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Although we're suffering from a cream cheese shortage, New Yorkers are not giving up on their bagel routines—and they have preferences.
A new study by delivery platform GrubHub dives deep into our unique bagel-related habits, dissecting what flavors city dwellers love the most while also shedding light on the most popular shops in town and top sandwich orders of the past year.
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A note about the methodology, which was pretty simple: GrubHub looked at the most ordered bagel flavors, sandwiches and restaurants in 2021 on its platform to come up with the ranking.
Some of the results do not surprise us (the most popular bagel sandwich: bacon, egg and cheese—duh) while others really confuse us. (People really like cinnamon and blueberry bagels?)
Let's start with the most sought after flavors. The everything bagel—a personal favorite—comes out on top, followed by cinnamon, onion, blueberry and jalapeño. As they say, to each its own, but can someone explain to us what it is about the blueberry bagel that excites folks' palates? Let's just say that if we were ever in the mood for the tart fruit, we'd opt for a blueberry muffin.
On to the most popular sandwiches: The classic bacon, egg and cheese bagel sandwich reigns supreme and the top five list is rounded out by lox with scallion spread (yum), egg and cheese, BLT and a ham and egg bagel sandwich. All expected entries in line with what we believe to be the average New Yorker's usual order.
As for the most popular bagel shops in town, Utopia Bagels in Queens took the number one spot, followed by the Upper East Side's Tal Bagels, Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Company in Astoria, Forest Hills Bagels in Queens and the ever-popular Ess-a-bagel in Manhattan (the first Brooklyn outpost of the hometown shop is now open at the Time Out Market in Dumbo!) Queens officially is the most bagel-loving New York borough.
All this bagel talk has gotten us hungry, of course. Just in time for National Bagel Day, which is happening this upcoming Saturday, check out our list of the best bagels in NYC.
And, although part of the experience involves having someone else prepare your food, here's our guide to making real New York-style bagels at home.