I love bagels.  I was eating a bagel at Panera Bread the other day (decent bagels) and I came to the realization that my life would be meaningless without bagels.  I don’t know who invented the bagel, whether it was the Einstein Brothers or Mr. Bruegger or whoever, but man, that person was on the ball that day.  Over the years though the simple bagel has developed into hundreds of flavors, and even cream cheese has gotten several makeovers.  There are even people out there who get butter on bagels.  That’s just plain ridiculous.  Just get cream cheese like everyone else, okay!

But I digress.  Eating my lovely bagel today made me think of all the different bagels out there.  What are my favorite bagels?  I’ve decided to rank my top five bagels.  Now lets all calm down, because I know this is a sensitive subject.  There are a lot of bagels out there.  They can’t all make the list.

My Top Five Favorite Bagels:

5) The Chocolate Chip Bagel:

– This isn’t loved by many people.  In fact, most prominent bagel shops may not even sell them.  I can’t blame them.  Who would think chocolate chips and a bagel would work?  Well, I’m a big chocolate guy, and for me it just made sense.  Don’t be afraid of this one.  Give it a try.

4) The French Toast Bagel:

-This is by far the strangest one on my list.  It’s another rare one, but unlike chocolate chips, french toast and bagels seem to be the perfect marriage.  They are both highly regarded breakfast foods, so why not put them together?  And oh man, does it work.  The only thing with this one is that it really only works at breakfast whereas most bagels you can eat at any time.  If you haven’t tried this one though, you haven’t lived.

3) The Plain Bagel:

-The original.  The pioneer.  The one that started it all.

2) The Sesame Bagel:

-This is basically the plain bagel with a little something extra.  I couldn’t tell you what makes sesame seeds so magical on a bagel.  Maybe I don’t want to know.  Let’s just leave it alone.  I know some people love Everything Bagels, but in my opinion, there’s just too much going on.  How can the bagel retain its identity with so much clutter on it?  It ceases to be a bagel.  The sesame seed is all you need.  They go together like Han Solo and Chewbacca.

1) The Garlic Bagel:

-Garlic works on anything.  Put it on a bagel and you have some kind of God like taste in your mouth.  Aside from maybe needing a little gum afterwards, I feel like I can do anything after a fantastic Garlic Bagel.  It’s the Michael Jordan of bagels.  The only drawback is that sometimes the little garlic pieces fall off the bagel.  Make sure you have a sufficient amount of cream cheese to lock the garlic taste in.  Oh man, I love garlic bagels!

Well that’s my top 5 bagels.  Some of my favorite mainstream bagel places include Einstein Bagels, Brueggers and Dunkin Donuts surprisingly has excellent bagels.  Just stay away from Starbucks.