(Shelby Moore / For The Times)
14 of the best bagel shops in Los Angeles
Just as in the Oscar-nominated film from directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, bagels seem to be everywhere all at once lately. This might not be news in New York, where bagels first made their stateside appearance in the late 19th century, but here in L.A., where transplants never fail to criticize us for taking creative liberties with their signature foods (looking at you, New York-style pizza), one can’t help noticing a new crop of bagel bakers across the city.
And while you’re bound to find East Coast-style boiled bagels and even Montreal-inspired wood-fired options, you’ll also run into hybrids that borrow from these techniques and more, topped with Santa Barbara-sourced smoked salmon or seasonal farmers market fruit and vegetables. You’ll even meet bagel makers bold enough to claim their style as West Coast, one that’s still being defined as the scene boils over. Here are 14 L.A. bagel shops, from longtime classics to brand-new entrants, that we can’t get enough of.
The new school of Jewish deli and bagel shop owners is more focused on community than competition.
Everything everywhere bagel notes
Showing Places
(Angeline Woo / Los Angeles Times)
Bagel Broker
Fairfax Bagels
This bagel shop on Beverly Boulevard has been family-owned since it opened 35 years ago, and it still offers some of the most consistent and affordable bagels you’ll find in the city. A line materializes as soon as doors open at 6 a.m. and remains steady through midafternoon, thanks to a vast array of options, including less-common flavors such as jalapeño cheddar and cheese onion. Note that half a dozen is defined as seven bagels here, and the dozen comes with 14 for $18. Stock up on spreads and schmears or go for hefty breakfast bagel sandwiches, with egg or egg whites, plus such toppings as bacon, sausage, ham and lox.
More Info
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Bagel + Slice
Eagle Rock Bagels Pizza
It’s only logical that a half bagel shop, half pizzeria would make one of L.A.’s top spins on a pizza bagel, but Bagel + Slice nails each independently too. Blaze Pizza co-founder Brad Kent launched this concept in 2022 using a blend of sunflower and whole-grain low-gluten buckwheat flours. The everything bagel is the most popular, but the most inspired is the option flecked with dried rosemary and za’atar; they’re enjoyed a la carte, with cream cheese or as part of a bagel sandwich in options such as chicken cutlet with Oaxacan cheese or the quintessential pick: the open-faced Goldilox, which piles scallion cream cheese with lox, dill, capers, red onion and a drizzle of vibrant lemon-infused olive oil. There are New York-style slices and whole pizzas too, but the bialy-like pizzettes are one of Kent’s most distinctive offerings.
More Info
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Belle's Bagels
Highland Park Bagels
The hand-rolled-bagel operation from Nick Schreiber and J.D. Rocchio has lived many lives over the last decade-plus: A home operation grew to a pop-up out of La Perla, then moved down York Boulevard to a takeout window in the former music venue the Hi Hat. Soon, it’ll be evolving into its very own restaurant and deli along York, set to open later this year. From a small table outside that restaurant’s front door is where you can currently find bagels to go, alongside schmears made with California dairy, onion-laden latkes and whole loaves of olive oil challah. The stars remain the bagels, chewy with just the right amount of bite from the golden outer shell, in classic flavors as well as the more unusual (and fan-favorite) cacio e pepe variety. The tomato jam, perfectly toeing the line between sweet and spicy, is a must-add on any breakfast sandwich.
More Info
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
Boil & Bake
Costa Mesa Bagels $
This place makes everything, from the butter to the cured lox, from scratch. The bagels, which begin with a sourdough starter named Luna, are boiled and then baked in a wood stone oven. The crust is crispy, wrapped in tiny bubbles. Inside, the dough is chewy but not dense. It’s an excellent bagel I can enjoy toasted with butter. But Boil & Bake specializes in spreads and toppings that will transform your bagel into a sandwich. For a more classic open-faced bagel, lox and cream cheese profile, the Fully Loaded is exactly as advertised. But I’m partial to the Don’t Go Bacon My Heart, with a layer of scallion chive cream cheese, Neuske bacon and a thick slab of pickled green tomato.
