Bagel Depot - Staten Island, NY

Even though Kevin works in Staten Island, we haven't really hung out that much in Staten Island. In fact, apart from driving thru whenever we go JFK, I have only been to Staten Island once. That was like almost 3 years ago, when we went to Sears in Staten Island Mall. So, a few weekends ago, we decided to go check Staten Island out. We found out online that there is a historical village and museum complex called Historic Richmond Town. It is an actual living museum, with restored buildings dating as far back as the colonial period (will blog more about that later on). Sounds pretty interesting, so it's off to Staten Island we go!
Before leaving for Staten Island, we also went online to find out where we can get some really good bagels. Just like all the other New York City boroughs, Staten Island is well known for it's bagels. There is just something in those NYC hand pulled bagels that makes it so yummy and so different from all the other bagels that I have tried before. It must be the NYC water :D Anyways, we found out that Bagel Depot is supposed to have some of the best hand pulled bagels in the whole of Staten Island. Not only that, but guess what? There is a branch in Richmondtown itself! Woohoo! That's just perfect. So, on our way home to Jersey, we stopped by Bagel Depot to pick up some bagels.
The store was rather empty when we walked in. So, we had some time to snoop around while waiting to be served. Looks like they sold other stuff, apart from bagels. There were all kinds of muffins, english muffins, cookies, danish, croissants, turnovers and even jelly rings. They all look super yummy but we didn't get any. We were focused on our mission, to get our hands on some super yummy Staten Island bagels!
Not only did they have baked goods for sale, but they also carried a whole lot of other stuff. There was a deli section that sold all kinds of meats, smoked salmon, various types of cream cheese, antipasti as well as a huge selection of salads. Also, there we all kinds of breads, rolls and buns for sale. Man, I am beginning to like this place more and more! :P
Alright, enough of snooping around. We need to get to the main attraction! Check out the bagels baby! They are so huge and yummy looking. None of those hard, dry and tiny stuff that we usually see in grocery stores or coffee shops outside of this region. This is the real thing. NY style hand pulled bagels. Sooooo good! Apart from the usual bagels, they also have min bagels and flagels (flat bagels).
Look at all the bagels that we bought home! :P Yes yes, I know. The two fatties got carried a way for a bit. In our defense, we were actually taking full advantage of their "Buy a dozen and get 3 FREE" promotion (works out to $9.60 for 13 bagels). So yeah, that's the reason why we bought so many :P Oh and for those smarty pants who actually counted the bagels, yes, one of them didn't make the journey home. It was so good, we HAD to share one in the car, during our drive home..LOL! What type of bagels did we get? Well, we bought two plain, two low carb, two wheat, two egg, two poppy seeds, two garlic and one pumpernickel. They all tasted really good, light and chewy, just like how a good hand pulled bagel should be. Those bagels lasted us for quite a long time. All we needed to do was freeze the bagels in the freezer, pop it into the microwave for a few seconds whenever we want to eat them and it taste as good as new. So, if you are ever in Staten Island, you totally have to check out Bagel Depot. They make some of the best bagels ever!!

Bagel Depot (Richmondtown Branch) - Staten Island, NY
3459 Richmond Rd
Staten Island, NY 10306
Phone:(718)987 7682
Web: http://www.bageldepot.com

Leo's Bagels - Financial District, NYC

I think I mentioned a couple of times in my past few posts that my primary school friend from Singapore visited us last weekend. We managed to squeeze in quite a lot of NYC sights within those two days. One of the first places that we brought her bright and early on Friday morning was the Financial District. After all, you cannot really say that you have visited NYC unless you have seen the NYSE, Wall St, the Charging Bull at Bowling Green and Battery Park (among other stuff, of course). I also gave her a list of 'must eats' whenever one visits NYC. Apart from the ever popular NYC pizza and hot dogs, bagels are way up there on that list. I don't know why NYC bagels are oh so good. Must be the water :D
Since we were in the Financial District, Kevin and I decided to take her to Leo's Bagels for breakfast (well, it was supposed to be breakfast but it ended up being brunch :P). Located in Hanover Square, Leo's Bagels seriously have the best bagels in Lower Manhattan. Huge, chewy and uber delicious, this self proclaimed "Bagels with Chutzpah" are freshly hand rolled everyday. No wonder there are always a steady stream of customers pouring in and out of this small cozy shop.
The interior of Leo's Bagels is really small. You can find their rather large menu on the wall as well as check out their home made salads, a variety of spreads and assortment of smoked fish inside the glass counter. Of course you can also smell freshly baked bagels from the kitchen as well as we check out their bagel selections in wire baskets on the right side of the shop. The lines can be pretty long at times but it's usually rather fast moving.
Look at the variety of spreads offered at Leo's. They range from regular cream cheese, flavored cream cheese (scallion, vegetable, sun dried tomatoes and roasted garlic, maple raisin walnut, kalamata olive, jalapeno, strawberry), organic tofu spreads, hummus to their popular "Toffuti" (Tofu Cream Cheese). You can even get spreads like butter, jelly, peanut butter and Nutella!
Also check out their home made salads as well as their selection of smoked fish and various types of cheeses. Among some of the salads offered are tuna (also available in low fat), whitefish, egg, baked salmon, herring, chicken, chopped chicken liver, shrimp, lobster and Waldorf. The Leo Salad is a popular choice among their customers. It consist of egg salad, Bermuda onions and smoked salmon. I was also very impressed with their huge selection of smoked fish. There are about 13 different types of smoked fish to choose from. Yummy stuff!
There are only limited sitting room available in Leo's. After ordering and getting our food, we couldn't decide it we should eat in or take our food elsewhere to eat. There is only one small counter with five seats available for dine in customers. We were pretty lucky that we managed to get seats, so we decided to just eat in. I guess most of Leo's customers take out their order.
Kevin ordered the Cinnamon Raisin Bagel with Regular Cream Cheese ($2.50). He said that it was very good. There are quite a lot of different bagels to choose from. There are thirteen different types of regular bagels (plain, multi grain, onion, poppy seed, pumpernickel, sesame..etc), three healthy organic flavors and five different types of Artisan breads (Jewish rye, onion rolls, country white...etc). If you were to just buy a bagel (minus the spreads), it would set you back $1 for the regular ones and $1.35 for the organic bagels. A 'Brokers' dozen (14 bagels) cost $12 for regular bagels and $16.20 for organic.
My friend Wendy also ordered the Cinnamon Raisin Bagel but with Strawberry Cream Cheese ($2.50). Leo's are really generous with the cream cheese, just check out the amount they slapped on her bagel. She also said that it was really yummy and good. Looks good to me too!
I decided to try something that they are famous for. Smoked fish and bagels. So, I ordered the Multi-Grain Bagel with Eastern Nova Scotia Salmon and Cream Cheese ($8.95). Look at the amount of cream cheese they slapped on. The bagel sandwich was sooooo huge, I couldn't even finish it. So, was it good? Yeah it was. It was super yummy!!! The bagel was really doughy and chewy, just the way I like it. Not only that, the smoked salmon was really fresh. Everything in the sandwich complimented each other so well, it was so so good! No wonder Leo's Bagels is known to have the best bagels in Lower Manhattan. Simple delicious! I must make a trip down to Leo's Bagel sometime soon to buy home a Brokers dozen or two!!

Leo's Bagels - Financial District, NY
3 Hanover Square
New York, NY 10004-4015
Tel: (212)785 4700
Web: http://www.leosbagels.com/