Boichik Bagels brings its renowned bagels to Larkspur

For a bagel connoisseur like Emily Winston, founder of Berkeley-born Boichik Bagels, there are a few particulars that divide the very best from the so-so.

The New Jersey native opened her fourth bagel shop earlier this month amidst downtown Larkspur’s row of whitewashed stores and restaurants beneath the redwoods on the south end of Magnolia Avenue.

She brings with it a reputation for putting California on the best-places-for-bagels map, most notably highlighted in a 2021 New York Times headline, “The Best Bagels Are in California (Sorry, New York).” The writer goes on to assert that “Emily Winston’s bagels are some of the finest New York-style bagels I’ve ever tasted. They just happen to be made in Berkeley.”

Although Winston was accustomed to a reliable selection of good bagels in her childhood hometown in New Jersey, the food memory that is most indelibly etched in her mind comes from the West Side of Manhattan, home of the original (now-closed) H & H Bagels.

This special occasion spot instilled in her a bagel obsession that held strong even after a move to California in 2010. And when the Golden State proved lacking in suitable counterparts, Winston applied her Cornell University degree in mechanical engineering to replicate “the holy grail” of bagels.

“I like to tinker and see how things work and make stuff,” says Winston about her five-year quest to recreate the memory. “That’s why it took so long.”

How does Winston describe the perfect H & H bagel?

“It’s the texture and ingredients,” she says. “It’s on the sweeter end of bagels, which is pronounced and unique to H & H.”

Winston uses organic malt extract and brown sugar in her bagels and employs what she calls “the lick” to assure that the proper flavor profile has been achieved. “I have a memory of licking the outside of a bagel before biting into it and it having a particular flavor. That’s what I wanted.” It also has a leathery versus a crunchy or crispy crust. “All of the pieces need to come together to make it feel right.”

Has she succeeded in reaching her goal?

“I’m very happy,” she says. “I was nervous when I first opened, but many fans of H & H said, ‘You’ve got it.’”

Winston’s first bagel shop opened in Berkeley in 2019 and earlier this year, she expanded to the west side of town with a second retail outlet and a 18,000-square-foot production facility that has the automated chops to accommodate both retail and wholesale demand. A visit provides customers with a how-it’s-made glimpse of Winston’s custom, robotic, Willy Wonka-like Baker-Bot that drops the dough from a mixer bowl into a hopper that cuts it and sends the formed bagels onto boards and baking racks before the proofing stage.

Fresh bagels from the factory are delivered to Larkspur every morning. All the usual varieties are covered, from onion and sesame (Winston’s personal favorite) to everything and pumpernickel raisin swirl. The shop also carries bialy (similar to focaccia and topped with sauteed onions and poppy seeds) like the ones she remembers from Kossar’s Bagels & Bialys in New York.

The bagel sandwich menu includes instructions for ordering it like a New Yorker — choose your bagel (toasted or untoasted) and then pick your spread, salad or fish, and veggies.

An assortment of pre-packaged lox and spreads, smoked sablefish from New York, white fish salad made in-house, black and white cookies and Jewish-themed pastries are available from the grab-and-go case.

“I’m recreating my own composite slice of New York food memories,” she says.

The front section of the former Urban Remedy space is reserved for placing orders at the counter behind which bagels are stacked in baskets along the wall and the bustling preparations take place. Seating is available in the public patio areas outside the shop.

Boichik Bagels is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily at 238 Magnolia Ave. in Larkspur. Place day-of or advanced local orders, or arrange for shipping nationwide, at boichikbagels.com.

Leanne Battelle is a freelance food writer and restaurant columnist. Email her at ij.lbattelle@gmail.com with news and recommendations and follow on Instagram @therealdealmarin for updates on the launch of The Real Deal Marin restaurant search guide.