“Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” won’t easily remain on the tips of old-movie mavens’ tongues, but I’ve always remembered the film title because it was unusual. The cast had starring roles from Jayne Mansfield and Tony Randall, a duo that never made it like Rock Hudson and Doris Day did. It might, however, have been Ms. Mansfield’s shining moment in film.
It was a 1957 cinematic satire on the advertising industry, TV and Hollywood. And the only reason why I bring it up is it makes me think of Portland’s growing sway as a power-house bagel community. Will Success Spoil our Fine Madness for Bagels? Now with the arrival—long awaited (thanks to Byzantine Portland permitting process) — Forage Market bagels are about the best to hit our pint-size city.
Forage Market’s new shop on Washington Avenue
It won’t summarily undo Bon Appetit’s Andrew Knowlton’s far-flung proclamation that Portland’s Rose Foods is the best deli with even better bagels east of the Hudson, surpassing New York’s bagel eminence. He’s too young–born 1976– to have known New York’s real old-time delis, much less the bagels (much smaller) that used to exist in the “old days”–a millennial vantage point that’s skewed. I agree that our version of New York bagels is, in fact, accomplished by Rose Foods, with bagels that have a shiny crust because they’re boiled first, leaving a chewy center texture. But there’s still something definitive of the New York bagel: the water, the boiling and the chutzpah that goes into producing every batch.
Greater Portland’s bagels, clockwise: Rose Foods onion; Union onion; Scratch Baking mixed and The Purple House variety
The bagel lineup at Portland’s new Forage Market outpost
The Forage space is terrific, very industrial cool. The line moves fairly quickly with double checkout stations, though some of the staff need more training. But Forage bagels have the provenance from Saveur Magazine’s several year-old claim that this Lewiston bakery makes the best bagels in the country.
The line moves fairly quickly with double checkout stations, though some of the staff needs more training
Beyond the hype and hoopla, the bagels at Forage are terrific. They don’t make my coveted onion bagel (only Union makes a decent onion bagel that’s available everyday followed by Rose Foods’ occasional special-onion-bagel entry, which when available their onion bagel is superb).
At Forage, the bagels are so good because they cure for several days before the boiling process and then the the ultimate burnishing in a wood-fired oven.
Great everything bagel that I took home and slathered with smoked salmon, local tomato and cream cheese
The outer crust is particularly noteworthy with its blistered finish from the intense oven temperature fired from the embers of wood in the oven.
Varieties include poppy seed, everything (heavy on fennel), garlic, plain and sesame. They don’t do fancy spreads, and the smoked salmon comes locally straight from Browne Trading, not imported from New York. What’s more there are double check-out terminals making the lines and wait reasonable.
The high-tech wood oven and prep stations with bagels at checkout
And the space is all cool industrial with plenty of room and seating around vintage dinette metal tables from the 1950s. There’s parking, too!
This Sunday at around 7:30 AM I went to Rose Foods to buy containers of their fabulous white-fish spread and gribenes-chicken-fat enriched chopped liver. I already had my bagel stash from Forage that I picked up on Saturday.
The line was so long, with customers practically crushing the store front windows, because they only have one check-out station. Perhaps more so than latte nuts waiting on line, bagel mavens are even more indecisive before stuttering out their orders.
Hustle-bustle at Rose Foods
Rose Foods onion bagel, which they should offer as a regular item–it’s a terrific bagel
I left. I hate lines. It’s one of the reasons I moved here from New York to Maine many years ago to escape the daily crush. But here we are.
I went to Hannaford to pick up cream cheese ($2.99 for Philadelphia brand original style cream cheese), some smoked wild salmon (sockeye) from Duck Trap ($8.99/4 ounces). I lightly toasted my Forage everything bagel, spread it liberally with cream cheese, laid on the lox and fluffed it up with slices of tomato. The tomato was from Beth’s Farm Market in Warren, just ordinary field tomatoes that the farm grows–and they’re some of the best, most flavorful tomatoes in Maine.
The best tasting tomatoes are field tomatoes grown by Beth’s Farm in Warren
It’s 70 miles each way to Warren from Portland, but a stopover at Beth’s makes the trip worthwhile with the obligatory pit stop at Moody’s, a few miles away, and another detour, 4 miles up the road, to Curtis Meats where they sell the best porterhouse steaks and other natural meats cut thick without flourish.
The bagel substitute, Moody’s breakfast hour with blueberry pancakes
I’ll still go to Union Bagel for their onion bagels, Rose Foods fine bagels, The Purple House (I love them) when it re-opens in the fall and now the easily reached and rewarding addition of Forage bagel shop and bakery. And if I’m feeling adventurous, a short ride over the bridge to South Portland’s Scratch baking is warranted for their unique and delicious take on bagels.
Forage Market will eventually duplicate itself in the Portland arena when it adds to its menu of great pastries, sandwiches and such, making this the must-stop Washington Avenue location for sweet and savory.
Forage pastries
