exans seem to know what a bagel looks like, but not how it should taste. Order a bagel in Texas, and you will likely receive something round with a bagel-type hole in the middle, and yet it’s nothing but a bland, glorified roll. One bagel chain, perhaps ironically called Einsteins, insists on crusting their bagels with cornmeal. Because everyone loves cornmeal? There is simply no sense of contrast or texture, of the hard chewy outside versus the soft, doughy inside. Trust me. It was such a drag

That is where New York comes in. Around the corner from my apartment, really just a five minute walk, is a thing of surpassing beauty: The Bagel Store. (Why mess with fancy names? I like truth in titularity.) For $1.35, I can buy a fresh-baked bagel stuffed with massive amounts of cream cheese, which I can snack on all morning and afternoon. Really. It’s that big. I’m not saying I moved to New York just to have bagels. I'm saying that if I had, I’d be plenty gratified.