Courage Bagels

This always-busy Virgil Village bagel shop slings delicious wild-yeasted, Montreal-style bagels with the kind of flavor, texture and presentation that have caught the attention of national media outlets. The lines are usually fairly long (unless you get lucky on the later side of Monday morning) and it can take close to half an hour sometimes to get your order, but these are—sigh—the best bagels in Los Angeles. Slightly burnt, lightly chewy and barely sweet, a Courage bagel is crispier and thinner than your standard New York style, which lends itself to schmear and toppings like farmers’ market veggies like heirloom tomatoes and wild-caught Alaskan lox. Owners Arielle Skye and Chris Moss have been featured in basically every major local and national food outlet, including a ragebait headlined article by the New York Times: “The Best Bagels Are in California (Sorry, New York).” In the realm of California-by-way-of-Montreal bagels, Courage is the standard by which all others are judged—so come here at least once and judge for yourself.