[Mick]

What is a real bagel? I went to NY in late January (didn't get COVID) and went to some of the highly recommended bagel shops...and came away thoroughly unimpressed. NY water blah blah blah. Maybe I'm missing something but they just weren't that good. 

My understanding is that bagels need to be boiled before baking, but what else makes a bagel a bagel?

Call me a skeptic. I'll stick with my local House of Bagels.

As long as we're on that topic, New York pizza has my vote for Most Overrated Geographic Specialty Fast Food.  Not far behind it is its cousin, Chicago style pizza and no one prefers the Domino's/Caesar's/PapaJohn's style pizza.  I'd rather have an Applewood Pizza (yes, I know it's gone) than any pizza outside of California.  Heck, I'd rather have a Round Table pizza (but with the old style crust) over non-California pizzas.

[Mick]

What is a real bagel? I went to NY in late January (didn't get COVID) and went to some of the highly recommended bagel shops...and came away thoroughly unimpressed. NY water blah blah blah. Maybe I'm missing something but they just weren't that good. 

My understanding is that bagels need to be boiled before baking, but what else makes a bagel a bagel?

Call me a skeptic. I'll stick with my local House of Bagels.

As long as we're on that topic, New York pizza has my vote for Most Overrated Geographic Specialty Fast Food.  Not far behind it is its cousin, Chicago style pizza and no one prefers the Domino's/Caesar's/PapaJohn's style pizza.  I'd rather have an Applewood Pizza (yes, I know it's gone) than any pizza outside of California.  Heck, I'd rather have a Round Table pizza (but with the old style crust) over non-California pizzas.