How Bozeman’s Bagel Works does it right
By Rachel Hergett EBS COLUMNIST
I’ve been fighting a tooth infection lately, leaving me in more pain than I’ve felt and unable to eat or drink anything but water and protein shakes—shout out to Orgain protein powder for keeping me alive this week. So when it came to writing this column, I was at a total loss and fresh out of inspiration. How do you write about food when you can’t eat it?
So I procrastinated, putting off the writing until the antibiotics kicked in and I was able to eat something, anything. An idea, I told myself, would come.
This morning, I woke up without pain and rejoiced at my good fortune. Fresh out of this peculiar purgatory for a food writer, I didn’t even stop to think about breakfast. I knew I wanted a bagel sandwich, and I knew where I was headed to get one. This action led to this column. Of course I should write about what I am actually eating.
A bagel, artificial intelligence tells me when I Google it, “is a bread roll.” It’s an answer that makes me chuckle.
See, I’ve just come from Bagel Works, a Bozeman staple that has been serving New York-style bagels for more than 30 years—since 1991, specifically. Printed on a sign above the ordering counter and on every employee and souvenir shirt is the shop’s motto of sorts: “Not just a roll with a hole.”
Then what is it?
I asked the staff working on Friday exactly that and received more chuckles than answers. Maybe it’s that kind of morning—we’re all wanting a good laugh. One staff member, who has worked at Bagel Works for years, said he’d never been asked such a question. No real answers were forthcoming. The staff just seems to take for granted that a bagel is truly more.
Bagels, I learn, originated among Jewish communities in Poland, who brought their recipes with them when they immigrated to the United States, and specifically New York City. Rather than simply baked, as one would a roll, a proper bagel is shaped into its signature ring and boiled before it is baked. This gives it that specific bagel texture—dense and chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside. Bakers arrive at Bagel Works at 2 a.m., first boiling and then baking their bagels so they are ready by the time the shop opens at 6 a.m. daily.
Many objects masquerade as bagels, but ultimately fail at creating these two distinct textures. They are instead only baked, only rolls with a hole. That, I think, is the difference.
My morning Bagel Works order is generally a breakfast bagel sandwich. This, and a large coffee is my favorite sustenance on days when I know I have to sit down and write, providing an easily transportable option for me to take to my office of choice. Lately, I’ve been trying to add more protein to my diet, so I’ll order Bagel Works’ Bobcat breakfast sandwich, with two meats, an egg and cheese. I even go big and add a second egg. Bonus, Bagel Works is entirely affordable—the Bobcat is only $8, or $10 with the extra egg.
Today, in a not-unusual move, I ordered both breakfast and lunch in one go. Bagel Works accepts both call-in (406-585-1727) and online orders. Either is recommended, as wait times in the Main Street storefront can be long during peak times.
Bagel Works has options for a variety of tastes. For sandwiches, try the classic New York bagel and lox, the hot pastrami or the Thanksgiving turkey, with hot turkey on a cranberry bagel. My typical lunch order is the veggie sandwich, which is naturally loaded with vegetables, but with turkey added. I’m no vegetarian.
There are more than a dozen choices for types of bagel—from my go-to works (Bagel Works’ version of the “everything” bagel) to sweeter blueberry or cinnamon raisin versions. And there are 10 house-made cream cheese options to choose from. It’s hard to pick a favorite. I love chive cream cheese as a rule, but recently picked up day-old bagels and cream cheese for a group and branched out. I’m now hooked on sesame bagels with honey walnut cream cheese or Asiago bagels with the sun-dried tomato option.
No matter the option, each Bagel Works bagel is definitely more than a roll with a hole.
Rachel Hergett is a foodie and cook from Montana. She is arts editor emeritus at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and has written for publications such as Food Network Magazine and Montana Quarterly. Rachel is also the host of the Magic Monday Show on KGLT-FM and teaches at Montana State University.
