I’m not snobby about most foods but I am about bagels. I feel like I’m culturally allowed my standards, despite not having been to synagogue in over a decade (maybe two, the fact that I don’t remember doesn’t bode well). This is a good bagel. Not the best I’ve ever had, but it’s good. It’s a good breakfast sandwich bagel, which is tough; I read some food reviewer once say that bagels aren’t the ideal bread for sandwiches and I mean they’re not, not technically (it can be a lot to get your jaw around), but they’re still really good and technicalities in food are boring — good is an art, not a science. It’s like someone getting weird when a killer short story doesn’t follow genre conventions or an acquaintance saying you’re not really something because your mom is Catholic, and your awkward, defensive comeback is that you were eligible for a Birthright trip 13 years ago. Technicalities are for lawyers and scientists at best, self-satisfied know-it-alls at worst; ideas, food, and people are more than the sum of their parts and need room to wander and find their way.
This is a long way of saying I’ve been thinking about religion. I grew up in an interfaith household, both parents ascribing to relatively progressive branches of their respective faiths (Reform Judaism, Catholicism). People sometimes asked if it was confusing and honestly, not really: there were many confusing and hard things about childhood, but religion ranked relatively low on the wtf list. Other people seemed more confused than I was: in fifth grade a kid asked me if I knew that the Jews killed Jesus (thanks for that one, Kevin). I’ve been sitting comfortably agnostic for awhile and sometimes think about why; I didn’t grow up in a hardcore evangelical scenario, though I did hate stories of girls who achieved sainthood through being raped and the misogyny that permeates orthodox Judaism. I know it’s not all like that, but there are other reasons too; more than I can unpack in what’s supposed to be a fun newsletter about breakfast sandwiches, which is probably why you’re here.
NYC at Bagel Miller (Revival Food Hall)
The double-stack of egg, sausage, and Muenster at Bagel Miller threw me. It looks like a lot, but it’s not as much of a gut bomb as you’d think; the sausage is light and springy, juicy and flavorful without being overwhelming. The egg patty has a similar lightness — it’s soft yet firm. Buttery. I used to be down on Muenster cheese — so mild! so boring! not worth it! — but it has its place here. It’s applied with a light hand, creating a nice balance with the bigger flavors from the sausage. Hot sauce of any kind would be nice. And it’s light, light, light: this is a filling breakfast sandwich, but it feels more substantial-filling than greasy-hockey-puck-asleep-at-your-desk-before-10am filling. And the bagel. It’s chewy, almost too chewy, and the flavor lives somewhere between bready and a more traditional malty bagel flavor. I liked it enough that I’d try it with just cream cheese next time. And the people behind the counter were incredibly nice.
I’m always going to miss Baker Miller, their previous iteration, and it makes me sad and frustrated that so many restaurants are reconcepting due to economics. But I’m glad they’re still around in some format. They’ve created a sandwich with staying power, something you can grip like an eggy anchor while you figure things out.