Best bagels on the UWS? Absolutely

I really need to stop using puns as blog post titles (it's my way of copping out since I'm not that creative). Anyway, Absolute Bagels has just become my favorite bagel place both because it's conveniently located at 108th and Broadway, and because well... their bagels are pretty phenomenal.

The UWS/morningside area is actually home to quite a few bagel places, even just around Columbia there's Broadway Bagel, Absolute, Nussbaum & Wu, and Hot and Crusty. Needless to say, in the past month... I've found myself visiting all of them as Bagels were, and still are, sort of like comfort cheat meals. I'm not going to review most of them, so I'll do a quick summary of Broadway, Nussbaum, and Hot & Crusty... small and unremarkable, okay... but doughy and undercooked(?), and um... I just don't like Hot & Crusty's name or bagels (it's okay for me to have bias towards a name). In any case, Abolute stands above the bunch (even matching the storied H&H a lot of people seem to love... imho of course).

The storefront is again, an umimposing little nook shop on Broadway, real plain awning, nothing too inspiring here. As you walk in, there's a couple of tables, but the place clearly isn't for spending a day at. There's just an L-shaped counter, and a giant menu to peruse behind it. The only thing they do (and do well) is bagels... which is exactly what you want in a bagel place. They're offerings are of the plain varieties (poppy seed, pumpernickel, rye, sesame, onion, garlic, etc.) so you won't find any creative or outrageous concoctions here, but it's okay since classic is good. Anyway, at $1 a piece, their bagels are a bit more expensive than most in the area, but trust me it's well worth it. I ended up buying a cinnamon raisin, a poppy seed, and a pumpernickel to sample the gamut of varieties... you know, just to make sure they weren't a one trick pony haha. All three were good in the same way. Warm crusty outter shell (I went at 6 am mind you), which yielded with a crunch to a soft inner bread that was heavy and doughy, but still airy. Sorry, I'm bad with words, and I realize that last sentence makes no sense, but that's the best I can do. Regardless, the bagels had nice textural character, with each producing enough subtle flavor to clearly distinguish the types, that is to say... the poppy seeds didn't dominate the taste of the bagel (the same is true for the other two). So if you're craving bagels, don't waste your time with the mass produced crap at westside market or morton... unless you're trying to save money (I'm guilty of this more times than I'd like to admit), try Absolute... I swear you'll want to go back for more. Oh and don't ask them to toast it, it costs extra and it just makes the inside crunchy too. If i wanted to have crunchy bagels, I'll just go to Nussbaum...

Did you know you can put on like 10 pounds in 1 day through sodium bloat? True story. Current weight... a tidy 157 haha... fail.