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It all started, as so many great adventures do, by mindlessly scrolling the Internet*. Specifically, Instagram, where I have lost many a minute of my life browsing the “Explore” tab.
On Friday, one Insta was a total thumbstopper. I was completely mesmerized by it. It was like a unicorn of the breakfast world: A rainbow, tie-dye bagel.
Given that our wedding cake had a tie-dye interior, you can only imagine how quickly I decided that we had — yes, had — to try this bagel immediately. Nate, the easygoing guy that he is, quickly agreed.
Even when I dropped the bomb that the bagel shop was in Brooklyn.
Specifically, Williamsburg.
More specifically, over an hour by subway from where we lived.
He’s a great guy, isn’t he? He gamely went along with my shenanigans, agreeing to walk the five-mile journey on Saturday morning. It was a hero’s journey, if you will, to capture the elusive rainbow bagel in its hipster-ific natural habitat.
Before any signs told us that we reached Brooklyn, I knew we were getting close. Bearded men in flannel and cutoff jorts (jean shorts, in case you’re wondering), breezed past us on bikes. Women wearing metallic Birkenstocks and flower crowns raved about kombucha.
I thought we were close, but we were still a good two and a half miles away. Thankfully, for once in my adult life, I wore appropriate footwear, so Nate didn’t have to hear me whine. (I always want to wear flip-flops — it’s my inner Floridian, I swear! — but my feet don’t always agree with that decision, so sneakers it is.)
Along the way, we found signs of encouragement, like this street art:
We also passed at least half a dozen people wearing “Keep Calm and [insert jokey phrase here].” Man, that catchphrase really caught on over the past few years, and the universe just won’t let it go quietly into the moth-ravaged attic of our collective nostalgia just yet.
Every step of the way, I quietly hoped this rainbow bagel would (a) be in stock, (b) not taste like dry-erase markers and soggy cardboard, and (c) not cost an obscene amount, even though I know trendy food always does.
At last, we arrived at the Bagel Store, a cash-only shop that specializes in so many cream cheeses you can barely take them all in, and a range of bagels that make everything seem bland by comparison. (No, really — it shocked me too.) That was the one plus side of the 14-person line ahead of us, which creeped by slower than the first season of Agents of SHIELD: We had plenty of time to debate whether we wanted tomato-bacon-scallion cream cheese, Funfetti cream cheese, blueberry cream cheese, and so on.
We settled on a rainbow bagel with confetti cream cheese, and the Bagel Store’s other specialty, Bacon-Egg-and-Cheese Bagel (BEC) with tomato-bacon-scallion cream cheese.
As you can see, the BEC was a plain bagel smothered in melted cheddar cheese and bacon bits. We’re not sure where or how the egg comes into play, unless it’s an egg wash on the bagel, but the doughy treat was so hearty and delicious we didn’t care to fully question it. We just devoured it. In seconds.
The rainbow bagel had a slight cherry flavor to me, which I wasn’t so crazy about. It was very doughy and chewy, and all-around, a great bagel, but I would have preferred it plain. (Also, I’m a bit biased: I prefer savory bagels, so the cannoli cream cheese was too sweet for my tastes.)
The verdict? Worth it. The 10-mile round trip was a great way to savor the breezy, NY weather, and it helped work off at least some of our bagel binge. However, at $12 for two bagels with cream cheese, I wouldn’t make it a regular habit — especially not with my favorite shop of all time (shoutout Brooklyn Bagel!), much closer to us.
Here’s to turning an ordinary trip into something ridiculous — and by ridiculous, I mean ridiculously fun. 😉
*I’m pretty sure that’s how Jurassic Park, Star Wars and You’ve Got Mail all started. Right?