Best Bagels?

Apparently so. Absolute Bagels have the best bagels in New York, therefore by inference, they are probably the best in the country, if not the world. Ed Levine tried them all and Absolute won. He also gives us a handy definition of what the necessary and sufficient conditions are for a bagel.

" A definition of terms, then. A bagel is a round bread made of simple, elegant ingredients: high-gluten flour, salt, water, yeast and malt. Its dough is boiled, then baked, and the result should be a rich caramel color; it should not be pale and blond. A bagel should weigh four ounces or less and should make a slight cracking sound when you bite into it instead of a whoosh. A bagel should be eaten warm and, ideally, should be no more than four or five hours old when consumed.

All else is not a bagel."