Lunch at Bagelstein Bastille

Packed and stacked with rows of different kinds of bagels and cookies, the window display of Bagelstein Café in the 11^th arrondissement certainly did its job in attracting this hungry customer. 

A quick glance at my options on the sandwich-board outside, or bagel-board in this context, and I’d found my lunch spot that Friday afternoon.

I’m always on the lookout for new lunch places to try in Paris and this newly opened café on Rue de la Roquette is one of them. It’s not a big place inside but what it lacks in space, it makes up in fun décor: the walls are plastered with framed magazine covers, newspaper front pages, signed celebrity headshots and small plaques of witty French quotes.

It smells warm and inviting inside and unlike the (albeit) tasty baguette sandwiches that crowd the display cases of nearly every boulangerie, Bagelstein’s creations, on freshly baked bagels, are made to order right in front of you.

I chose the Hypolite – roast chicken, honey mustard, cream cheese, lettuce, tomato and pickles - on a toasted Gratin (cheese) bagel. I chose my seat by a signed photo of Wonder Woman and munched on my tasty bagel lunch. I was at first unsure about the pairing of pickles and chicken (and yes, as a pregnant woman I’m aware of the irony of that!) but when mixed with the flavourful honey mustard and cream cheese, it worked for this sandwich.

The reasonably-priced menu has many options for all your bagel-cravings: smoked salmon, tuna, pastrami, vegetarian and build-your-own on your choice of bagel. There’s even a Bagel-of-the-Month meal, plus a mouth-watering selection of cookies, cheesecake, and muffins so you can eat your bagel and get your fix of French baked goods. And a big bonus - the location on Rue de la Roquette is open 7 days a week for your bagel devouring pleasure.

Paris-area sandwich lovers, on your next jaunt in the city, be check out one of the many locations of Bagelstein for a delicious, low-key lunch. Because even the most devoted baguette fan needs variety once and a while. 

For more menu info and other fun facts, check out Bagelstein's unique website:

http://www.bagelstein.com

Sandwiches of Denmark

Denmark is a delightful country to visit: its capital Copenhagen has a relaxed atmosphere, friendly people, brightly coloured architecture, a rich history, and – my marker of anywhere worth visiting - delicious food and drinks.

We discovered some of the excellent food, specifically sandwiches, on our recent visit to this beautiful Scandinavian country. We tried out as many different dining experiences as we could, from the take-out sandwich place on a busy street, the cozy sit-down lunch restaurant, to a bustling street-food market. With this much variety, each experience was unique and enjoyable and gave me lots of fun material to blog about.

The iconic and colourful Nyhan, which means 'new harbour'. 

Blue House:

After an epic trek up the 400+ steps of the Church of Our Saviour, we’d worked up quite an appetite and needed something quick and filling.  

The Church of Our Saviour: who wouldn't work up an appetite climbing that spire? 

So we decided to check out the nearby Blue House. The giant sandwich outside this tiny take-out restaurant on Market Street caught my eye – how could it not? 

Blue House: the giant sandwich is excellent marketing for hungry passers-by

The menu was written in Danish but since Danish is a cousin of English, we could pick out some key words, like roast beef, remoulade sauce and tomatoes. So that’s what we ordered. While we waited, we watched their high-lite promo video and learned more about their interesting sandwich-making process. First, they panini-grill the dough in individual sandwich-sized loaves, then they cut it lengthwise and assemble the sandwich directly inside the freshly grilled loaf. Finally, they re-grill the whole thing and serve it immediately. The result is a very fresh, very warm and toasty sandwich that we ate on a bench overlooking the canal.

The roast beef was quite rare, which tasted good but was a bit chewy and caused some messiness but overall, it was satisfying lunch on our first day in the city.

Roast beef from Blue House. A solid introductory Danish sandwich.

