Celebrate National Bagels & Lox Day with These 10 Mid-Hudson Bagel Shops

Happy National Bagel and Lox Day! Today, February 9th celebrates the popular Jewish-American bagel combination. Now, I'm not Jewish, but that doesn't mean that I can't appreciate a good schmear. I practically lived on bagels and cream cheese growing up. It was always a treat to hit up a local bagel shop after soccer on the weekends. Whether it be plain, sesame seed, egg, cinnamon raisin, pumpernickel, you name it, you can't go wrong.

It's interesting, the earliest reference to bagels was made in an Arabic cookbook in the 13th century. Today, we know that bagels are linked to the Jewish community from Poland in the 17th century and lox (derived from the Yiddish word "laks" which translates to "salmon") emerging from Scandinavian fishermen who preserved salmon in saltwater brine. The combination of Bagel and Lox was made famous by Jewish immigrants in New York City. They say that New York has the best bagels, and as someone who did a decent amount of traveling prior to the pandemic, I can attest that the taste of bagels really does change once you leave New York.

Actually, today is just one of two days to celebrate. In 2018, a division of Bimbo Bakeries in the US had taken it upon themselves to move National Bagel and Lox day from February 9th to January 15th so that it wouldn't compete with National Pizza Day, which is also the 9th. At that point, you start making pizza bagels! Even with their efforts, many people choose to observe the holiday on its original date. Honestly, it's bagels we are talking about here, any day is a great day to celebrate. The more opportunities, the merrier!

Below is a list of 10 of the best bagel shops in the Mid-Hudson area. These restaurants have no less than a 3.5 rating on Google, with no less than 100 reviews. This list pertains to locations that prioritize in bagels primarily, so it does not include traditional delis or diners, for those could be lists all on their own.