The 2024 Great Minnesota Bagel Showdown

Here at TC Jewfolk, we are more than happy to try and review as many of the bagels from Twin Cities purveyors as we can, a comprehensive, try-as-many-at-once sort of competition has only happened twice. Ironically, they were in 2012 and 2018. Because of math, this year is our moment to bring back the Twin Cities Bagel Showdown. 

A remarkable thing has happened since the last iteration of this: The Twin Cities bagel landscape has changed. A number of new bagel-makers have opened; some in brick-and-mortar shops, others as cottage bakers in their kitchens or co-op spaces. And a couple of notable establishments have closed: Meyvn and Common Roots. 

This year’s competition was sponsored by City Girl Coffee. Started by Aliza Bohbot James in 2015, City Girl is Jewish Minnesota Woman-owned, and the company sources beans exclusively from women-owned or managed farms and coops. A portion of sales goes directly to organizations that support gender equity in the coffee business through access to finances, education and business resources. Those of us who drink coffee were sipping the City Girl Breakfast Blend while tasting the bagels for this year’s competition, and it was the perfect companion. Thanks to Aliza and City Girl for the support.

So on to the bagels.

We graded the bagels on the following criteria, as established by Jeff Mandell in 2012:

• Look (out of 5): Do your eyes say, “I need this?”
• Crust (5): Firm, not crunchy, and distinct from the guts of the bagel
• Fluffiness/Chew (5): Soft and pliable, but not “chewy.”
• Taste (10): Nothing else matters if it tastes bad, so this is worth double points.
• Intangibles/bonus (5): Any special shout outs that didn’t otherwise get their due. Admittedly, it was much easier to dole out these points on the everything bagels. 

Four-fifths of the bagel tasters: Seth Togal, Jeff Mandell, Emma Goldsmith, and Matt Erickson. (Lonny Goldsmith/TC Jewfolk).

Our group (myself, my 15-year-old daughter Emma, the above-mentioned Jeff Mandell, and the duo who got the ball rolling on this, Matt Erickson and Seth Togal) tried a plain and an everything bagel from each of the six establishments with a little bit of Philadelphia whipped cream cheese. This year’s competitors are: 2018 champion Rise, 2012 champion Bruegger’s, St. Paul Bagelry, and newcomers Mogi, Jersey Girl, and Asa’s. Your favorite may be missing. We’re sorry. (Our selected six were places that were actually baking on the day in question. Inquiries to one in particular were made and went unanswered. We tried.)

Most importantly to the judging process: bagels were judged blind and arranged on our plates thanks to Jennifer Togal. We did not know which were which when we scored them; we only learned which place went to which bagel-maker until after the math was done. For way more on the process, listen to this week’s special edition of the Who The Folk?! Podcast: Minnesota Bagel Showdown Edition.

Listen to “2024 Minnesota Bagel Showdown” on Spreaker.

Without further adieu…

6. Rise Bagels 101 points (30.5 plain, 70.5 everything)

This was a shocker. All of us had expected the defending champion to contend again, but right from the jump, the plain bagel was a massive disappointment, ranging from 2 to 8 points. I’m not sure if we were unlucky to get a not-so-good batch, but the color was definitely lighter than expected, and therefore, left little delineation between the crust and the guts. The everything bagel was lacking in seed coverage. There can be too many seeds, or too few. This was the latter.

5. St. Paul Bagelry 111 points (47 plain, 64 everything)

The most consistent bagel (for better or worse) finished 5th in both categories, but easily had the worst crust score among the plain bagels with 3(!) points, and fared slightly better in that category with the everything bagel. But the everything, despite good topping coverage, was a little light on flavor.. 

4. Mogi Bagel 137.5 (65.5 plain, 72 everything)

One of the key complaints with the look of the bagel and the hole size. More to the point, the lack of one. It was basically a roll. The flavor of the everything bagel was good but one of the chief complaints was the seed mix and the lack of poppy seeds. The solid chew of the bagel kept it solidly in the middle tier. 

3. Bruegger’s 141.5 (66.5 plain, 75 everything)

It may be a national chain, and despite Seth’s multiple attempts to only try local companies, because it was a previous champion, it seemed only fair to keep them in the race. That being said, Bruegger’s cranks out a consistent product, finishing second in everything and third in plain.

2. Asa’s 146.5 (88 plain, 58.5 everything)

This featured the biggest swing in places between the two bagels, going from a very close second in plain, while finishing a distant last in everything. The plain bagel won on taste with 33 points and chew with 21, but was dragged down in the look category. The everything, on the other hand, was…lacking. It was basically a poppy seed bagel with a few stray sesame seeds on it. And there were way too many seeds. It was the only bagel in this year’s event that received negative points by a couple of reviewers in the bonus category. 

1. Jersey Girl 189.5 (89.5 plain, 100 everything)

A closer winner in the plain and the runaway winner in the everything. They weren’t perfect. Comments on them being airy contributed to a chew that wasn’t expected, but certainly didn’t detract. The bagels are huge and the crust/color was great, contributing to the large edge in the look and crust category points. But the everything bagel seasoning mix that’s used here had the one thing that none of the others did, salt! At least salt that you could taste. It brought out the flavor of the onion, poppy, and sesame seeds in a way that none of the others could touch. 

That’s a wrap on this year. Agree? Disagree? Let us know your thoughts! Also what should our next Jewish food showdown be?Bagels: we’ll see you again in six years!

The 2024 Great Minnesota Bagel Showdown is sponsored by City Girl Coffee. City Girl Coffee is a sustainable and responsible coffee company who is working to bring awareness and equality to the women of the coffee industry. It’s also a TC Jewoflk fan favorite. Learn more about City Girl Coffee here.