Tonight I Dined: Golden Bagels
Having grown up in the Philly suburbs, I have takes on bagels. They were a ritual almost every weekend, and they are best eaten hot from the oven, no toasting necessary. With a little Earth Balance or vegan cream cheese, it's breakfast perfection.
I have been excited to visit Golden Bagel since it opened in Houston Heights a few months ago. There aren't very many bagel spots in Houston (I'm excluding Dunkin and Einstein's because they do not compare), so this addition is long overdue.
I was especially excited because the menu had a (labelled) vegan cream cheese smear, and other options like hummus bagel sandwiches, avocado toast bagel sandwiches, and Israeli salad. I wanted a sandwich, but they were pretty pricey, and because I like good price per portion ratio, I went with a toasted cinnamon raisin bagel (all flavors are $1.25) with the vegan cream cheese (all spreads are $2.00). I figured if I was still hungry I could get a second and it would still be less than a sandwich.
The bagel was very good, although smaller than my favorites that I grew up with. Additionally, instead of it being very soft, the outside was on the hard-ish. Not break your teeth hard, but it had a bite to it.
I believe the cream cheese is house made, because it doesn't taste like any of the commercial ones out there (e.g. Follow Your Heart, Kite Hill, Daiya, Trader Joe's). The cream cheese was a little gritty, and my guess is that it is tofu based both on the texture and the taste. This was a great attempt, but something is a little off-it's just not cream cheesy enough. This of course is not cause it's "vegan" or "not real cheese", because Kite Hill mastered it, so it's something about this particular house recipe.
I have been excited to visit Golden Bagel since it opened in Houston Heights a few months ago. There aren't very many bagel spots in Houston (I'm excluding Dunkin and Einstein's because they do not compare), so this addition is long overdue.
I was especially excited because the menu had a (labelled) vegan cream cheese smear, and other options like hummus bagel sandwiches, avocado toast bagel sandwiches, and Israeli salad. I wanted a sandwich, but they were pretty pricey, and because I like good price per portion ratio, I went with a toasted cinnamon raisin bagel (all flavors are $1.25) with the vegan cream cheese (all spreads are $2.00). I figured if I was still hungry I could get a second and it would still be less than a sandwich.
The bagel was very good, although smaller than my favorites that I grew up with. Additionally, instead of it being very soft, the outside was on the hard-ish. Not break your teeth hard, but it had a bite to it.
I believe the cream cheese is house made, because it doesn't taste like any of the commercial ones out there (e.g. Follow Your Heart, Kite Hill, Daiya, Trader Joe's). The cream cheese was a little gritty, and my guess is that it is tofu based both on the texture and the taste. This was a great attempt, but something is a little off-it's just not cream cheesy enough. This of course is not cause it's "vegan" or "not real cheese", because Kite Hill mastered it, so it's something about this particular house recipe.
Comments
Post a Comment