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JulianVanderbilt t1_isydf3i wrote

Best in Richmond metro by a pretty wide margin. (No offense to Nate’s.) Bodos out in Charlottesville takes the Best in State title though.

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JustDyslexic t1_isydn1o wrote

Have you tried Chewy's in Carytown?

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JulianVanderbilt t1_isydu06 wrote

Yeah, it’s perfectly fine. On par with Nate’s or maybe a little better. Definitely a good bagel, but Cupertino’s/Bodos still take the trophies home in the Vanderbilt Virginia Bagel Cup.

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NuttingOnNutzy t1_isyenxg wrote

I wish I understood the Bodo’s hype. It feels like they’re made to be enjoyed as bread for sandwiches. I can’t imagine eating one untoasted with cream cheese

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washuffitzi t1_isyi30p wrote

A huge part of the Bodos hype comes from the overall experience, rather than just the bagel itself. Bodos will get through 100 customers in the time it takes Nate's to go through 10, and they're half the price of Nate's. That said, I go for the sandwiches, so you're probably right there.

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lemon_difficult90 t1_isymxlo wrote

As best I can tell - and I ate my share of Bodo’s while I was living there, but usually sandwiches, lol - the thing about being anti-toasting is that the bagels are so fresh you wouldn’t need them toasted. A lot of the bagel shops I’ve been to up in NY have a similar vibe, except they seem to take it as a slight if you want your bagel toasted. I worked at a bagel shop in Norfolk in high school (imo: Yorgo’s is not as good as Bodo’s, on par with Cupertino’s, significantly better than Nate’s, and I’ve not tried Chewy’s yet) and they do toast bagels, but very likely only because they don’t make them throughout the day. It all seems kinda silly to me - sometimes you just want a toasted bagel, and that’s totally fine - but there’s no explaining pride.

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wizer1212 t1_isyxomp wrote

I have bagels brought down by folks from up north

There’s def something diff in water but sure can do a good bagel

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NuttingOnNutzy t1_isywlu4 wrote

If I’m eating a bagel in the morning, there isn’t a reason for it to not be freshly made. In my experience baking, bagels and other bread don’t have noticeable textural changes until they’ve been out for 5hrs. Nate’s does not toast any of their bagels, which makes it super obvious when they’re not fresh and sometimes I would suspect, from the day before. The last bakery I worked at had a man who would come in and ask us to microwave his croissant. A toasted bagel could never offend me after having to frequently torture a baked good in such a vile way.

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lemon_difficult90 t1_isywxw2 wrote

A microwaved croissant? Holy smokes. That actually is a slight. Like, an affront to butter itself.

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NuttingOnNutzy t1_isyyc68 wrote

He might as well have been asking me to microwave one of my children, all the labor and love that goes into making a traditional croissant :(

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lemon_difficult90 t1_isyywrx wrote

Y THO

I cannot be made to understand.

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NuttingOnNutzy t1_isz0645 wrote

He was probably sad our French pastries didn’t taste enough like a croissan'wich from Burger King

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JulianVanderbilt t1_isyewjg wrote

I toast but eat them with only cream cheese. Not at all a bagel sandwich guy, personally.

The boiling is where it’s at for me!

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NuttingOnNutzy t1_isyfe59 wrote

Chewy’s are slow proofed and kettleboiled too. Nice glassy exterior with a chewy but not dense interior

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Danger-Moose t1_isykq8m wrote

I've only had their retail (from Little Green Grocer) and those were not at all glassy exterior. I'm also the biggest fan of sourdough bagels.

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Herculicia t1_isydthb wrote

Have you tried Chewy's Bagels yet? IMO waaaaaay better than Nate's, though I haven't tried Bodos or Cupertino's so I'm not sure how they stack up.

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STREAMOFCONSCIOUSN3S OP t1_isygp75 wrote

I haven't had Chewy's. I should try them but what comes to mind with the name Chewy's is the petstore e-tailer haha.

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AwsumMcCoolName t1_it051rb wrote

You're not far off, the place is named after the owner's dog.

Not that it matters, but I'm an avowed Cupertino's stan. Chewy's is miles better than Nate's, though.

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kipfoot t1_isyin8t wrote

It's amazing to me that Chewy's bagels are more expensive than Essa-a-bagel on W 32nd street in New York City. It's an odd LCOL city item flipped on its head.

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Charlesinrichmond t1_iszpd2s wrote

Because it's a specialty luxury item here and a run of the mill item in NYC

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kipfoot t1_it579jw wrote

That's a reasonable way to think of it, and I'd think of them as a luxury item if they were the quality of an ess-a-bagel bagel.

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Charlesinrichmond t1_it58rr6 wrote

ok, purporting to be a luxury item? I clearly need to try essa bagel. Had Russ and daughter bagel this summer, and it was really disappointing. I used to love H&H way back

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