More Info
(Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)
Bread Lounge
Downtown L.A. Bakery $
Something about the Jerusalem bagel is awe-inspiring: Maybe it’s the impressive size, or its plump oval shape, or the amount of seeds its exterior accommodates. And while the bagel is of Eastern European descent, the Jerusalem bagel is related to Middle Eastern breads such as Turkish simit and Lebanese ka’ak. An important distinction is that it isn’t boiled before it’s baked, so it’s soft and fluffy inside rather than dense and chewy. In Los Angeles, Jerusalem bagels are far less common than the New York-by-way-of-Warsaw round bread. Ran Zimon, who grew up outside Tel Aviv, stocks his Arts District bakery with plenty of Jerusalem bagels, with sesame seeds or multiseeded, including zingy caraway. Order a side of labneh and za’atar.
More Info
(Shelby Moore / For The Times)
Courage Bagels
East Hollywood Bagels
L.A. Times’ 101 Best Restaurants
| 2023 No current discussion of L.A.’s bagel scene can ignore Courage Bagels. The game-changing business began nearly six years ago, when Arielle Skye started selling her compact, smoky-crisp, Montreal-inspired bagels from the back of a bicycle. In October 2020, she and her now-husband, Chris Moss, moved into the Virgil Village space previously occupied by Super Pan bakery. The lines have been legendary since; these are truly some of the best bagels in the U.S. My standard order is the Winter in Sardinia — a sandwich layered with sardines, herbs, lemon and a fistful of capers — and also half of a purposely burnt bagel pounded with everything seasoning and draped with smoked salmon. However, no matter what you order or when you show up, there will be a line, and it will be worth the wait.
More Info
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
Gjusta
Venice Bagels $$
The bagels at Gjusta are textbook good: crunchy shells with soft, chewy middles. The place is more conservative than most when it comes to the amount of seasoning on the everything bagel, with more of a smattering of dried onion and sesame seeds that allows you to really taste the onion. As good as the bagel is on its own, it’s even better with a schmear of the labneh spread, a couple of slices of pastrami lox and pickled onions.
More Info
(Lucas Kwan Peterson / Los Angeles Times)
Hank's Bagels
Burbank Bagels Deli
With so many good bagel places in the city, it can be difficult to pick a favorite, as with children or Prince albums. Hank’s Bagels, with locations in Burbank and Sherman Oaks, makes a bagel I’d classify as a slightly harder bake — firm with a crusty exterior. If that’s what you look for in your bagel style, you’ll love this place. And while a sturdier bagel might make for slightly more spillage when biting into a bagel sandwich (try the bacon, egg and cheese with tomato and aioli), you’ll forget about that when you try some of the fun-flavored varieties like an everything with cheddar and pickled jalapeños baked onto it or a very good rosemary and sea salt bagel.
More Info
(Danielle Dorsey / Los Angeles Times)
Layla Bagels
Santa Monica Bagels Coffee
Opened at the top of the year on a cozy stretch of Ocean Park Boulevard next to Ghisallo, Layla Bagels comes from brothers Harry and David Wexner and partner and general manager Kai Johnson, with Sammi Tarantino serving as head chef and Sergio España as head baker. Sourdough bagels are hand-rolled, boiled and baked fresh each morning, available plain or sprinkled with poppy seeds, sesame seeds or everything seasoning. The nearby Santa Monica farmers market lends seasonal fruit like blood orange and grapefruit to items like the Pre-Jam bagel slathered with cream cheese and drizzled with honey. There’s also a smoked salmon bagel sandwich and one with scrambled eggs, aged cheddar and chermoula chile oil, plus a handful of vegan options. The bagel shop also just introduced sourdough challah bread on Fridays.
More Info
(Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)
Maury's Bagels
Silver Lake Bagels $
On sunny weekend mornings, the crowd — flocking with kids and dogs in tow from the surrounding Silver Lake neighborhood — spills onto the sidewalk. Just as popular as Jason Maury Kaplan’s everything bagels are the ones dusted with za’atar. His are chewy, dense East Coast-style bagels to eat on their own or as the foundation for schmears, smoked fish and fish salads, served sandwich-style or open-faced. Lemon curd bagels are a seasonal specialty, and they’re a pretty perfect brunch food. A bagel of your choice is slathered with blueberry cream cheese, topped with lemon curd and sprinkled with toasted pistachios.
