I woke up on Sunday hungry and, as always, with bagels on my mind. After some heavy Googling, I decided on the day’s bagel target: the Mission District’s Katz Bagels.
Although Katz has a location in the Financial District (where I live), my friends and I decided to go to the location in the Mission. Located on 16th Street only a few blocks from BART, Katz Bagels’ Mission District location is conveniently en route to Dolores Park, an ideal place to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Katz Bagels has a charming storefront, and the interior of the store is marked by its simplicity. Upon entering, my entourage and I were confronted with a glass-fronted display case that housed plain, everything, poppy seed, sesame seed, and asiago bagels. This array of flavors was promisingly traditional; I was glad not to see another blasphemous, Northern California-born flavor like pesto or blueberry.
I ordered an egg and cheese sandwich on an everything bagel for $4, while my friends Luke and Kate ordered similar sandwiches. If I took a purely clinical approach to my bagel sampling, I would order only a plain, untoasted bagel with cream cheese at every bagel shop I visited. I am, however, weak willed and hungry—sometimes a plain bagel with cream cheese just doesn’t cut it.
My egg and cheese sandwich on an everything bagel.
My breakfast sandwich arrived quickly, wrapped in paper on a wicker tray. Luke insisted on taking the pictures, because he has a nicer iPhone than I do and considers himself a more qualified bagel photographer (this remains to be decided). 7x7 magazine describes a Katz bagel as “A little on the pale side when untoasted, but still glossy with a slight golden hue.” I would say the same of my bagel that morning, although it did have some promising dermal blisters. The bagel was also flatter than what I’m used to, but not egregiously so.
As I ate my sandwich I was impressed by the bagel’s crunch, though I worry that my standards have been lowered by a few too many San Francisco bagels. The sandwich still left something to be desired; the bagel didn’t quite match the texture of an East Coast bagel, the chewiness that makes a true bagel such a satisfying Sunday morning breakfast. A New Jersey bacon (or pork roll, if you’re into that kind of thing), egg, and cheese sandwich has an irrefutable presence that I just didn’t see in the Katz bagel, let alone any California bagel I’ve consumed so far.
I would (and thanks to its convenient location, probably will) eat at Katz Bagels again, but without the gumption I reserve for eating true Jersey bagels.
After we finished our bagels we went to CREAM across the street, because I love ice cream almost as much as I love bagels, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to eat an ice cream sandwich at 1 p.m. right after a late bagel brunch.
Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream between two chocolate chip cookies. Classic.