Bagels

Bagel City, Bagel Nation: Forage Market Makes a Fantastic Bagel–Now Available in Portland

August 20, 2018 / / Discoveries, Restaurants

“Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?”  won’t easily remain on the tips of old-movie mavens’ tongues, but I’ve always remembered the film title because it was unusual.  The cast had starring roles from Jayne Mansfield and Tony Randall, a duo that never made it like Rock Hudson and Doris Day did.  It might, however, have been Ms. Mansfield’s shining moment in film.

It was a 1957 cinematic satire on the advertising industry, TV and Hollywood.  And the only reason why I bring it up is it makes me think of Portland’s growing sway as a power-house bagel community. Will Success Spoil our Fine Madness for Bagels?  Now with the arrival—long awaited (thanks to Byzantine Portland permitting process) — Forage  Market bagels are about the best  to hit our pint-size city.

Forage Market’s new shop on Washington Avenue

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First Look: Now See Who’s Making the Best Bagels In Maine–World Class at Rose Foods

August 5, 2017 / / Discoveries, Restaurants

This is a brief note on one of most intriguing, finely tuned food establishments that’s just begun its orbit around Portland’s daring-do dining circles.  Rose Foods at the site of the former BreaLu Café space on Forest Avenue strives to be both a bagel shop and Jewish deli, a surprising creation from the white- bread hands of noted chef Chad Conley who’s cooked in some of the top restaurants in New York and Portland and has created the inimitable Palace Diner where his tuna melts and flapjacks are legendary.

The ordering line at Rose Foods

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The Line-Up: Bagel Mania Goes National, Even in Maine–But I Say Bring on the Flagel

June 4, 2017 / / Discoveries, Restaurants, Travel

Enterprising bagel mavens in Maine should flock to flagels, a flattened version of a bagel that some connoisseurs consider the best in class. In fact, the New York Daily News proclaimed in an article last year that these were the best and tastiest of the bagel world.  I wonder why they’re not more popular here?  The name doesn’t roll off tongue and could be mistaken for a social faux pas that invariably happens in a packed room.

Montague Street (Brooklyn) flagels

The point is there’s a bit of bagel mania across the nation with major cities trying to earn top honors in comparison to the standard bearer of the greatness of New York bagels.  I’m from New York and indeed I miss those specimens , which are as easily available as a pack of chewing gum. What’ makes them so good?  The common conception is that it’s because of New York’s pure water (not so pure anymore) and boiled in so-called artesian pools.  I think they’re good because they’re made with chutzpah, the kind dredged from the old  Red Hook.

Excellent bagels sandwich at Cafe 158

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Maple’s Gelato and Bakery Is a Boon to Yarmouth’s Growing Food Scene

November 1, 2016 / / Discoveries

I would be exaggerating if I said that Maple’s Bakery and Gelato on Route 1 in Yarmouth is a bagel body-double for South Portland’s bagel superstar, Scratch Baking.  What’s true is this: Essentially the Maple’s bagel is to Yarmouth what the bagel is to South Portland’s Scratch Baking.  Both make great bagels. Go to Maple’s on a Saturday or Sunday morning and you’ll walk into its small shop packed to the rafters with morning-bagel enthusiasts. Like Scratch, Maple’s runs out early.  They make about 300 to 400 bagels per day on weekends and 200 to 300 daily during the week.

Maple's Bakery and Gelato; toasted Maple's bagel enjoyed at home

Maple’s Bakery and Gelato; toasted Maple’s bagel enjoyed at home

I’ve driven past the Maple’s shop on Route 1 many times and have wondered if this was the same Maple’s who scooped up the organic ice cream market way back when Maple’s founder Kristi Green opened her ice cream shop on Forest Avenue about 10 years ago. There she produced small-batch ice cream using local and organic ingredients.

Maple's is the place to be on weekend mornings; Maple's chicken pot pie

Maple’s is the place to be on weekend mornings; Maple’s chicken pot pie

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At Dawn: Navigating the Wilds of Willard Square for Scratch Baking’s Glorious Bagels

March 14, 2016 / / Baking & Desserts, Discoveries

The birds are barely chirping and there’s nary a sound anywhere around Willard Square in South Portland this Sunday morning. Absent are the usual flock of early risers who descend on Scratch Baking like busy bees to gobble up some of the most uniquely textured bagels in the Northeast.

Scratch Baking on Willard Square, South Portland

Scratch Baking on Willard Square, South Portland

As I walked in to the nearly empty store, the one sole shopper, standing in front of  uncharacteristically full bins of bagels, said, “We should have the start of Daylight Savings Time all the time.”

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