Spiseriet:

We took a day trip to Helsingør, where we spent the better part of an afternoon exploring Kronborg Castle, the setting for Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It was a slightly windy and chilly day, which only added to the atmosphere of our tour, led by Horatio himself. Afterwards, as we were wandering the streets in search of a lunch place, we found Spiseriet, a little restaurant tucked away at the end of a cobblestoned alley. 

Spiseriet, in the town of Helsingnor

Its lunch specialty was smørrebrød, the Danish word for an open-faced sandwich. Denmark has a long tradition, dating back to the Middle Ages, of serving smørrebrød as a light meal and who were we to argue with tradition? When in Denmark, do as the Danes do.

I enjoyed two smørrebrød: first the Roast Pork and then the Potato. The Roast Pork consisted of thin slices of rye bread, topped with two thick pieces of roast pork, pickled red cabbage and cucumber. The meat was warm and the cabbage was similar to a nice, non-mayo based coleslaw. Since the portions were small and the first round was so good, we each ordered another: the Potato for me and Mike, and the Mustard-Herring, topped with watercress and fried capers for my uncle. My auntie ordered apple crumble for dessert.

The Roast Pork

The Mustard Herring

The Potato

The Potato smørrebrød was two thin slices of rye bread with warm, thick slices of potato, sprinkled with crisp bacon, fresh dill, red and green onion, and topped with a dollop of smoky cream cheese/sour cream. Divine! It was my favorite – a warm, fresh, dill-pickle potato chip sandwich.

For more information about smørrebrød, check out this excellent blog I found on the subject: 

http://www.danishsandwich.com/

I know I’ll be searching it for new recipes and sandwich-spiration.

Copenhagen Street Food:

This bustling street food market was a super fun experience on our last day in Copenhagen. Located across the harbour from the Opera House, near Nyhan (the beautiful harbour of colourful buildings and boats) and Christianshavn in an old paper-manufacturing warehouse, the Copenhagen Street Food market is home to over 30 unique food trucks and stalls. You can try everything from traditional Danish sandwiches and burgers, to butter chicken, fancy spring rolls and Brazilian BBQ. There are even a few different bars to try, if you want to get your wine/beer/cocktail on. The food is well-priced and decently portioned so you don’t have to spend all your Kroner at one place – and nor should you!

It was hard to narrow down all our options but we managed somehow and trust me, that’s the #firstworldproblem you don’t mind having on vacation. After a quick initial pass through the warehouse, we decided on DUCK IT, the burger place near the front, for a completely satisfying pulled-duck burger served hot off the grill, stuffed with red onions and salad greens. 

Pulled Duck Burger from DUCK IT

To keep our duck-trend going, we paired our burgers with paper cones stuffed to overflowing with Belgian frites double-fried in duck fat from Copper and Wheat. There was greasy-ducky gloriousness in every bite, enjoyed at one of the indoor picnic tables under the twirling cow-shaped disco ball.

Belgian frites double-fried in duck fat from Copper and Wheat

Groovy Disco-Cow

Visiting Copenhagen was definitely one of the highlights of my summer and I hope that wherever you traveled, you were met with similar positive experiences: friendly people, interesting sights and as always, unique and delicious food.

Cheers to you, Copenhagen, and to your beautiful sandwiches! Skål!

Thinking Outside the Bread Box - The Bagel

Fresh from my inaugural visit to the New York Bagel Café, I am inspired by bagels and their sandwich-making possibilities!

  

Toasted, untoasted, with cream cheese, jelly, butter or bare, open or closed faced - what I love about bagels is how limitless they are!

Check out any bagel shelf of any bakery and chances are you won’t see just one kind of bagel - there’s whole wheat, sesame, cinnamon-raisin, pumpernickel, poppy-seed, onion...full-sized or mini...assorted. It’s so hard to choose just one kind!

Exquisite Hendrickson Bagels!

Thankfully, the Everything bagel takes care of that. 

