Myer’s Bagels | Montreal-Style Bagels in Vermont

Real Montreal Bagels in Burlington, Vermont

You will drive less than 100 miles to get from Burlington, Vermont, to Montreal. So don’t be so surprised to find a bakery offering Montreal-style bagels on the shore of Lake Champlain. The surprise is just how darn good they are. They’re the real thing.

What’s So Great About Them

Forget about the poufy bagel balloons that have become all too popular around the U.S. In this place you will find bagels that are relatively small, very dense, slightly sweet, and perfumed by smoke from the wood-fired oven in which they are baked. The man who makes them, Lloyd Squiers, worked at St. Viateur in the City of Saints, so he knows exactly what he’s doing. Bagel fanciers will plotz with pleasure when they walk into this place and inhale the oven’s perfume. Through much of the morning, you’ll get these magnificent little rounds of chewy goodness hot from the oven. Have them plain, buttered, slathered with cream cheese (plain or flavored), or piled with lox (cured in Maine), onions, tomato, and capers.

Name Your Favorite Bagel

Mr. Squiers presides over a vast repertoire of bagels. When you want a particular kind, call ahead and he likely will make it for you. Every day, choose from among poppy seed, onion, garlic, rosemary sea salt, sesame, and sesame sunflower. One bagel you won’t find elsewhere comes plastered with Montreal Spice, which is an herby mix of coriander, garlic, pepper, and salt. Even gluten-free people can find happiness in bagels made with rice flour.

But Wait, There’s More

If all this place made was Montreal-style bagels, any devoted Roadfooder would seek it out. But there is more. The bagel dough makes a wonderful pizza crust on occasion. Every day the menu offers such items as veggie hash, fingerling potatoes seasoned with the brilliant Montreal spice, locally-made yogurt, and stupendous smoked brisket that competes with Texas smokehouse best on a flavor-moisture-tenderness scale.

What a fun destination Myer’s is, among the best of Burlington. Located back from the road in an out-of-the-way industrial area, it opens every morning at dawn. Any time, it bustles with the good cheer of proprietors and staff who relish what they are doing. We rate it a Roadfood gem of the highest order.