Happy new year!!! :^)
We are knee-deep in winter and now post-holiday-craziness. I hope yours was fun and restful, celebration or not! Personally, I rang in 2025 by: putting my hair in big poofy pigtails, dancing with friends, having my bi-annual cigarette treat (pride + new years), smooching my beloved, and ordering delivery from Crown Fried Chicken (one of the only places in Portland open until 2am). The year feels fresh and new and I have a little whisper of hope in my heart. As a result: it’s bagel time, and we’re starting with Rose Foods.
Atmospheric conditions:
New year feelin’. Sunny and mid-twenties outside but with wind that cuts right through your hands if you’re not wearing mittens. Snacking between internship sessions. Listening to “Groovin’” by Willie Mitchell, which I recently encountered on the soundtrack to The Holdovers.
Impulsively pulled over to Rose Foods on my way to the downtown library, which was holding a book for me.
Order
An everything bagel toasted with plain cream cheese.
*** Usually I order a toasted everything with lox cc or the salami egg & cheese (both of which absolutely slap), but these choices seemed perhaps too bold for the first Bagel Quest round. Maybe next time? ***
Cost
$4.37 (bagel = $2.55, plain cream cheese = $1.50)
Presentation
Incredibly charming to me… even had little a little red piece of tape holding it together. Expertly wrapped in gorgeous paper with a goofy illustration. I’m admittedly not sure what “The Maine Idea” text refers to, but I do dig it and the fact that it’s printed in different languages.
Obviously on the fancier side in the sense that it’s not humbly wrapped in newspaper or plain parchment paper. Presented whole; not cut.
Crust
Really great! Very crunchy but not messy; made a distinct cartoony sound upon biting into it. Golden brown bottom and crispy edges, likely due to toasting. Solid color on top from what you can see through the seeds.
Interior
Airy and nearly too soft, but good. Respectable bounce factor (as in you can bite it and then sorta watch it reinflate), and was certainly being shielded by the bold crust. You can squish it flat easily, which makes it feel more like a crusty bread; lacks the density and resistance that I think is characteristic of a bagel. Pleasant!
Chewiness
Checks the box for a recognizable bagel chew, but would have been more “classic” I think if it was a bit thicker. Didn’t hurt my teeth though, which was a plus!
The bottom half of the bagel was really crispy and kinda thin (notably it was like half of or a third of the size of the top half), but whether the Rose Food bagels are cut by machine or by hand I’m not sure.
Seasoning
Hell yeah. Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, crispy garlic bits. Simple, but effective. Wonderfully generous in the volume of seasoning (particularly the poppy seeds) which I deeply appreciate. The garlic bits gave it a nice toast-y sense that I imagine you’d get whether or not you order it toasted.
Spread-to-bread ratio
Ultimately strikes a nice balance, but airs on the side of caution. Because of its crispy-bread-nature, cream cheese still oozed out the sides while eating (which I think is critical), but when I looked down there was nothing that had escaped onto the plate or table. Although I like more cream cheese generally, the ratio here allows you to appreciate the actual taste of the bread, which is cool.
Other dimensions/notes
The person who served me appeared to be a beautiful little gay man with big sparkly brown eyes. Thank you for your service.
Good overall bagel size - it knows what it is and doesn’t pretend to be anything otherwise - but probably not enough to be a lunch on its own in my opinion.
Overall deliciousness
4.5 out of 5.
Honestly… a really awesome bagel. I take my hat off to you.
When Rose Foods opened in 2017, I had just started college and was really attached to this idea that home would always be the same whenever I came back to visit. So when I came back for holiday break, drove in the direction of Mister Bagel on Forest Ave, and saw this fancy-schmancy new-fangled bagel spot, I was apprehensive and pretty bummed at what appeared to signal a changing neighborhood. Although I still have my feelings about RF’s ever-fashionable aesthetics and such, I’ve since saluted it as a member of the breakfast bread community.
Delicious, and such a lovely start to the year. Thank you for reading, and see you next time! :~)
an auspicious beginning!
“beautiful little gay man with big sparkly brown eyes”… well yes…