The Ten Best Bagels in Miami

A great bagel is a thing of beauty. And yes, you can find a great one in Miami. You just have to know where to look. From Coral Gables to Aventura, we've been busy loading up on carbs to bring you the definitive list of ten best bagels in the Magic City. Get your cream cheese ready, folks.

10. Taste Bakery Café is a serene little spot in South Beach where you can enjoy a fresh-baked bagel with kale-and-ginger juice on the side. Less doughy than some of the others on this list, the bagels here have a nice crunch and are best with a generous smear of cream cheese. 

9. Bagels & Co. won New Times' Best Bagels in 2009 and earned a place on this list because it makes bagels the old-fashioned way: by hand-rolling, boiling, and baking them. There's a nice hint of sweetness to them, and for more than 25 years, the masses have been taking them to go or grabbing a seat at one of the Formica tables to savor these babies in all their glory. 

8. New York Bagel Deli & Juice in North Beach has been a staple for close to 20 years thanks to its stellar bagels and fun varieties, such as the dark, wheaty Mediterranean version with olive oil, sesame and poppy seeds, garlic, and Parmesan. However, you can't go wrong with a simple sesame bagel and schmear. 

7. Roasters' n Toasters, formerly known as Arnie & Richie's, is a New York-style deli that invented and patented the bagel ball in 1985. Today, Roasters serves a mean hot pastrami on rye and an extensive array of homemade bagels out of its Miami Beach, Pinecrest, and Aventura locations. Its bagels (onion is our favorite) are full of flavor and not at all chewy. 

6. Bagel Emporium and UM students go together like bagels and lox —- both of which happen to be excellent at this bustling Coral Gables deli. Dense, soft, and scrumptious are the best descriptors for the bagels here, and good luck leaving without grabbing a black-and-white cookie (or three) for the road. 

5. Sage Bagel is a name that elicits many reactions when you mention it to locals, and most of the time they've got nothing but praise for this Hallandale Beach institution and its famous bagels. Opened by Queens natives Iris and Milton Fuerst in 1973, Sage is as old-school a deli as they come in South Florida. Everything is made from scratch here, and the smoked fish is some of the best in town. Order it on a hand-rolled bagel and call it a very good day. 

4. Mo's Bagels has a menu so large and complete that it can rival that of any classic Jewish deli. But what lands this spacious Aventura standby on this list is its extra-soft bagels, which make the ideal base for the spot's topnotch tuna or egg salad. 

3. Bagel Bar East is one of the few places around that still hand-roll, boil, and bake their bagel dough. You'd be hard-pressed to find a deli classic not listed on the gargantuan menu here, and everything is available for takeout. The three-time winner of New Times' Best Bagel title, this old-school spot does Miami proud. 

2. Josh's Delicatessen & Appetizing isn't a bagel place per se, but it is a restaurant that serves handmade bagels that are simply perfect. Occasionally, if chef-owner Josh Marcus doesn't run out of his delicious ring-shaped rolls, you can get lucky and take some home. That said, most of the time you have to order your bagel as part of the house-cured salmon platter, which is also excellent. Rest assured the bagel will come toasted just so and with a side of cream cheese. Of all the bagels to make this list, Josh's are the crispest and thinnest of the bunch, and they're also the closest Miamians can get to the celebrated Montreal bagel. Pretty cool, eh? 

1. Toasted Bagelry & Deli in Brickell knows what it's doing. Owners Islam and Khalid Mohammed immigrated to the United States from Cairo in 2000 and found work at a New Jersey bagel shop before moving to Miami and setting up shop here. The brothers use brown sugar to make their bagels, as well as kosher malt (the traditional sweetening agent that's been widely replaced by corn syrup), and they finish off the bagels with a sprinkling of organic seeds. These bagels are simultaneously doughy and crisp, and they pack plenty of flavor. What's more, the shop has a funky atmosphere that's a nice change of pace from your typical throwback deli. Toasted's slogan is "New York bagels ain't got nothing on us." And guess what? They're right. 

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