I am always on the hunt for a new breakfast spot, and especially a new bagel spot! I had been eagerly awaiting the opening of Davis Square Donuts and Bagels ever since Leah and I went to Rosebud for lunch and I saw the sign that it was coming soon. The shop has some seats on the main floor and if you walk to the back, there are stairs to seating upstairs. Leah and I were the only ones there so we  had ample time to ogle all the goods.

I had the breakfast sandwich (bacon, egg and cheese $6.25) on an asiago bagel – super delicious. I would definitely come here every day if I lived closer. All the bagels are vegan except for the asiago, jalapeño cheddar and egg. Single bagels are priced right at $1 each.

The donuts are all sights to see. At $2.50 a piece, you can certainly try more than one! What flavors can you expect? Glazed, chocolate glazed, old fashioned, jelly, oreo cookie, peanut butter and jelly, nutella, bavarian cream, somerville cream, boston cream, butternut crunch, chocolate frosted, chocolate sprinkles, cinnamon sugar, strawberry frosted with sprinkles and fruity pebbles.

The donuts were pretty delicious. The nutella one was decadent and the lemon filled was sweet. I liked the textures of the donuts and the fact that they were light as air (calorie free right?).

What is your go to donut flavor?

Davis Square Donuts and Bagels

377 Summer Street, Somerville, MA

https://www.davissquaredonutsandbagels.com

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Do you ever wonder why bagels in New York taste so much better than anywhere else? Some people think it’s the water, The Brooklyn Water Bagel Company sure thinks so. They have a proprietary water treatment system call the Brooklyn Water Works. They say it replicates the natural composition of the water that flows from the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York into the homes of Brooklyn residents.

I’m all about a great breakfast sandwich, so I switched up my morning routine to stop over at the Framingham location. For $5.49, I ordered the sausage egg and cheese. It sort of felt like I was ordering breakfast at McDonald’s. I also wished that my yellow American cheese would have been melted on the sandwich instead of just thrown on as what seemed an afterthought.

Bagels are $1.29 each, 6 for $6.49 and thirteen for $12.99. They have sandwiches, baninis (bagel paninis), and a variety of breakfast bagel sandwiches.

Service was meh. There’s plenty of seating and there were a lot of families with children here.

Brooklyn Water Bagel Company

341 Cochituate Road, Suite 5, Framingham, MA

http://www.brooklynwaterbagel.com/

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At the end of last year, Finagle opened up its first ever Test Kitchen in Newton. The bakery and cafe is open 7 days a week from 6am – 6pm. I was excited to see that this location was open because the other Finagle locations are disappearing quickly! The only ones that are left are Boylston Street in Boston, Mass General Hospital and Chestnut Hill in the Kinkos building. The space is pretty open, it is a great place to bring your kids in the mornings because you can get breakfast and there is space for them to “run around”. When we went, there were 5 other families there early in the morning with the same idea! They have a great large farm table in the back and individual tables in the front area. There’s free wi-fi so you can hang out for a bit if you’re not in a rush.

So what do they offer at this new test kitchen? Well, you can pick up a dozen bagels, try one of their bakery treats or even get some of your standby favorites.

I was a big fan of the egg sandwiches, which are made to order (no eggs sitting around for hours put on these sandwiches). Mine was with swiss cheese on an asiago bagel (YUM!).

Love Finagle as much as I do? Did you know they cater? At my old office we used to do bagel Fridays (basically my reason for coming to work Monday – Thursday, right?!?). Be the office hero and get Finagle to deliver 5-25 dozen bagels with cream cheese to your office or school every Friday like clockwork for just $11.99 per dozen! They have a variety of breakfast and lunch options, check out their website for more information.

Finagle Bakery & Café + Test Kitchen 

77 Rowe Street, Newton, MA

http://www.finagleabagel.com/

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One of my good gal pals, Leah, was having a birthday so I thought I would surprise her with a little party! I decided to have a brunch for her, and kept it pretty simple. No birthday would be complete without a birthday cake from Party Favors (in Brookline) of course. I opted for the yellow cake with vanilla frosting.

I adore our new dining room table from Saltwoods – perfect for entertaining a great group of ladies. I picked up these great Kendari placemats from Crate and Barrel and used my Pottery Barn “Great White” serving dishes and dinnerware.

I’m a big fan of helping yourself, so I set up some options on the buffet – this way you can sit and enjoy your company!

OMG! Bagels delivered some super fresh bagels for the event! Let me give you a little background on OMG! Bagels: The company is owned by Ana Maria and Jorge Vinha. Ana Maria used to live in the house down the street from me and a few years ago she moved back into the house she grew up in. My dad was chatting her up one day and he told her that I was a food blogger. To be honest, I had never heard of OMG! Bagels before but once I did some homework, I realized that they were everywhere. I was probably eating them all along and didn’t even know it. They are in Whole Foods, Bfresh, Flat Black, Espresso Love, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, and Verrill Farm to name just a few of their locations. You see, the company was born out of the need for a great wholesale bagel. Jorge and Ana Maria ran a commercial bakery and they just couldn’t find a wholesale bagel that actually tasted good. So Jorge spent 9 months perfecting the recipe for their New York style bagels. Now they come in 21 varieties. Check out their website to see where you can buy their bagels, or catch them at a Farmer’s Market during the season. Check out my previous post about OMG! Bagels here.

One of my favorite things to put together for a brunch event is a yogurt bar, I just think they are so fun! I used Stonyfield yogurt – plain and strawberry, and had some fresh fruit, granola and key lime curd on hand to mix in.

