"Dark everything scooped with tuna"

It can be, and has been, argued that New York has the best bagels in the world. So if you can find the best bagel in New York, you will have found the best bagel ever. Who doesn't want to try the best anything ever?

I'm not exactly sure why -- it may be efficiency, it may be integrity of product -- but the front-runners for best bagel in NYC (Murray's, Essa, and H&H) will not toast their bagels, much to the chagrin of some of my friends newer to the bagel experience. I contest at this level; there is no need for toasting.

In my opinion, Murray's Bagels on 6^th Ave has hands down the greatest bagel in New York. Theirs has the great toothsome crust and amazingly dense chew of a real bagel. There are plenty of toppings on both sides of their seeded bagels and, if you get there when they are freshly out of the oven, they are so wonderful as to not require any further adornment at all, although butter does go very well.

As I mentioned, Murray's does not toast their bagels. There is, however, a trick to getting the effect of toasting. In the process of cooking, some bagels obviously cook a little more then others, depending on where they are in the oven. If you order a "dark" bagel you will get one with more carmelization on the outside, which is the real benefit of toasting, anyway (if you toast the inside, all you are doing is drying out the dense crumb, thereby detracting from the harmony of the package). So if you prefer toasted and they don't toast, order your bagel "dark."

Another trick for NYC's bagel shops is to order yours "scooped." There are a lot of things that taste fantastic in bagels that are squeezed out as a result of the firmness of the bagel's interior. Where bread or a roll is far more pliable and will squish to accommodate chicken salad or egg salad, a sliced bagel shoots them right out the back and onto that white paper with the slice through the middle it was just wrapped in. "Scooping" the bagel, on the other hand, creates a small cavity that holds these bagel accoutrements. Plus a good balance is struck between the crumb that remains, the crust, and whatever you have stuffed in there.

Don't believe me? Go to Murray's today and order a dark everything bagel scooped with tuna.

Just trust me.