Bagel Hole, photos by Jill Harrison
Will you PLEASE do a bagel review? a reader named JT requested a while back, following a post on the mediocrity of Tim Horton’s donuts. I don’t know what kind of review you’ve got in mind, JT, but I do have a tip for you: The Bagel Hole in the South Slope has the best bagels in Brooklyn, and probably the whole city.
It took me a while to realize it this, though. When I moved nearby a few years ago and started going there they seemed kinda small and kinda hard. This is a common reaction, I was later told by Phil Romanzi, who’s owned the narrow, no-frills shop for close to 25 years. If your notion of a bagel is a dough bomb as big and round as a softball and as soft as a Twinkie, then they take getting used to. And it almost certainly is, unless you’re of a certain age and grew up in or around the five boroughs. Read the rest of this entry »
Doubles from Ali's Trinidadian Roti Shop. Photos by Mark Sullivan Bernal.
A Brokavore quiz: The word “doubles” refers to a) a team tennis match; b) a beloved Trinidadian snack; c) manna for the cheapskate chowhound.
If you hesitated before answering d) all of the above, it’s time you were brought up to speed. In the edible division, a “doubles” consists of a dollop of thick chickpea curry (channa) served between a pair of small fried flatbreads (baras), along with a hit of tamarind chutney and, if you do the right thing and order it “with pepper,” West Indian hot sauce. Wrapped up piping hot in a wax-paper twist, it’s a terrific miniature gut-bomb that melds chick-pea earthiness, chutney sweetness, cumin-and-curry tang and scotch-bonnet heat, along with the bland comfort of the doughy, stretchy bread. And they run a mere buck or buck-and-change apiece, which can mean lunch for a couple dollars. (Or do like the Trinidadians do, and eat them for breakfast.) Read the rest of this entry »
Bagel Hole, photos by Jill Harrison
Will you PLEASE do a bagel review? a reader named JT requested a while back, following a post on the mediocrity of Tim Horton’s donuts. I don’t know what kind of review you’ve got in mind, JT, but I do have a tip for you: The Bagel Hole in the South Slope has the best bagels in Brooklyn, and probably the whole city.
It took me a while to realize it this, though. When I moved nearby a few years ago and started going there they seemed kinda small and kinda hard. This is a common reaction, I was later told by Phil Romanzi, who’s owned the narrow, no-frills shop for close to 25 years. If your notion of a bagel is a dough bomb as big and round as a softball and as soft as a Twinkie, then they take getting used to. And it almost certainly is, unless you’re of a certain age and grew up in or around the five boroughs. Read the rest of this entry »
