The Best Bagels in New York, Schmear by Schmear
Hand-rolled and kettle-boiled, untoasted on principle or hot enough to burn your fingers, carrying lox or a bacon, egg and cheese — here is where to get each kind of New York bagel, and exactly what to ask for.
16 dishes · 16 kitchens
A New York bagel is boiled before it is baked, and that is about the only thing anyone agrees on. Some of the city's best are small and dense with a crust that crackles; others are big, soft and built to hold a breakfast. A few of the most talked-about newcomers taste closer to a sourdough loaf. And the oldest shops on this list barely think of the bagel as the point at all — it is the thing you put the fish on.
So this guide is organized by what you are actually ordering: a plain bagel and a schmear, bagels with lox from the appetizing counters, the bacon, egg and cheese, the new school, and the neighborhood shops in Brooklyn and Queens that their blocks would not do without. Every pick names the bagel or sandwich to get.
Two rules that hold almost everywhere. If the bagel is warm, don't toast it — at least one shop here won't let you. And go early: at the popular shops, weekend lines get long by mid-morning.
The classic bagel and schmear
Hand-rolled, boiled, baked, and spread with cream cheese. Nothing else needed.
- 01
Everything bagel with scallion cream cheese
Ess-a-Bagel · GRAMERCY & UNION SQUARE, MANHATTAN
Big, slightly sweet and remarkably consistent since 1976. At the First Avenue shop, start with the everything and scallion.
- 02
Warm everything or sesame with scallion cream cheese
2788 Bagels · UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN
The old Absolute Bagels storefront near 108th Street, revived in 2025 with much of the old staff and, they say, the same recipe. The bagels are small, dense and craggy and baked all day, so there is a good chance yours is still warm.
- 03
Pumpernickel cranberry bagel with cream cheese
Bo's Bagels · HARLEM, MANHATTAN
Old-school, smaller, denser bagels made from scratch in Harlem, in more than a dozen flavors. The pumpernickel cranberry is the one you will not find elsewhere.
Lox and the appetizing counter
Smoked fish, sliced to order, from the shops that have been doing it longest.
- 04
The Classic (bagel, cream cheese and lox) — or the Super Heebster
Russ & Daughters · LOWER EAST SIDE, MANHATTAN
Take a number at the Houston Street counter, open since 1914, and start with the Classic plus capers and red onion. Next time, the Super Heebster: whitefish and baked salmon salad, horseradish-dill cream cheese and wasabi tobiko on a toasted bagel.
- 05
Sturgeon or nova, with a bagel or bialy
Barney Greengrass · UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN
The Sturgeon King has been on Amsterdam Avenue since 1929 and still has the appetizing counter up front. Sit down for a sturgeon or nova plate — or the eggs scrambled with nova and onions — and take a quarter pound home.
- 06
The Member of the Tribe (nova and scallion cream cheese)
Shelsky's of Brooklyn · COBBLE HILL, BROOKLYN
A Court Street appetizing shop that boils its own bagels, with a caramelized crust and an airy crumb that suits smoked fish. Nova, scallion cream cheese, done.
- 07
Onion bialy
Kossar's Bagels & Bialys · LOWER EAST SIDE, MANHATTAN
Not a bagel, but its closest relative: no hole, a soft roll pressed in the middle and filled with onion. The country's oldest bialy bakery has been on Grand and Essex since the early 1960s; eat one warm, and take a few home.
The bacon, egg and cheese
The city's breakfast sandwich, on a bagel that can carry it.
- 08
Bacon, egg and cheese on pumpernickel
David's Bagels · GRAMERCY & UNION SQUARE, MANHATTAN
David's bagels are huge and soft at the center, and the pumpernickel is dark, earthy and stays springy after toasting. Worth walking past several bodegas for.
- 09
Bacon, egg and cheese
Tompkins Square Bagels · EAST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN
Airy, kettle-boiled bagels made for sandwiches, on Avenue A since 2011. Carry it a block south to the park.
- 10
Breakfast sandwich with home fries inside
Knickerbocker Bagel · BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN
Hand-rolled and boiled in Bushwick, these bagels are sturdy enough for home fries stuffed in with the egg and cheese. Add jalapeño cream cheese if you want it to fight back.
- 11
Sausage, egg and cheese with a hash brown
Greenberg's Bagels · BEDFORD–STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN
Thin, soft bagels and the liveliest weekend-morning sidewalk in Bed-Stuy. Add the hash brown for crunch, or go for the shakshuka egg and cheese.
The new school
Hotter, tangier, spicier — bagels that start arguments.
- 12
Plain, sesame or everything, with scallion cream cheese on the side
Apollo Bagels · EAST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN
From the team behind Leo's sourdough pizza: a deeply browned, crisp crust and a chewy, tangy crumb, served nearly hot. Purists object; try a bite plain before you spread anything.
- 13
Jalapeño everything with chipotle cream cheese
Liberty Bagels (Midtown) · MIDTOWN, MANHATTAN
Glossy, chewy, hand-rolled bagels near Penn Station — and yes, a rainbow one. Skip the novelty for the jalapeño everything with chipotle, salt, seeds and heat in one bite.
Neighborhood bagels, Brooklyn and Queens
Shops their neighborhoods line up for.
- 14
Everything bagel with cream cheese — untoasted
Bagel Hole · PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN
Small, crackly-crusted Park Slope bagels that the shop refuses, on principle, to toast. Cash only, and the weekend line spills onto Seventh Avenue.
- 15
Any bagel with za'atar cream cheese
Bagel Pub (Crown Heights) · CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN
Thick, airy and piping hot, on Franklin Avenue. The Saturday line is a Crown Heights rite of passage; the za'atar cream cheese is the reason to join it.
- 16
French toast bagel
Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Company (Astoria) · ASTORIA, QUEENS
Brooklyn Bagel's original shop is, despite the name, on 30th Avenue in Astoria, open since 2002. The french toast bagel is eggy and only mildly sweet; for a full breakfast, the house Classic stacks nova, scallion cream cheese, tomato, capers and onion on an everything.
Every kitchen here was confirmed open as of 2026-10-14. Menus change — confirm a dish is on before you make the trip.