Iam loath to admit New York does anything better than New Jersey. And it truly is not a bit when I say the Garden State has better bagels than our neighbors across the Hudson River.

So last year when I first heard uber-trendy Apollo Bagels of Manhattan fame was making the jump to New Jersey, I wanted to hate it.

New York’s hottest bagel place started as an extension of Leo , a popular Williamsburg pizzeria, back in 2022. Their open-faced sandwiches on crispy sourdough bagels became popular enough to necessitate locations in the East Village, West Village, Financial District and Williamsburg.

On an ideological level, Apollo Bagels is diametric to what a bagel shop should be — especially a New Jersey one. Overwhelming social media hype. Long lines that often stretch down the b

See Full Page