Joe Biden got bagels at Call Your Mother this weekend. He ordered his toasted. Hoo boy.
https://twitter.com/schxleo/status/1353452799368036353
Toasted bagel is only acceptable if it’s allowed to cool completely so the cream cheese does not melt. And if it is a sub-par bagel (from the freezer or mass-produced, the latter of which isn’t even a real bagel and yes I will fight you on it). https://t.co/D6mWE22fEF
— Erin Sutherland (@erincarly) January 25, 2021
DC folks arguing about if a bagel should be toasted or not means nature is healing
— Ryan McCann (@WRyanMcCann) January 25, 2021
As with so many mistakes, I have personal experience with this one. When I was a young rube, I blundered into La Bagel Delight in Brooklyn and asked for my bagel to be toasted. Silence. “We do not toast, sir,” the counterman finally said with so much gravity that I would have been too embarrassed to ask for a toasted bagel again even if their delicious bagels hadn’t quickly converted me to a position shared by many bagel aficionados: Good ones are better untoasted. (Let’s not get into whether you can get a good bagel around DC; life is too short to argue about, ahem, everything.)
I polled the Washingtonian food staff about which side of this ideological divide they fall on. Anna Spiegel is an unapologetic toaster, choosing Maillard-reaction bagels 100 percent of the time. “I like when a warm bagel lightly melts the cream cheese, or the contrast in texture between a crisped bagel and egg in a sandwich,” she says. For Jessica Sidman, quality determines whether she hits the lever: “A really good fresh bagel, I’ll eat it without toasting. An ok bagel, please toast.” Ann Limpert takes a similar approach: “Personally I like a fresh bagel untoasted, but if it’s a day old or frozen then I toast away,” she says, adding, “generally I hate the idea that there is a wrong way to eat something. If you like it, you like it.”
This week’s unexpected bagel discourse did not end with the President’s toasting preferences. Call Your Mother is co-owned by Jeff Zients, his Covid czar.
Media: Biden stopped by a local DC bagel joint. A man of the people!
Reality: Biden did a free promo for his buddy, who is now employed by the government, who also owns the bagel place. pic.twitter.com/4Ob63PCOID
— Jordan Schachtel @ dossier.today (@JordanSchachtel) January 25, 2021
New WH COVID czar Jeff Zients is a co-owner, right? Plain Bagel, with a small side of swamp?https://t.co/JjRq5f8AyM https://t.co/Y31hRHMwFq
— Mark Leibovich (@MarkLeibovich) January 24, 2021
Also, Hunter Biden placed the order, so…
https://twitter.com/ErikOverseer/status/1353474692074631170
The bagel shop’s name came up:
https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1353423342037069824
And, as always, there’s a local angle.
I just want to know which White House intern told Biden to eat at my favorite Jewish deli in D.C. I am NEVER going to be able to get a everything bagel with butter now.
— sweetstotzz (@stotzz) January 24, 2021
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
