Any visit to New York would be incomplete without a taste of a chewy, delicious bagel. A typical New York bagel is smaller and denser than most, usually hand-rolled, boiled, then baked to achieve the perfect consistency. Here are places to find the best bagels in New York, whether you take yours topped with plain cream cheese, lox, butter, or whatever topping or filling you choose! Photo Credit: @snackingsamurai on Instagram
Masks are encouraged, but optional in most settings per New York State guidelines. Individual businesses or attractions may require mask wearing. Call ahead and check websites and social media to make sure attractions and amenities are open and available.
Updated: 012/29/2023
Adirondacks
Bear’s Cup (Bolton Landing)
Credit: @bearscupbolton on Instagram
Winner of the 2021 Best of Lake George Award for Breakfast, Bear’s Cup is bringing some hand-rolled, kettle-boiled, home-baked goodness to Bolton Landing. The owners rolled in from New Jersey and Long Island with their delicious recipes including the signature sandwich, the “201” which includes fried eggs, melted cheddar, and Taylor ham on a bagel of your choice. Pair your bagel with one of their specialty coffee drinks and homemade pastries and then wander next door to The Sagamore Resort lawn and enjoy your breakfast with a view!
credit: @chris__malone on Instagram
Not only can you enjoy the incredible scenic beauty of the Adirondacks, but you can also find a delicious New York bagel at this favorite spot on Main Street in Lake Placid. The bagel menu includes the Instagram-famous rainbow variety, with colorful swirls baked into the dough, as well as all the classics, from sesame to poppy, to everything.
This family-run shop burst onto the scene in Albany in December 2021, delivering meticulously-crafted, classically-flavored small-batch vegan bagels that are hand-rolled, boiled, and baked to perfection over a 16-hour process. Spread on some cream cheese or opt for a “Bigger Bite” like the Gouda Morning, packed with homemade roast beef, bacon, fried egg, smoked gouda, caramelized onions, and Russian dressing, or the Easy Being Green featuring vegan bacon, eggs, and cheddar with artichoke puree, roasted red peppers, spinach, and pesto. Try their unique take on dough with a “Challah Pocket” stuffed with Nutella, peanut butter and jelly, and other sweet options.
Credit: @thesnacksimp on Instagram
Delight in a city-style bagel upstate! The owners of West End Bagels have perfected their craft by training with successful bagel shop owners in the New York City Metropolitan areas. Every morning their bagels are made from scratch using only the freshest, high quality ingredients. Find all the staples of a downstate bagel shop, including a classic bacon, egg, cheese, salt, pepper, ketchup sandwich, a variety of cream cheeses, bialys, pastries, coffees, Boars Head products and more. For a sweet treat, try the French toast bagel with funfetti cream cheese, or add a burst of color by swapping the French toast out for the specialty “wagel bagel”, a tie-dyed plain bagel that looks as delicious as it tastes.
Credit: The Mud Club
The name suggests they put their coffee first, but at this Woodstock favorite, where there’s almost always a line of hungry patrons, the bagels are first-rate as well. Baked in a wood-fired oven, the bagels pair perfectly with the organic drip coffee on offer. And this being a well-known enclave where the hippie spirit lives on, The Mud Club is currently open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 9 am-3 pm to help reduce the shop’s carbon footprint.
Credit: @moonrisebagels on instagram
Pizza… inside a bagel? It doesn’t get more New York than this, and nobody is doing it quite like Moonrise Bagels. After months of experimenting, tinkering, flavor profiling, and devouring, these quirky culinarians cracked the code on a unique and jaw-dropping concoction. Stuff your face with a stuffed bagel in scenic Woodstock. Try a staple bacon, egg, and cheese stuffed bagel, a chicken parm stuffed bagel, pizza stuffed bagel, or a reuben stuffed bagel. If you’re looking for a standard bagel experience, they also offer un-stuffed bagels along with flavorful cream cheese and spread options.
Credit: @robdelleats on Instagram
Start your day off with a Cortado (equal parts espresso and velvety steamed milk) and a bagel sandwich at Crown Street Roasting Company, a spot that roasts and grinds all its own coffee in-house and makes its bakery menu items. Open as early as 7am, grab your grub and hit the streets of Jamestown for a fun-filled day.
Life is better at the lake, especially so with a bagel. Right on Chautauqua Lake you can enjoy great eats and equally great scenery. Lake Life Cafe prides itself on offering sustainably farmed fruits, vegetables, local baked goods, and selectively sourced and roasted coffee. Treat yourself to a plain, asiago, or everything bagel, topped with a variety of eggs, meats, and cheeses, or gourmet avocado spread.
Credit: @behappyeating_ on Instagram
The lines are frequently out the door at Willie’s Bagel Café, and locals will tell you it’s always worth the wait! With their growing popularity over the years, they recently opened a second location in Utica, doubling the breakfast bounty. Favorite menu options include the custom-colored bagels, along with blueberry, egg everything, and jalapeño. Taste your way around the cream cheese spreads including Nova lox, olive, and honey walnut, or a traditional meat, egg, and cheese sandwich.
Credit: @gocooperstown on Instagram
Every college town needs a good deli and lounge, and Latte Lounge is Oneonta’s go-to. Students, locals, and visitors alike stop here for fresh-brewed coffee and a menu of in-house bagels and clever cream cheese flavors from jalapeno, maple nut, and olive.
