The 17 best bagel spots in NYC (2024)

This Fresh Meadows maker has been spinning "all natural, handmade" kettle-boiled then baked bagels since 1961. Varieties like egg-onion, everything and blueberry each have a crisp crust andinterior so chewy and ideal it almost takes off the edge off the wordmoist. Practically a landmark, Bagel Oasis is also open an eye-popping 24-hours a day, every day.

Anecdotally larger than a lot of its peers, Absolute actually has seats inside, or you can take it a few blocks away to a park bench. You'll have plenty of time waiting in line to plan your order, but get a head start with visions of cream cheese flavors like blueberry, sun-dried tomato and walnut-raisin, plus smoked fish and deli meats.

A Tribeca staple since 1994, Zucker's got that way by hand-rolling and kettle-boiling its bagels with the best of 'em. It now has five other shops around town, and you can mix and match a bunch of bagel varieties with schmears, salads and smoked fish, or turn them into egg sandwiches.

This Upper West Side institution began as a smoked fish sop with in was founded by Louis Zabar, a Ukrainian immigrant, in1934. Still a family businessin its third generation, its present 20,000 square-feet host a feast of savory and sweet treats, including its signaturemalt barley flourbagels.

Black Seed bagel shop quickly generated a lot of buzz for its hand-rolled and poached Montreal-style bagels when it opened its first shop in Nolita in 2014. Today it has ten NYC locations where you’ll findits hit titular bagels, plus house-made spreads like scallion cream cheese and smoked mackerel.

Baskets of bagels, hand-written signs and a couple of tables fill this narrow space on its eponymous spot in Carroll Gardens. Choose from fresh baked onion, poppy, sesame and everything options and layer them with thick coats of cream cheese or breakfast and lunch sandwich fillings.

Though the original H&H closed in 2011 after 39 years, others have opened in its stead, including a return to the old Upper West Side neighborhood in 2022. Options across its spots include everything, cinnamon raisin and pumpernickel, all kettle-boiled and baked to create a product “like no other bagel in the world.”

This Bronx shopoperating out of narrow storefront on Riverdale Avenue has been in business for three decades. It has a dozen different daily baked bagel varieties, a bunch of breakfast and lunch sandwich options and oodles of baked goods like muffins, cinnamon rolls and danishes.

Baz is a kind of cool kid bagel shop, but it still uses the boil and bake method perfected by its established predecessors. Here, they just happen to fashionthe wares into nouveau (or, rathercirca-20-teens) takes like tie-dye in addition to more standard types.

Presented as regally as can be, stacked on dowels into towers, these beauties are announced—"hot bagels!"—as they're marched through the dining room. The glossy, slightly smaller-than-average,boiled-then-baked, VIBs (very important bagels) come in varieties like everything and salt and pepper.

This West Village standby has been slinging superlative bagels in several varieties (poppy, cinnamon raisin, sesame) since 1996. The lines can bea little chaotic, but the spot somehow cranks throughcrowds clamoring for its fresh goods before you can even figure out where to stand.

Tompkins Square Bagel’s menu includes the expected options like plain, poppy and pumpernickel bagels, plus specialty selections like French toast and chocolate chip. Sandwich ‘em or select from fruit or nut spreads and cream cheese options.

This Park Slope bagel counter specializes in hand-rolled, kettle-cooked bagels in varieties like cinnamon raisin, pumpernickel and garlic. Adorn them in a vibrant array of flavored cream cheeses (mixed berry, guacamole), smoked fish or with the bodega-breakfast-of-champions, bacon, egg and cheese.