Next time you encounter one of those traif ham-on-bagel breakfast sandwiches on a deli menu (or, even worse, an actual bacon bagel, baked with bits of cloven-hoofed meat inside the dough, which I was offered for breakfast in Minnesota) consider the fact that bagels are the traditional bread served at Jewish funerals, along with other round foods such as eggs and lentils, representing the circle of life. This is not a casual food.

Having said that, however, I have to say that here in New York it is still hard to find a good bagel. Everybody loves H & H, but they're far too sweet and soft to stand up to lox: a bagel should be so hard and chewy it should make your jaw throb, even fresh out of the oven. Most of the bagels generally available are way too big and doughy. If you throw a bagel at someone, it should cause injury. At this point the best of a mediocre lot are the bagels sold at Kossar's Bialys on Grand St, Times Square Bagels on 44th (the reincarnation of the late lamented Columbia Bagels), and the mini-bagels at Brooklyn Bagel Company (the regular size are way too big and puffy). But you're probably better off boiling and baking your own.

lol at the treyf ham on a bagel....

I agree that bagels should not be soft. I never liked Lender's bagels even as a kid because of that. There are also purists who insist bagels should have no flavoring at all (taco? tropical fruit? my grandmother would plotz). Glad you mentioned bialys, except now I have a craving for them Thanks a lot pal! ;)

Thanks for backing me up on the texture issue. It's possible that it's Lender's fault that the bagel has been so grossly misinterpreted. However, they do get one thing right: onion bagels should have diced onion inside the dough, not those crunchy brown bits on the outside that get all over everything. There are those who insist that the onion bagel is the true bagel, that both bialys and bagels are onion rolls. I would agree with that sentiment. Cinnamon raisin is a sacrilege (though at H&H it's their best flavor, which tells you how sweet their dough is.)

Lenders did make a "big" bagel that wasn't half bad, compared to it's original counterpart. To me, a good bagel is on the lighter side; a nice crisp on the outside, but the once toasted the dough should have a little lightness.

There's a place in Brooklyn Heights that has a decent bagel. The name escapes me, but it might be called "The Bagel Store," or something.