Small Pleasures: Myer's Rosemary-Sea Salt Bagel

Rosemary-sea salt bagel with scallion cream cheese Credit: Sally Pollak ©️ Seven Days

I never thought I’d call a New York City bagel-eater deprived, but that’s the conclusion I’ve come to after reading the top bagel picks of the New York Times food editors.

Their bagel preferences were posted January 23 on @nytcooking, the newspaper’s food Instagram page. The culinary pros in the bagel capital of the world announced choices like bacon, egg and cheese on toasted cinnamon; whole wheat everything with tofu veggie cream cheese; and egg everything with cream cheese and bacon.

WTF?!

No one picked a rosemary-sea salt bagel, an outstanding addition to a food landscape that’s bereft of nothing. For a bagel traditionalist like me with a half-century preference for poppy and sesame, a variety that knocks them out of the toaster is front-page news. Not a glossy on the gram.

We get rosemary-sea salt bagels at Myer’s Bagels, a Montreal-style bagel bakery and cafe on Pine Street in Burlington. One bagel, wood-fired, is $1.15; half a dozen is $6. Bagels are best the day they’re baked, so we usually buy what we plan to eat that minute.

I like mine — no, I love mine — open-faced and toasted with scallion cream cheese. If we have red onion or capers in the house, I’ll add those. Lox turns a bagel with cream cheese into a celebration, but it’s not an everyday thing.

If the NYC foodies aren’t deprived — if they’ve eaten a rosemary-sea salt bagel and still opt for cinnamon or egg everything — then their bagel judgment is suspect.

Small Pleasures is an occasional column that features delicious and distinctive Vermont-made snacks or drinks that pack a punch. Send us your favorite little bites or sips with big payoff at food@sevendaysvt.com.