Bethenny Frankel From 'RHONY' Compared Montreal Bagels To New York Bagels & One Was A Winner
Bethenny Frankel recently took to her TikTok page to post a video comparing Montreal bagels to New York bagels. As a former Real Housewives of New York star and a Big Apple business powerhouse, it's safe to say Frankel is New York enough to join the bagel debate, offering up a thorough taste test and declaring one bagel a winner.
Considering Montreal and New York City have had a long-lasting rivalry over which metropolis makes a better bagel, Frankel's take sparked controversy in the comments, but we all really know who serves up a better bagel, right? Montreal. Duh.
Montreal is home to the best bagels in the world (yes, the best in the world) thanks to iconic spots such as St-Viateur, Fairmount, Real Bagel and a few others that have put us on the bagel map. While New York City's food scene is not to be reckoned with, their bagels simply do not compare to that of Montreal.
Montreal-style bagels are notorious for being smaller, denser, sweeter, and typically boiled in honey-sweetened water before baking, while New York-style bagels are larger, chewier, and boiled in plain water with malt syrup. See? Even the Montreal description sounds better.
The bagel debate is so prevalent that even Canadian actor Simu Liu got involved in the discourse, saying St-Viateur in Montreal's Mile-End/Plateau-Mont-Royal borough is his favourite.
@bethennyfrankel MONTREAL BAGELS coming in HOT #bagels #bageltok #montreal
So, what did Bethenny Frankel think?
The New Yorker ordered a variety of bagels from St-Viateur, including original sesame, all-dressed, whole wheat, and sea salt. "OK. I ordered these from Montreal because everybody from Montreal says the bagels are better than New York bagels. I have a very difficult time believing that" Frankel began.
Although Frankel's English pronunciation of Montreal isn't how we locals say our city name, she later tossed in a vocal accent aigu (é), saying the "Montréal" in French without fault.
After opening the bag of all-dressed bagels, Frankel immediately took note of how much smaller Montreal bagels are compared to New York bagels. "It doesn't have the tender and gumminess of a New York bagel," Frankel said. "I know a bagel, and I am sure this is delightful but you're not gonna play and tell me a Montreal bagel is better than a New York bagel. You can fight me."
Before putting it into the toaster, the Skinny Girl maven observed how our bagels have "some density," saying it's not an airball from the supermarket, which she considered to be a "positive."
While Frankel clearly meant business, she was surprised over how good the Montreal bagel was. After taking a bite of her half cream cheese, and half butter bagel, Frankel described it as a "nice bagel."
"I like it," she continued. "It's a little lighter and a little sweeter. I don't think it's as good as a New York bagel but it's a nice alternative."
Frankel went on to describe the texture as "airy and crispy" all while still offering the "chewy tenderness," that she looks for.
Despite enjoying the all-dressed bagel, Bethenny declared New York bagels are still better. Now, while Frankel is entitled to her wrong opinion, we still love that she raved about Montreal bagels. "I see why they [Montrealers] are loyalist to it [Montreal bagels]…it's a good bagel."
Frankel even got her daughter Bryn to try out the Montreal bagel. This time with a full schmear of cream cheese, Bryn had nothing but great things to say about the all-dressed goodness. "Mm, it's a good bagel!" she said while chewing on some of St-Viateur's best
The former RHONY star made it clear that the comparison may not have been all that fair, considering the bagels were shipped and not fresh out of the oven. Nevertheless, Frankel still prefers scooping out the middle of a New York bagel and to that, I say to each their own.
@bethennyfrankel If you don’t want to watxh then block me as i have done you #breakfast #montrealbagels #tomato #cottagecheese
In a second TikTok posted to Franke's page on September 16, the business mogul gave another go at a Montreal bagel. This time? Whole wheat sesame bagel with cottage cheese and tomato. Frankel received a lot of feedback following her first post, with many comments insisting she toast the Montreal bagel less.
So, with less time in the toaster, Frankel gave her whole wheat sesame St-Viateur bagel topped with a generous amount of cottage cheese, a slice of a gorgeous garden-grown tomato and a sprinkle (or two) of everything bagel seasoning. The verdict? Frankel was rather pleased with the result.
"Nice! Tender. It's good," she said. "It needs a little more salt and can handle being toasted a little bit more," Frankel continued. She found the bagel to be dense and tender, and compared the flavour and overall texture to having a baked sesame pretzel.
"The sesame tastes very sesame," Frankel said. "If you have ever had a whole wheat pretzel with sesame, and it's a little sweet. That's what this bagel tastes like." Frankel did come to the conclusion that Montreal bagels can handle good toasting. And she isn't wrong.
"A New York bagel…if you toast it too much they get hard, but these [Montreal bagels] can handle it." The former RHONY star said that she's "into it" and even noted that Montreal bagels are fewer calories than New York bagels. Considering Frankel's background is in clinical nutrition and nutritional sciences, we're going to take her word on this one.
Nevertheless, Frankel still stands firm on New York bagels being better than Montreal bagels.
"Final answer? New York bagels are better…but [Montreal bagels] are a nice twist," she said.
Despite her ruling, the comments below Frankel's TikTok don't agree. "Im from Australia and tasted both and I have to say Montreal for the win 😅 maybe you should have it fresh?" one person wrote.
"Hearing you say NY over Montreal and that me being Canadian makes me frustrated. NY bagels are so much bread," another (annoyed) comment read. "I've had NY bagels and they're definitely not the win lol," another comment said.
So, what do you think? Montreal bagels or New York bagels?
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