Brooklyn Water Bagels is holey heaven

PHOTOS BY ROB BARTLETT

There are only two things my partner is required to bring home from his frequent trips to New York City: my favorite giant black-and-white cookie from a tiny bakery in SoHo, and a bursting brown bag of egg everything bagels. Now that Brooklyn Water Bagels has set up shop in Winter Park, I can get my between-visit fix of chewy, schmeared, speckly bagels any time.

If you’ve ever asked what makes New York-style pizza so much better, but only when you eat it in New York, you might hear some esoteric answer about something being “in the water.” According to Brooklyn Water Bagels, the same holds true for real New York bagels, so the chain filters their water through a system plucked from the New York borough itself. The resulting bagels ($1.09) are large and chewy, golden on the outside and dense on the inside, a perfect pillow for a hearty schmear of freshly made cream cheese – choose from scallion, Nova, veggie or plain ($2.33).

Fillings for the breakfast sandwiches aren’t anything new, and aren’t executed any differently than a fast-food version. Forgo the mundane eggs and sausage patty ($4.25) and opt instead for the subtler spinach, mushroom and Swiss filling ($6.38). Iced coffee drinks have a turbo-fueled secret, though: The store freezes ice cubes from cooled coffee, so there’s no watery dilution to get in the way of your caffeine buzz.

At lunch, Brooklyn Water Bagels fills their bagels to the point of excess. The homemade whitefish salad ($7.99) sports large flakes of smoked fish, lending the salad a pleasant texture that’s perfectly paired with a pumpernickel bagel. The corned beef Reuben sandwich on a rye bagel ($7.99) was filling and savory with tender, hot corned beef, melted Swiss, and just the right amount of Thousand Island dressing.

The Winter Park location is just one of 20 locations (both open and soon-to-open) outside of the boroughs, including a Lake Mary location planned for November. Brooklyn Water Bagels will scratch the carb itch while I wait for my next brown bag of holey heaven.