Tal Bagels

The last time I came to New York, I decided to wander aimlessly throughout Chinatown until I found a good place to eat. In the end, I found a wonderful Chinese restaurant with a line almost out the door (due both to its populatiry and its small, small size) and had a delicious and big meal for only $8 after tip. So I figured it would work again.

Well, it kinda did.

I wandered for a few blocks looking for some breakfast (the hostel, which still had no bedbugs that I could find, also had no breakfast that I could find). I wandered past two Starbucks (evil) and a McDonald's (even more evil) before stumbling upon a real New York bagel place. Tal Bagels sells more than just bagels - it sells bialys (very difficult to find in Baltimore, at least I could never find any), assorted cream cheeses, deli offerings (cole slaw, potato salad, etc), and a large array of cookies, pastries and drinks. I went for a simple onion bagel with lox (smoked salmon) and plain cream cheese, plus a can of Diet Pepsi. I'm glad I didn't ask for fancy cream cheese (tofu? walnut and cinnamon? olive?) because this alone cost me over $8 - more than that whole Chinese meal I had the last time!!! And the bagel? Nothing special. I've had much better at Sam's Bagels back home (including a much better onion bagel, which actally tastes like onion after it's toasted, instead of tiny pieces of charcoal like this one).

I have to hand it to the staff, however. They were quite courteous and patient with this non-New Yawkah. Maybe you're paying for the service?