Birthday Bagels

Today we are celebrating Amy’s birthday at BagelFest at Citi Field. This was the first time either of us had been to Citi Field. It was fun to spend her birthday at a unique event. We joined Brian, Carol and their family at the event. The event was organized by Brian’s nephew Sam (Sam’s photo is on the mug in the cover photo).

There were 50 exhibitors, mostly bagel shops. They were from many cities around the US plus one from Montreal and one from Denmark. They had samples of their bagels and toppings. There were a few tangentially related vendors, coffee, lox, and one hot honey. King Arthur flour was a sponsor. They had a wheel that you could spin for a prize. We won a few coupons for free flour and a bench scraper.

We ate and ate and ate. We got early entry which allowed us to sample the bagels before most of the crowds showed up. That was very useful as we were able to grab the samples quickly. You were supposed to take notes on your favorites and vote on the best. We were too busy eating to document as we went. There were a lot of people taking this task seriously, filling their trays with samples and eating at a table.

Because of our sloppy methodology, we didn’t have a clear winner for best bagel. Honestly, many of the vendors put their efforts into the toppings, which overwhelmed the bagel itself. We asked our group, and there was no consensus for best bagel. There were definite favorites in other categories.

The winning Bialy was from Tali’s bagels from Hawaii. It has a kimchi topping. The texture of the bialy was perfect. There were only two bialys, but they both ranked very high and were more notable than many of the bagels.

Amy decided that the best topping was the French Onion from Starship Bagels from Texas. It was so good that she went back for seconds and thirds. It tasted just like the soup.

And the absolutely best name was from a Seattle area company. They sell their cured fish at local farm markets with the name: Ballard Lox. (If you know, you know).

There were a few panels but we were too busy eating.

A few mascots were walking around. Amy was excited to meet Mr Met. While Greg felt like he was in enemy territory. Ari corrected him: enemy territory is in the Bronx.

As part of our admission we got a tour of Citi Field. Since this was our first visit, we were glad to look around. It was an abbreviated tour but we enjoyed it. Our tour guide was named Gregg, so Greg and Gregg discussed the merits of the number of “Gs” in the name. We got to see the suites, walk on the warning track, head into the dugout and finally into the press room. They have a bridge made from steel from Shea Stadium, which sits above the bullpens.

After this, our plan for dinner involves finding a salad.