Abel Bagel

With last year's closing of Einstein's Bagels and the Chesapeake Bagel Company's reincarnation into the Nassau Bagel Bakery, there was some concern that Abel Bagel would be the next victim of Princeton's competitive bagel scene. To the relief of bagel purists such as myself, fate spared us that most unfortunate possibility.

Abel Bagel adheres to the traditional bagel-making method of boiling and then baking bagels, yielding a New York style bagel with a dry, crisp exterior and a dense, moist interior — the way a bagel should be.

Abel Bagel generously coats its bagels with traditional toppings — sesame and poppy seeds, onions and garlic — and it has conceded to the fruit-bagel fad with flavors like blueberry. The choices of tasty creamcheese range from chive to maple-walnut, and Abel Bagel blessedly refrains from drowning its bagels in too much of the stuff.

Abel Bagel has a great bagel-bakery atmosphere — it occupies a narrow room lined with bagel bins and refrigerators — and attracts colorful locals whose stories are well worth eavesdropping on. The staff appears to know many of the customers and make all feel at home.

Abel Bagel does offer sandwiches for lunch, though I've never seen anyone eat one, as well as juices and milk for quenching thirst. Avoid the coffee, though, which has little more flavor or caffeine than mildly acidic water.