More Info
(Danielle Dorsey / Los Angeles Times)
Pop's Bagels
Culver City Bagels
After six years of tooling around with recipes and scouring the city for a bagel that would match the New York-style rings to which his grandfather introduced him as a child, Zach Liporace officially entered the universe of bagel-making. Pop’s Bagels has expanded from an apartment operation in Los Feliz to locations in Culver City and Brentwood, with a third outpost in Beverly Hills coming soon. Pick up tightly wound bagels generously dusted with sesame seeds, poppy seeds or everything seasoning, in addition to plain and cinnamon raisin options. Dress them with buttermilk cream cheese that’s made fresh daily; whitefish, tuna, chicken tarragon or egg salad; smoked Nova lox with capers, cucumbers, tomatoes and red onion; bacon, avocado and cream cheese; or roll the dice with “What Zach had for breakfast” — he rarely eats the same thing twice, and each bagel half features different toppings.
More Info
(Lucas Kwan Peterson / Los Angeles Times)
Saint-Raf Bagels
Cypress Park Bagels Coffee
Of the L.A. bagels I’ve tried recently, I was most impressed with the ones at Saint-Raf Bagels, a business inside the 1802 Roasters coffee shop in Cypress Park — the bagel-and-coffee matryoshka doll that’s exactly what we all need in life. The bagels are tender and chewy, satisfying to pull apart and with that slight alkaline shine characteristic of so many good ones. You can’t go wrong with the classic smoked salmon and cream cheese combo, or a whitefish salad that goes particularly nicely with a poppyseed bagel that’s so densely covered in seeds, you can barely see the bread beneath. My favorite might be the salt and pepper bagel, however, which has a sharpness reminiscent of a plate of cacio e pepe at a good Roman restaurant.
More Info
(Danielle Dorsey / Los Angeles Times)
Tomorrow Bagel
Hollywood Bagels
These hand-shaped bagels are worth setting a Sunday alarm clock for. Helmed by Alex Crow and baker Saranee Muengfoo, Tomorrow Bagel popped up at coffee shops like Obet & Del’s and Alibi before moving into its current stall at the Hollywood Farmers Market every Sunday. The bagels are boiled and baked, but what makes them stand out is a barley malt syrup that lends a golden hue and a toasted and nutty flavor. Available with za’atar and sea salt, poppyseeds, sesame seeds, everything seasoning or onion, the bagels are so thoroughly coated that hardly any of the dough is visible until you take that initial bite. Stock up on bagels to take home or order a bagel sandwich with such toppings as lox, tomato, red onions, dill, capers and extra virgin olive oil, or scrambled eggs, cheese, bacon and Thai chili honey, with rotating seasonal options.
More Info
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Yeastie Boys
Beverly Grove Bagels
Some of L.A.’s favorite bagels can be found at Yeastie Boys’ roving food trucks, where founder Evan Fox shares his take on the New York-style bagel. Yeastie’s hand-rolled bagels are designed to be plump, doughy and extremely squishable to stand up to the onslaught of schmear and other items they manage to cram between the halves. These aren’t just bagels, they’re vehicles for folds of lox, slabs of hash browns, pit-smoked pastrami, jalapeño cheddar schmear, pucks of turkey sausage, yolk-oozing fried eggs and other savory options. The $5 order of mini bagels allows for multiple schmears on two sized-down bagels, but for those looking to level up, the Reubenstein, one of the trucks’ most popular items by far, reimagines the classic Reuben on a heaped everything bagel that’s been flipped upside down for maximum grillage; it’s a wholly satisfying meal in ode to the iconic sandwich by Reuben Kulakofsky — a distant relative of Fox’s.
More Info
It's a date
Get our L.A. Goes Out newsletter, with the week's best events, to help you explore and experience our city.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.