Bagelsmith is an oft-talked about, though never recommended, place to grab a quick nosh. The bagels are decent and the schmear selection is appropriately wide, reaching into various vegan/tofu flavors. In spite of the heavy foot traffic from the nearby Bedford L, the ‘smiths are all quite nice and willing to entertain most bagel requests. The major innovation/appeal of Bagelsmith is that they are open 24 hours a day, encouraging nocturnal visits to Bageldom.

The bagels taste generically as a “New York” bagel is often described, and though I’ve eaten bagels from here a number of times I would never go out of my way to get a Bagelsmith bagel. The bagels are quite thick and slightly under toasted. This leaves them with an unsettling chewiness which is hard to pair with an incredible amount of schmear. In fact, I’d personally opt for a half-schmeared option if they had one. In the meantime, I’ll have to settle for trying to wipe half off on the paper wrapper.

Overall, a decent neighborhood bagel merchant though the most compelling reason to come here is a sudden midnight hankering.