Marion S.
Yelp
The bagels we wanted, but not what we needed...
On first glance, Bagel Boss looks like any other deli or fast casual place in Los Angeles, but behind that long deli counter lies something special.
Bagel Boss comes to Burbank all the way from Long Island, New York. Outside of the little flourishes of artwork and signage, you'd never know. On my first visit, I wondered how New York was this place. As I waited in line, Billy Joel started to play.
Let me begin by saying, this is a legit bagel. Chewy, crusty exterior...pillowy, tender bread on the inside. It's nice to toast, but it's not really necessary when they're freshly made every morning. The cream cheese choices that go along with them are equally as good. The regular cream cheese has equal parts creaminess, smoothness, and tang. The flavored versions are exactly what they say...the scallion is scalliony, etc. The lox cream cheese isn't lacking lox...it's not as pink as other bagel shops have it, but I'll take huge chunks of lox mixed in versus the look of "lox spread."
My go to combo is an egg bagel with the scallion lox cream cheese...it's everything I want in a bagel without having all the individual pieces to make it up. You could get a traditional lox sandwich with onions and capers, but the lox scallion cream cheese is a nice cheat code. Speaking of cheating...they do not cheat you on the amount of cream cheese schmeared in between a sliced bagel. It's one of the few places where I've had to ask for less, not more.
It's a full service deli with salads and sandwiches as well. If cream cheese isn't your thing, you can get a breakfast sandwich with eggs and cheese.
My other go to combo is the french toast bagel...which is basically an egg bagel, but sweet and has hints of maple syrup throughout and powdered sugar on top. It goes great with the blueberry or strawberry cream cheese.
Surprisingly the star here is the coffee. I'm not even talking about the lattes and other coffee drinks, I'm just getting the regular drip coffee. I don't know what it is or if they do anything special to brew it, but it's just a great cup of coffee. They have a coffee station with all sorts of syrups, sugars, and milk options so you can tailor your perfect cup of coffee.
I came here on opening weekend and that was a mistake. The line was down the block...the new employees weren't up to speed, but were extremely kind and helpful...overall though, it was kind of a mess. I can gladly say that the lines have died down and the employees are just as nice and helpful as they were on day one. If I had a complaint about the employees, it's that maybe they're too nice.
Overall, Bagel Boss debuts as one of the top bagel shops in Los Angeles and it's going to be in that elite class for as long as I can see. The only knock I have against it is LA has its own bagel culture now. For decades, we only had what we got at supermarkets and the odd donut shop or bakery here and there. We always craved a "true" NY bagel experience. That search lead to bakers here to chase the perfect recipe/technique and like every cuisine we've folded into the Los Angeles food tapestry, we came up with something just as good, if not better.
Bagel Boss is excellent...it is that quintessential, classic bagel we have wanted...but it lacks the complex flavors LA bagel hot spots have achieved. LA bagels have achieved sourdough like qualities from ingredients they use...the specific flours...the techniques...the atmosphere that LA brings to that bread. I'm sure the Bagel Boss dough carries that distinct New York terroir, but in the past few years, the style that LA has cultivated has made me rethink the classic bagel.
With that said, I'm glad LA is finally a great bagel town and Bagel Boss is an excellent addition to the neighborhood.