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May 24, 2006
Where have all the bagels gone?
Chattanooga used to be rolling in them. Now they're just a memory. It's a memory that leaves you rubbing your jaw, from remembering all the chewing.
Shortly after I began my third sojourn in the Scenic City, I began visiting a store on East Brainerd Road (one of two within a mile or so), where I could get a good breakfast for a reasonable price. Their bagels were fresh every day, and big, and fairly dense, like bagels should be. You might have even called them "New York" bagels, but I'm certain that more than a few New Yorkers would have bristled at that.
It so happened that I needed to find work, and the bagel place was hiring due to expansion. I got a job in the downtown location. I switched to eating a bagel sandwich for lunch.
Time passed, and I got moved over to the North Chattanooga location, where the bagels were made. I became "Production Manager" in charge of the supply inventory, the mixing, proofing, and baking, and scheduling the delivery of finished product.
For a while, the business seemed solid. There were bagels being consumed all throughout the land. Then, inexplicably, things started going wrong. Sales went down, and the grocery stores that had carried the product dropped their standing orders one by one. Staff got laid off, or quit. I went from overseeing the process to doing most of it, including baking through the night, and then working the sandwich/retail counter all morning. Still, though, there were good bagels available for Chattanoogans, not only from us, but from competitors.
More time went by. I had to get out of being the declining bagel factory, so I made my way elsewhere. I continued to buy from where I had worked. They weren't as good as when I baked them, of course, but they were still pretty good bagels. You could buy a dozen at the end of the day for half price, take them home, slice and freeze them, and eat good for a while.
Now look around town. Both bagel shops have closed all locations. Bi-Lo stores were either baking some in-house or outsourcing them, but those appear to be gone now too, just in the past few weeks. Panera's cinnamon crunchy round bread things might be tasty, but they are in no way to be considered bagels, ya hear? We're down to a choice between frozen (gasp) and some other round items in the bread aisle at the grocery. I bought a bag of Thomas' (the English muffin brand) and there are sunflower seeds baked into the dough. What-Ever. Pepperidge Farm makes a tolerable bagel-shaped object, but they're harder to find. And who knows when they were baked?
Why was there a bagel explosion, and then, over not much time, a deflation to a complete dearth? Was it a fad? Bagels aren't faddish, are they? I guess that one place down by the Aquarium did just sort of appear and then vanish. "Dude, bagels are so 90's."
I don't care. I want a good fresh, kettled, plain bagel with either a shiny, golden brown crust or a crisp, savory topping such as Onion, Garlic, or the elixir known as Everything. I want it slathered with plain, full-fat cream cheese, piled with smoky lox, succulent tomato, and zesty red onion, and blessed with a dash of fresh lemon. I want it for breakfast, with a nice strong East African coffee (brewed in a press, if you have to ask), and I don't want to have to drive to Bethesda, Maryland or New York, New York to get it.
I guess I'll have to make them at home. Whereabouts does one buy malt? That homebrew supply store that used to be on Frazier is gone, too. Dangit! I smell a conspiracy!
Stuff to Buy | By joe lance | 10:35 PM