Lyla D.
Yelp
I was hankering for a bagel since our favorite local (O'ahu) Montréal bagelry has been temporarily closed when my brother-in-law recommended Pops Bagels instead of one of his other favorites. I had never heard of Pops Bagels, but I trust my brother's-in-law tastebuds, so we drove to this conveniently located site early Saturday morning. My brother-in-law counted on the fact that since it was a weekend day and morning (9 AM), we'd not have any parking issues on the usually busy Beverly Drive. Sure enough, we snagged a parking space directly in front of the bagelry and strode in to make our selections.
Upon entry, we were greeted by a smiley young man who quickly offered his friendly customer assistance as I glanced over the menu on the countertop before ogling the bagels behind him. From what my brother-in-law told us, Pops Bagels are made in small batches, which assures the customer of freshness and perfect texture. The cost of the bagels ranges from $2 to $2.50 apiece. My brother-in-law ordered an assortment of plain, egg, everything, and waited for me and my husband to make our choices. Instead of ordering sweet bagels (chocolate chip or blueberry), we chose the jalapeño cheddar flavor before dashing home, where our schmears awaited us.
My first impressions of Pops Bagels are huge, thick, fluffy yet dense, hole-less, and packed with flavor. As we cut the warm, hole-less bagels, I wondered about their texture since most bagels have holes to facilitate even cooking (boiling then baking). Although we cut the bagels into halves, the thick half slices were too wide to fit into our standard toaster, so we popped them into a toaster oven. The texture of the lightly toasted jalapeño cheddar bagels wasn't as dense or doughy as other NY-style bagels that we've eaten, and there was a lot of jalapeño chili peppers and cheddar cheese mixed in the dough. We expected the spiciness from the chili peppers, which were balanced by the cheese. Still, I used a considerable schmear of butter and thought about drizzling honey atop to neutralize the spicy chili peppers as this was my breakfast. Not to judge...but my husband topped his jalapeño cheddar bagel with peanut butter and strawberry jam! LOL. I couldn't wrap my head around that combination. But he claimed it worked for him.
Anyway, we enjoyed Pops Bagels and would happily return for more.