One of the tragedies of being gluten-free and living in New York City is not being able to enjoy the bagels.  I used to look forward to the hearty breakfast of a sausage, egg, and cheese bagel sandwhich from Ess-A-Bagel on weekend mornings.  Now, I sneak bites of the cheesy sausage from my fiance’s when he gets them.

Of course, I’ve tried frozen gluten-free bagels.  Udi’s makes a good bagel, although it seems a little too bready and not chewy enough.  I recently was introduced to Joan’s Bagels.  Joan makes par-bakes her bagels, freezes them, and then lets you bake them to your desired doneness.  This makes for an incredible texture, but they had the dreaded xanthan gum after taste.

I didn’t think that fresh gluten-free bagels existed, but I was proven wrong.  Vic’s Bagel Bar in Murray Hill makes gluten-free bagels because Vic was diagnosed with a gluten allergy 6 months after opening his bagel shop.  They make their bagels first thing in the morning as to not contaminate them with the gluten-full bagels.  I’m pretty pumped about this.  I haven’t tried a bagel from Vic’s yet, but I plan to before leaving New York City!