Since we are still on the hunt for the perfect bagel and received such good feedback on our last set of reviews, we chose to extend our search to cover even more places. After we tasted the bagels from Call Your Mother, Bagels Etc. and Baked by Yael, there is still no one true winner. We gathered bagels from all around the city and met at a frosted and windy National Cathedral to eat and discuss. Of course, we wanted to maintain consistency in our reviews and thus ordered the same two bagel sandwiches at each shop: first, an everything bagel with plain cream cheese, and then a plain bagel with smoked salmon and plain cream cheese.
We considered the same criteria as last time while taste-testing these bagels: the bagel dough, the everything bagel seasoning, the smoked salmon, the cream cheese and its texture, the value, and, finally, the overall taste. We determined the value not just by looking at the cost, but by taking into account the bagel’s size and taste.
Call Your Mother
3428 O St NW, Washington, DC 20007
Photos by Leah Belber.
The bagel sandwiches we tried at Call Your Mother (which is owned by GDS alum Andrew Dana ’04) were quite flavorful but tasted stale. On both sandwiches, the bread was neither fresh nor bouncy, even though we had purchased them in the morning when they should have just been baked. The cream cheese had a great flavor but was slathered on a little too heavily. The everything bagel had excellent seasoning with lots of sesame seeds and no larger grains. The smoked salmon was from the Ivy City Smokehouse, like many of the bagels from our last edition. Thus, salmon was tasty but skimpy and poorly dispersed. We thought they could have spared some more for the price we paid, but we were still willing to finish the bagel. It was quite expensive, but we noticed that the store itself and the packaging are stylish.
Review of Everything Bagel
- The bagel dough itself—3/5
- Everything bagel seasoning— 4/5
- Cream cheese and its texture—3/5
- Value: $4.50—1/5
- Overall taste—3/5
Review of Bagel Sandwich
- The bagel dough itself—3/5
- Smoked salmon—3/5
- Cream cheese and its texture—4/5
- Value: $9.50—1/5
- Overall taste—3/5
Bagels Etc.
2122 P St NW #100, Washington, DC 20037
Bagels Etc. produced a soft yet salty bagel. The everything bagel seasoning was quite salty as well, even though it wasn’t sprinkled on the bottom. Even the cream cheese was salty, but there was not enough on either bagel. The smoked salmon was generous—and salty, of course—and packed in almost like a spread, rather than individual slices, which led to an intriguingly smooth texture. The bagels themselves are pretty small, practically sized for a baby! It would take a few to satisfy a high schooler. They were undercooked, but that led to a pleasantly chewy mouthfeel. These bagels were much better than Call Your Mother’s, but still underwhelming due to their smallness and saltiness.
Review of Everything Bagel
- The bagel dough itself—4/5
- Everything bagel seasoning—2/5
- Cream cheese and its texture—3/5
- Value: $1.99—4/5
- Overall taste—3/5
Review of Bagel Sandwich
- The bagel dough itself—4/5
- Smoked salmon—3/5
- Cream cheese and its texture—3/5
- Value: $5.99—5/5
- Overall taste—4/5
Baked by Yael
3000 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008
The bagels from Baked by Yael were, in a word, horrible. They were ugly, with a unique oblong shape. They were too crispy and overcooked on the outside and doughy, dense and stale on the inside. The cream cheese was only sold separately, so it didn’t come on either sandwich, but rather coldly and stiffly in a small container. There was somehow not enough flavor in the everything bagel seasoning, even though it was too salty and had too many poppy and sesame seeds, which were likely too stale to lend their usual taste. The salmon was appalling. It was barely cured; it tasted like sushi salmon, and looked like it, too. These bagels did not live up to expectations.
Review of Everything Bagel
- The bagel dough itself—1/5
- Everything bagel seasoning—2/5
- Cream cheese and its texture—1/5
- Value: $2.95—1/5
- Overall taste—2/5
Review of Bagel Sandwich
- The bagel dough itself—1/5
- Smoked salmon—1/5
- Cream cheese and its texture—1/5
- Value: $9.95—1/5
- Overall taste—2/5
Every bagel we tasted during the first part of our D.C. Area Bagel Guide was better than these three. Last time, they were all fluffier and bigger, while these new ones were small and less delicious. Unfortunately, we have not yet found our winner, so the hunt continues to find D.C.’s best bagel. Keep an eye out for our next installment to read reviews of Brooklyn Bagel Bakery, Pearl’s Bagels and Buffalo & Bergen! Let us know your favorites so we can give them a try, too!