With a crispy topping of poppy-seeds, chunks of garlic and onions, it really does have a bit of everything, just like the name suggests. It’s great with plain butter or cream cheese alone, or piled high with meat, cheese, veggies or all of the above. It is definitely my go-to bagel but for this bagel-sandwich to be truly blog-worthy, it couldn’t be just any Everything bagel…

It had to be a Hendrickson Bagel, known more generally as an Old Strathcona Farmer’s Market Bagel!

I love the Farmer’s Market bagels! You may have to fight your way through the packed Saturday-morning crowds to get their stall, but once you do, they are so worth it! They are fresh from Sherwood Park, contain no artificial additives and no nuts! So stock up on these beauties, my fellow nut-allergy people!  Eat them with total peace of mind!

The Hendrickson version of the Everything Bagel is simply titled ‘Onion, Garlic, Sesame, Poppy’ and they have big hunks of all these great things on their golden tops. They smell so good and are soft and chewy, even when toasted. Eat them within three days of buying, or pre-slice and freeze them to extend their shelf life.  And don’t forget to grab an exciting flavor of fresh cream cheese while you’re there!

From the six bagels I bought, two had the honour of becoming beautiful sandwiches of different varieties: two open-faced, one closed.  All three are delicious bagel options I am proud to recommend to you!

2 Bagels, 3 Different Bagel-Sandwiches needs:

-2 Bagels

-Mustard

-Mayo

-Spicy pastrami

-Smoked prosciutto

-Provolone

-Strong Cheddar

-Hot Banana Peppers

-Cream cheese: spinach and feta from Hendrickson’s and the plain Philadelphia kind

-Carrots, shredded

-Red Pepper, sliced

-Red Pepper and Garlic Jelly (mine was homemade by my mother-in-law! Check out the jams and jellies at Anneliese’s Crafts at the Farmer’s Market for something similar.)

-Fresh-ground Pepper and Sea Salt

Toasted bagel, two meats and two cheeses goodness!

#1 -Toasted Pastrami, Prosciutto, Cheddar and Provolone

1-Slice a bagel and spread one half with mustard and mayo

2-Pile on the spicy pastrami, provolone, prosciutto and cheddar

3-Toast both halves in the toaster oven on medium, until cheese is melted and the other bagel half is golden brown

4-Add some hot banana peppers, combine the bagel halves, cut and enjoy!

This is a very nice combination of spicy, smokey and salty meat with the sharp provolone and strong cheddar. The peppers add some heat to a pleasantly warm and gooey blend of meat and cheese.  

#2 and #3 - Open-Faced Veggie and Meat Bagels:

Veggie:

1-Toast the bagel

2-Spread one half with a thick layer of spinach and feta cream cheese

3-Top with shredded carrot and slices of red pepper

4-Sprinkle some fresh ground pepper and sea salt on top

Meat:

1-Spread one half with plain cream cheese

2-Top with red pepper and garlic jelly

3-Fold a piece of prosciutto and place on the cream cheese and jelly spread

4-Enjoy!

The cream cheese has big pieces of spinach, which adds a different texture to this bagel.  The spinach and feta is a bold flavor combo that’s balanced out by the crisp veggies. The pepper and salt on top add a nice tang to the vegetables as well.  A thick slice of beefsteak tomato would also do nicely instead of, or in addition to, the red pepper. 

Can't go wrong with half veggie, half meat!

On the meat half, the jelly is both sweet and spicy and works well with the smoky prosciutto. The cream cheese and jelly melt well together on the toasted bagel half, so it’s a bit of a gooey, and chewy but tasty mess. 

So for your next sandwich, bypass the standard bread and go for something a bit different instead. These three bagel sandwiches show that with some creativity in mixing and combining your ingredients, you can have your bagel and eat it too!

