Are your bagels boiled?
Yes! That is one of the reasons why our bagels taste better than the supermarket “bagels” or “bagels” from the big, well-known chains. While steaming might be easier and cheaper, there is simply no substitute for dunking the raw bagels into a boiling kettle of water before baking them. Boiling contributes to the shiny, golden, chewy crust that our bagels are famous for.

How long have you been in business?
We were the first bagel shop to open in Northern California. We opened our doors in 1962 on the corner of Geary Blvd. & 2nd Ave. We moved to the current location in 1964 and have been here ever since!

When are you open?
We are open from 6:00AM to 6:00PM every day of the year!

Do you add any fat, stabilizers or preservatives to your bagels?
Absolutely not! Like other artisan breads, a real bagel should have none of the above ingredients. Besides the toppings, our bagels contain only unbleached high-gluten flour, malt, brown sugar, filtered water, salt and yeast. By adding soybean oil, fat and/or stabilizers to their dough some “bagel” shops make a softer more bread-like product (i.e. roll-with-a-hole). This also extends the shelf life of their product. Like other artisan breads, it is best to buy fewer House of Bagels' bagels more often (or freeze them) than to buy a lot and let them sit for a long time on the counter.

Why is there corn meal on the bottom of your bagels?
Raw bagels are placed on wooden “proofing” boards to rise after they are formed. The proofing boards are covered liberally with cornmeal so that the raw bagels don’t stick to the board. The corn meal not only keeps the bagel from sticking to the board, but helps the bagels slide off the proofing board into the kettle of boiling water. If you look at a “bagel” from the big chain bagel stores or from most supermarket in-store bakeries, you’ll notice no corn meal on the bottoms. These “bagels” are just placed on parchment paper in pans and baked. This also accounts for the flat & sometimes wrinkled bottoms of these products. Besides flavor and crust, a cornmeal bottom can also help tell you if you are eating a real bagel or an imposter.

Why are there poppy seeds inside your onion bagels?
In order to make an onion bagel, many bagel shops on the west coast just sprinkle some onion on the top of a plain bagel. We, however, make our onion bagels the traditional way. This means we put onion directly into the dough. Adding a little bit of poppy seed to the onion bagel dough helps everyone distinguish it from the plain bagel dough.

Is it true that there is something special about NY water that makes bagels in NY special?
It is extremely unlikely that the water makes any sort of difference. Why? All the water at the House of Bagels and at any of the famous NY bagel shops is filtered. Municipal water quality varies from month to month and from year to year. You could probably not tell the difference, but yeast can! Therefore, almost all commercial bread bakeries filter their water to remove any chlorine and other variances that will impact the yeast. The water that goes into your bagel, no matter where it came from, is essentially the same.

The myth about NY water began with the first west coast bagels. These bagels were not boiled. People would ask, “Why is the NY bagel better?” Answer is, “it’s the water,” in other words, it is boiled. The expression stuck and people mistakenly think there is something about NY water that makes it special. The logic of the old days still holds, however. Why are House of Bagels' bagels so much better than the chains? It’s the water! We boil our bagels!

Can you freeze bagels?
Absolutely! The best way to do this is to slice them (we can do it for you if you like) and then freeze them in one of our freezer bags. When you are ready to eat one just take the two halves out of the freezer and pop it in the toaster. Delicious!

What is so special about your corned beef and pastrami?
We are one of the few bay area delis that actually serve brisket pastrami and corned beef. Most other places serve pastrami and corned beef that is made from top round, a much leaner and far less flavorful cut of meat.

We believe Bay Area delis serve top round pastrami and corned beef for two reasons. First, people are scared that the extra fat of the brisket cut would scare away the public. Second, top round is cheaper. For us, though, we are concerned only about flavor.

If you do have reservations about the fat in the brisket cut we serve, we also offer a lean brisket cut which is hand trimmed tight to the muscle. It still has the intramuscular fat of our regular cut, but almost all of the outside fat has been trimmed away. We actually recommend the lean if you plan on eating our pastrami or corned beef cold. Eating it hot? Regular is the best!

Is House of Bagels a Kosher establishment?
We are not Kosher, but we are kosher-style. You can be sure that we carry NO pork or shellfish products of any kind. Furthermore, we carry an extensive line of Kosher retail products including brands such as Streit's, Ungar’s, Tabatchnick, Ba-Tampte, Golden, & Hebrew National.

What is the nutritional information for a bagel?
The following nutritional information based on a single plain bagel, other bagel flavors will vary in miniscule amounts for example there will be a teeny bit more fat in the sesame and poppy or more fiber in the whole wheat, etc. The approximate total Calories is 271, 1g of Fat, 1g of Fiber, 11g of Sugar, 8g of Protein, and 489mg of Sodium.