
> >
> > As opposed to BBQ, which is hard to get right even in central NC.
> >
> > Re: Bo's original post: where was this "review" published? Further
> > pillorying may be required.
> >
> > Ross
> >
> > John I wrote:
> > > Yes!  And when you move to Raleigh, you shouldn't complain about  
> > > the bagels!
> > -- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill --
> > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene
>
>
>
>
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Duncan Murrell
> www.rattlejar.com
>
>
> -- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill --
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene