October is Dining Month on OnMilwaukee.com. All month, we're stuffed with restaurant reviews, special features, chef profiles and unique articles on everything food. Bon appetit!
Astute readers of OnMilwaukee.com know about my penchant, or perhaps my slight addiction, to bagels and coffee. When I wrote a melancholy obituary for the Downer Avenue Einstein's Bagels in July 2006, a handful of readers sympathized with me, but the majority ridiculed me for my carb cravings.
That's OK, though. I love bagels, and while I've weaned myself down to one a week, I miss having a bagel shop so close to my East Side office.
Today, though, the Bruegger's on the corner of Prospect and North -- 2045 E. North Ave. to be exact -- officially opened for business.
My co-worker Bobby and I checked it out just before 9 a.m. Call me a bagel snob, but while today's offerings were decent, I didn't find the product to be as good as what Einie's bakes up.
A bit of background: I became a bagel snob while living on the East Coast (in Providence, Washington and Baltimore) between 1987 and 1996. The bagels out there are just better, and I found that only Einstein's comes close to what I noshed on in high school and in college.
Anyway, at Einie's, my standard order is an egg (or roasted garlic) bagel, toasted, with reduced fat plain cream cheese, and a cup of its strongest coffee.
Bruegger's offers neither egg nor garlic bagels, so I opted for a plain bagel, toasted, with cream cheese, and a French roast coffee. At an even $4, Bruegger's comes in about 20 cents less than Einie's. But they fill your coffee for you, which leads me to believe there aren't unlimited refills -- though an employee did ask me if I wanted a refill before I left.
I found the Brueugger's bagel to be smaller and denser than its Einie's counterpart, and it was barely toasted. The cream cheese was slightly sweeter, but not whipped. The coffee was fine, but nowhere near the quality of neighboring Alterra or even Whole Foods.
But the atmosphere was nice, and the employees were friendly on the shop's first day. It offers free WiFi, though that may not yet be up and running, as my iPhone didn't identify it.
In all, the new Bruegger's isn't quite as tasty as Einstein's. But it's not bad, either, and maybe it's good that I wasn't completely hooked on day one. I didn't really need a reason to advance my bagel addiction beyond a once a week indulgence, anyway.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