Credit: @j7rosenthal on Instagram
Balsam’s tagline promises “More than just bagels!” but while this family-run Rochester mainstay offers breakfast sandwiches, pastries, and soups, it’s the bagel and cream cheese menu here that stands out. There are thousands of possible combinations between bagels (from sesame and poppy to sundried tomato, olive rosemary, and French toast) and cream cheese (bacon scallion, cranberry orange, and honey walnut). Plus, non-dairy cream cheeses are available in many of the fun flavors for vegans and the lactose-intolerant.
Credit: @cnyfryguy on Instagram
A hometown couple that went away to college, traveled, and then returned to Syracuse started this sleekly designed shop, where the bagels are boiled and then finished in wood-oven for a perfect mix of chew and crunch. The bagel selection skews traditional but has some tasty-sounding standouts like rosemary salt and the regionally appropriate kimmelweck (the bread style of neighboring northern city Buffalo’s famed beef on weck), while house-made cream cheeses include smoked salmon and garden veggie as well as gourmet riffs like jalapeno and dill. Water Street also serves coffee from acclaimed local roastery Recess.
Greater Niagara
Bagel Jay’s (Buffalo, Williamsville, Snyder/Amherst)
Credit: @lee_brenon on Instagram
Buffalo’s favorite place for a bagel and a schmear (or dab of cream cheese), Bagel Jay’s features a varied menu of classic styles bagels and spreads, as well as some newer favorites like olive and pimento. The way to look like a local is to wash down your Bagel Jay’s bagel with a cup of dark roast coffee from local roastery McCullagh.
Credit: Breadhive Worker Cooperative
This worker cooperative–owned cafe offers a homey ambiance and a menu of inventive bagel sandwiches. Many of the sandwiches even sound mouth-watering, such as the Aaliyah, made with house breakfast sausage, scrambled egg, cheddar, butter, and maple syrup. Vegans can find something to love here, like the Shania, a tofu and tempeh scramble, roasted peppers, onion and tumeric. And in case you hadn’t noticed Breadhive sandwiches are named for famous female singers!
Credit: @upstatesocialny on Instagram
The small town of Kinderhook in northern Hudson Valley is best known as the birthplace of the eighth President of the United States, Martin Van Buren. A stone’s throw from the house where he was born is Broad Street Bagels, where the main attraction is bagels made from a family recipe dating back to 19th-century Brooklyn. Purists can stick to a sesame with plain cream cheese but Broad Street also specializes in now-trendy offshoots (like pumpkin caramel and bacon horseradish) and serves all kinds of sandwiches and even bagel burgers.
Credit: @cny_foodie on Instagram
Representing southern Hudson Valley on this list is Nyack Hot Bagels, something of an institution in a river town that’s becoming known as a foodie haven. At Nyack Hot Bagels, the shop takes pride in its hand-rolled, boiled, and baked bagels, which are often served hot out of the oven. The shop also offers a bialy, a sort of cousin to the bagel with a depression rather than a hole in the middle.
Credit: @broadwaygourmet on Instagram
This place is like a bagel fantasyland, with flat bagels or “flagels,” bialys, and traditional bagels as well as marble, chocolate chip, and pretzel options. Bagel fans with a sweet tooth will want to scan the Crazy Bagels section, which includes a s’mores bagel (pictured) and a unicorn bagel made with a rainbow bagel and cotton candy cream cheese!
Credit: @Iflyfood on Instagram
Most of the bagels on this list adhere to the New York bagel motto that “Smaller is better,” but Better on a Bagel opts for a bigger footprint. Perhaps the thinking is that a larger bagel is a better vehicle for a delicious egg sandwich, which is the main draw at this shop, which serves all sorts of variations on the classic “BEC” (or bacon, egg, and cheese).
Credit: Courtesy of Russ & Daughters
Many people trace the bagel’s origins back to Poland, and Russ & Daughters, founded in the early 1900s by Eastern European immigrant Joel Russ, has an important part in New York’s food history. The appetizing shop at 179 East Houston St. opened in 1920 and is still there today, serving what’s considered the best bagel and lox sandwich in the city. In 1935, Russ made his three daughters full partners—hence the name—a bold move at the time! Today, Russ & Daughters is still family-owned, by the fourth generation, and now has four locations!
This, ahem, hole-in-the-wall Brooklyn shop serves what many consider the best bagels in New York City. They’re classic boiled bagels, small and chewy yet crunchy, and always served warm and fresh. As a result, the hard-working staff at the perpetually busy Bagel Hole respectfully refuse to toast bagels or even slice bagels that aren’t being ordered with butter or cream cheese. For locals, it’s part of the charm! They offer two convenient locations in the heart of Flatbush.
Thousand Islands-Seaway
Riverwalk Bagels (Oswego)
Credit: @riverwalkbagels on Instagram
With homemade bagel flavors including: spicy everything, rosemary, sea salt & olive oil, bacon cheddar, and cranberry oat, run don’t walk to Riverwalk Bagels. World-renowned bagel artists were consulted before the owners opened this popular Oswego-based shop. Baked from scratch daily, their detailed process for bagel-making makes this spot a must-try. The menu features the classic bagel sandwiches, along with a pizza bagel, BLT bagel, and Italian mix bagel.
Credit: @oswegobagelshop on Instagram
Since opening in 1989, this locally-loved spot is as known for their unique homemade cream cheese spreads as they are for their homemade bagels. Spice things up with their banana pepper or bacon-horseradish cream cheeses, or satisfy your sweet tooth with apple-cinnamon or strawberry flavors. With a dozen or more bagel options, the combinations for flavorful fun are endless.
