I do give Redwood big points for being open on Christmas, for opening at 4:30 a.m. Sunrise scores 4.5 stars on Yelp and 4.8 on Google, and I heartily agree with what one reviewer wrote: “I cannot believe I never found this place sooner.”Īs for Redwood Bagel Company … sorry, Marty, but I wasn’t as bowled over as I was at Sunrise. I did try the chocolate chip variety, promptly giving it two chips down.īialy from Redwood Bagel Company in Novato A self-service cooler holds containers of cream cheeses, with standard flavors as well as chocolate chip, pineapple and walnut raisin. Decidedly not artisan, it’s a bit rough around the edges, which adds to the ambience. Most customers seem to go for bagel sandwiches. Then again, I’m not complaining, as they are only 99 cents each, $1.45 for “gourmet” bagels. Sharon likes the variety at Sunrise, but I’m a bagel traditionalist and I had no interest in trying banana, chocolate, cinnamon crunch, oat bran, sundried tomato or many of the other 30 varieties. The bialy wasn’t great, but the New York rye bagel had a potent rye flavor and a tough cornmeal crust, just like the outside of good twice-baked rye. The everything bagel was super seedy and salty, and very flavorful. The most popular varieties come fresh from the oven, as they are made on site throughout the day. The boiled and baked bagels are the genuine article: very tasty, chewy, not at all puffy, and a crust that isn’t crunchy per se, but brings a discernable texture to each bite. Check ’em out!”įirst, I drove to Concord and tried Sunrise, which also has a location in San Ramon. They are very good, and they have a great selection of cream cheeses. And the best and most authentic bagel I have found is Sunrise Bagels Cafe in Concord.
Similarly, Sharon Bergson of Lafayette, owner of a travel agency, wrote, “As a person who grew up in Brooklyn, I feel like a maven when it comes to New York bagels - or just good bagels. I grew up in Kew Garden Hills, Queens, around the corner from a bialy/bagel bakery on Main Street at Melbourne Avenue. “I might not be a professional, but I am certainly a bagel maven. Marty Rayman, a pediatric dentist from Kentfield. “I can’t believe you’ve never mentioned the Redwood Bagel Company in Novato,” wrote Dr. What a great angle for my final column: getting a chance to check out some “hot tips.” However, among the few I actually did receive over the years, two arrived in a recent three-day span. In the nearly four years that I’ve written “Hardly Strictly Bagels,” each column has been accompanied by the tagline “Send hot tips and out-of-the-way finds to ” My dream was for recommendations to come flooding in.