Some extra Bagel facts to snack on:

-The bagel’s holey design suggests a desire to make this kind of food easily transportable as “it's possible to thread such a roll on a stick or a string” and take it to-go. (A Short History of The Bagel, www.slate.com)

-Bagels are boiled and then baked, a process which helps them to last longer because their exteriors become harder than other breads. (A Short History of The Bagel, www.slate.com)

-Bagels are delicious but slicing them can also cause severe injuries if you’re not careful!  Apparently, “1,979 people [went to emergency rooms] with BRI (bagel related injuries)…in 2008”!  (Newman, Barry. To Keep the Finger Out of Finger Food, Inventors Seek a Better Bagel Cutter, The Wall Street Journal, December 2009)

-If you enjoy kitchen gadgets, you may want to invest in a bagel slicer to minimize your risk of BRI. But if slicing a bagel without one really makes you feel alive, at least be smart about it and don’t hold it in your hand while you cut!  Place it on a flat surface, hold it down with one hand and carefully slice through the bagel horizontally. (http://homecooking.about.com/)

I Heart the New York Bagel Café

It had me at the mustards.

The first thing I saw after I crossed Gateway Boulevard and stepped into the New York Bagel Café was the centre-piece of mustards, hot sauces, jams and honeys grouped together on each table and I fell for NYBC.

Great centerpieces and menu!

How could I not?! There were three kinds of mustard on my table and I hadn’t even seen the menu yet!

It was my first time venturing into the little bistro on Gateway and 84 Ave and I was excited to take myself out for lunch for a different kind of sandwich experience and finally discover its appeal. I caught it at a quiet moment in the afternoon, which is a rare thing since I've heard that comfortable space is bursting with people during a post-Farmer’s Market run on the weekend. I was grateful for the quiet, as it gave me time to take in the friendly vibe - and to study the incredible menu.

The range of choices is definitely impressive for a place that size. NYBC has an extensive breakfast menu with over 20 different Eggs Benedict combinations, plus a solid selection of meat-free bennies and fresh perogies every day. But seeing as it’s the New York Bagel Café, there was really only one option I was willing to consider.

Not the average sandwich menu...

Or so I thought… 

After reading through and visualizing/taste-alizing (like visualizing, only with taste) the remarkably long list of bagel platters, I went with a classic: Lox and Cream Cheese. On white, whole wheat, cheddar or pumpernickel? Or rye bread? While I was tempted by the different options, I chose the whole wheat bagel.  What better way to be ease into this new eatery than with a tried-and-true selection?

It’s always exciting to wait for your food the first time you visit a new restaurant and I enjoyed my wait.  The eclectic music of lively Latin beats, bohemian guitar and the gravely vocals of Leonard Cohen added to the laid-back, slightly off-beat atmosphere. There was even a stack of Far Side comic books to peruse through while I anticipated my lunch's arrival.

Lox and Cream Cheese: an NYBC classic.

New York Bagel Café gets full marks for food presentation! My chosen bagel platter was a beautiful sight to behold: an artfully arranged, colourful spread of brown bagel, rusty-coloured lox, khaki capers and crisp white cream cheese and onions - plus a sour dill pickle on the side.

Since I am that person who takes photos of their food in public, I quickly snapped a few images on my phone and started in on my bagel masterpiece.  

Taking full advantage of the DIY factor involved, I laid the cream cheese on thick, then piled on the lox, capers and yes, the onions because apparently, I like them now!, and I savored that beautiful first bite.

Don't hold the onions - they're great on this bagel!

Really lovely flavours and textured emerged as I ate up my bagel: the smoky, oily salmon, the sharp crunch of onions and the peppery capers. Alternating crunchy bites of bagel with sips from the frothy blend of espresso and chocolate and warmth that was my moca, I thoroughly appreciated the experience of NYBC. 

It’s a good food restaurant, not a fast food one, as a small sign on the bar indicates, so go when you have time to sit, relax and be intrigued by different bagel combinations, intense coffee selections and the varied collection of condiments on your table.  Don’t rush your New York Bagel Café experience; take your time to delight in its charms.

The only unfortunate part of the afternoon - I didn’t get to try all the mustards on my table. But I’m looking forward to going back so I can see which bagel platter pairs well with my beloved whole gain Dijon…

It may take more than one trip back to find it, but I’m up for the challenge!