"The real deal. Growing up in the New York area, and being Jewish, I know from bagels. My children I don't know where I failed love Sam's, Einstein's and Panera Bread's bagels. Oy. The first time I walked into Goldberg's and saw a guy in a yarmulke pushing bagels around in a kettle of boiling water (real bagels are boiled before they're baked; fake bagels are baked in a steam oven) I knew I was going to like the place.<br/ <br/ I do.<br/ <br/ Although Goldberg's makes the trendy flavors, I always stick with the traditional types: plain, egg, garlic, onion, everything, sesame seed, poppy seed. Irregular (made by hand) and dense, they're as good as H&H in New York, my personal gold standard.<br/ <br/ One caveat: the bialys don't hit the heights of the bagels. I'm still looking for the bialy of my dreams in Baltimore. But I think Goldberg's is better than the chains, better than Greg's, better than any I've had in Maryland.<br/ <br/ Oh, they have other stuff, too, like sandwiches and soups. They look and smell good. I've never made it past the bagels to try anything else, and probably never will."
