I Want A Decent Bagel

When I lived in Michigan, I ate bagels and cream cheese a lot.  A lot a lot.  We always had them in the house and my sisters and I partook of them constantly.  There were also loads of bagel shops everywhere and finding good ones was not hard.  During the years I lived in Kalamazoo, I grew dependent on a particular chain of bagel shops that were particularly good, and one in particular, where I went often enough that they knew me by name.  I love me some bagels.

Then I moved to Colorado.  And, suddenly, I was bagel-less.  There are few true bagel shops out here.  I can get them from Panera - and let's face it, people, those aren't bagels, they are yummy bread in a circle shape.  Often tasty, but not bagels.  (side note - what is with Panera canceling the sundried tomao cream cheese?!?)  And at the other bagel places, the bagels were always underwhelming.  My husband was patient as I went from place to place looking for a bagel that was adequate.  After I first moved out here, I had to look for all kinds of things - a pizza place, an Indian restaurant with a decent malai kofta, a tapas restaurant - and one by one I settled into new versions of those things, but alas, still no good bagels! 

There also aren't as many bagel places out here.  For the most part there are just a few national chains and then a couple local places.  Even one chain that I occassionally went to in Michigan served much worse bagels out here.  What gives, Colorado?  Is it because Michigan is closer to the East Coast and you haven't gotten the true bagel influence yet?  Is it because everyone here eats a huge slab of steak and juevos rancheros for every breakfast instead?

One day I came up with the theory that it's the elevation.  Maybe being the mile-high city makes it impossible for the bagel dough to act and react correctly.  I have absolutely no idea if this is true, but it's the best I have so far.  It can't be that a whole city doesn't know what a true bagel is, could it??

I'll keep looking for a better Denver bagel.  In the meantime, Dan and I have found a bagel shop that is absolutely nowhere near our house that is good enough for now.  If anybody knows of a really good bagel place in this state, I would love to hear about it.  Also, if you have any scientific explanation as to why the bagels are generally sucky here, I would love to hear about that, too.

Happy bagel eating!