While I love cake, it’s important to have a variety of sweets. I picked up these lovely fruit tarts from Roche Bros. From left to right, sour cherry (Leah’s favorite flavor), peach and mixed berry.

In addition to the Party Favors cake, I went with some mini cupcakes in flavors like carrot cake, coconut, creamsicle, pink lemonade, german chocolate and Oreo (just to name a few). Another thing I love about Roche Bros. is that they have a biscotti case – I mixed and matched flavors like pistachio, lemon poppy, almond and chocolate chip.

The muffins are from Roche Bros. as well. Not as good as the old version, (they swear it’s the same recipe) they tell me that the only thing that is different is that they bake them in the paper instead of straight in the tins. Anyway: coffee cake, chocolate chip, double chocolate, corn, cranberry and blueberry.

I knew that I wanted to do a little party favor and with the guests being food bloggers, I thought that giving OMG! challahs was a perfect idea. The challahs are pretty darn delicious, I ate mine straight out of the bag, but I love using it to make French Toast as well – for some reason, this challah is just perfect for French Toast! I challenged the other ladies at the party to take their challahs home and make something with them, can’t wait to see what they made!

So cheers Leah to a wonderful birthday, this is going to be a great year! Thanks for your friendship and your thoughtfulness, you are truly one of a kind! Check out what Leah is doing on her blog: Leah’s Life: Pearls and Oysters.

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Ana Maria grew up in a suburban town west of Boston and Jorge in Brasil. It all began when the two  met while working at a bagel shop. You can read more about their story in an article in Edible Boston.

Everyone talks about the perfect New York bagel and how you can’t find one in Boston. I’m convinced it’s something in the New York water, but that is for another day. OMG! is the closest thing to a New York bagel that I have found in Boston, crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside.

The bagels come in delicious flavors like French Toast, honey oat, jalapeño cheddar, and a seasonal pumpkin raisin as well as traditional flavors like onion, poppy, garlic and cinnamon raisin. The bagels are made with premium ingredients and their veggie bagel is made with only fresh veggies, not canned or frozen! (Can’t wait to try the veggie bagel with my favorite begin cream cheese from Cape Cod Bagel!) So after reading the Edible Boston article, I HAD to try the cinnamon raisin, which is Jorge’s go-to. It certainly did not disappoint! The test of a truly good bagel is, ‘does it taste good on its own?’  Any bagel can taste good if you schmear enough cream cheese on it or load it up with enough meat and cheese. These bagels were so fresh – light and chewy. My favorite was the cinnamon and raisin, the flavors were really distinct.

OMG! opened a wholesale bakery about 2 years ago and now have over 21 varieties of bagels. They are in 14 Whole Foods and 4 Roche Bros. around Massachusetts. To find out where you can try these delicious bagels for yourself, check out the “where to find us” page on their website. You can also find them at local Farmers’ Markets: Tuesdays in Newton, Wednesdays in Wayland, Thursdays in Framingham and Saturdays in Ashland and West Newton.

In the meantime, visit their website, like them on Facebook and drool on your phone while checking out their Instagram page.

Disclaimer: I was provided bagels to sample for this post. (And bread, but you’ll have to ask my dad about that!) All opinions are my own.

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I was on my way to another shop when I passed by Bantam Bagels. What first caught my eye was the sign out front that noted they were one of Oprah’s Favorite Things, then I remembered that I was going to get these for Mark and Bekka for the holidays (before I came up with something else). These mini stuffed bagels are taking the world by storm – with Oprah in 2014 and then they appeared on Shark Tank this year! The shop is tiny, maybe 3 or 4 people can fit in comfortably at a time.

Starting at the top left and moving clockwise:

The Everybody’s Favorite: Everything bagel stuffed with freshly chopped vegetable cream cheese.

The Hot Pretzel: Pretzel salt bagel stuffed with cheddar dijon cream cheese.

The Hangover: Cheddar cheese and egg bagel stuffed with bacon cheddar cream cheese. (available in-store only)

Check out the full menu online here.

Can’t make it to New York? You can order them online and have them delivered to you! And they are coming out with a new line called “stuffin muffins” which I can’t wait to test out!!

Bantam Bagels

283 Bleeker Street, New York, NY

https://www.bantambagels.com

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We were down in Falmouth this past weekend – first time of this season, avoiding the Memorial Day rush. It’s my favorite time to go (in the off season). You can still get into restaurants, you can drive down Main Street without traffic and the beaches are empty. The calm before the storm…

Of course when we come here, our first stop for breakfast is Cape Cod Bagel. My breakfast choice, plain bagel with veggie cream cheese. Not sure what they put in it (crack?), but I’m addicted.

They have great breakfast sandwiches, wraps and bagel sandwiches for lunch and delicious baked goods.

There is ample seating inside and out. Be prepared to wait during peak season as this place gets packed!

Cape Cod Bagel

419 Palmer Ave, Falmouth, MA

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Current flavors: Classic, Everything, Sesame, Poppy, Sea Salt, Black Olive, Pretzel.

Check out my Favecase video: http://favecast.com/24CDfjQUWB

I was glad that when we arrived late morning that they still had bagels. We had ours with butter, but there was a delicious egg sandwich on the menu that is calling my name next time I stop in.

The pretzel.

The everything.

The salt bagel. Not many places make salt bagel – man are these delicious. The bagels had a nice crust on the outside, the sign of a good New York bagel.

The insides however are very light and fluffy, which makes these bagels the best of both worlds! Cutty’s does have a few small tables if you want to eat in.

Bagelsaurus at Cutty’s

284 Washington Street, Brookline, MA

http://bagelsaurus.com/

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