If you’re taking a trip to Town and Country Mall in Palo Alto and your stomach is yearning for a fresh bagel, you are in luck. Boichik Bagels brings New York-style bagels to the Bay, and the 2023 opening of their Palo Alto location has helped fulfill the bagel needs of local residents.
When her favorite bagel shop in New York closed, owner Emily Winston embarked on a journey to replicate the scrumptious bagels she could no longer have access to. When she moved to California in 2010, she was saddened by the fact that there were no good bagels around. “It was my personal quest to make a bagel I wanted to eat,” said Winston. This quest prompted her to start her own bagel business and introduce New York-style bagels to California, where she felt they were needed most.
Trial and error from experimenting with different recipes at home ultimately led her to establish her successful business, Boichik Bagels, where she sells freshly-made bagels. As described by Winston, “Boichik is a real word in Yiddish; it means cute little boy. When I chopped off my hair, my grandma said, ‘Ah, such a boichik.’ It was a nice memory and when I was coming up with this business, I wanted it to have Jewish influence. It all just clicked,” As Winston began opening stores in Berkeley, it wouldn’t be long until it expanded to Palo Alto.
Since its opening this year, bagel enthusiasts have lined up to get their hands on these delicious bagels. When asked what makes Boichick Bagels different from other bagels, an employee said, “We make these bagels with fresh ingredients and nothing is frozen.”
Winston said, “I want a bagel to have a really good chew, a crust, and a distinct malty flavor to it—which comes from the barley malt.” One customer at Boichik said, “I never knew a bagel could taste like this.” Winston even noted a time when a man emailed her saying that he could pass peacefully knowing that her bagels could be served at his funeral.
Frequent Boichick customer and M-A senior Toni Olivero said, “I go to Boichik all the time. I’m a really big fan of their bagels and they do it for me all the time. You can’t beat fresh bagels—they’re so delicious.”
Not only do they sell bagels, but they also offer sandwiches and cream cheese. You can get a simple bagel with one of their various flavored cream cheeses or even The Mensch—Winston’s favorite—featuring whitefish salad, tomato, and cucumber. With fifteen different types of bagels, over 20 different toppings, and three “Boichik Favorites” menu items, no customers will be left feeling unsatisfied.
The next time you’re in the Town and Country Mall, try one of Boichik’s many bagel offerings. Who knows how your life will change from a New York-style bagel?
