Great American Bagel, Chicago O'Hare

If I change my first name from "Jamie" to "Professor" it doesn't really make me a professor. And calling a bagel joint The Great American Bagel doesn't mean the bagels are great. They are fine. But they are not great.

Golder Pear Cafe, Southampton

Nothing says you are home in the Hamptons more than standing in line at the Golden Pear

Alec Baldwin, F.A.G., budding politician, parenting role model

Red Flame Diner, New York

There are certain things New York is famous for, and one of them is the lox-cream-cheese-bagel. And there are certain bagels that are more famous than others, and one of them is H&H. What really matters with bagels, however, is not so much fame as freshness, and I was very satisfied with the freshness of these H&H bagels at the Red Flame Diner. I wonder if Kramer made them?

Pushka, Melbourne

Pretty soon someone will be setting up a cafe in a sewer or an old lift well or a wheelie bin or something. Because the cafe down the alley off the laneway has been done. And one of the best examples is Pushka, Presgrave Place, Melbourne (that's the laneway filled with wheelie bins, milk crates and interesting wall art, out the back of the Capitol Theatre).



Pushka is ace. The serve cool stuff like coco pops, boiled eggs and soldiers, and "crazy toast" with vegemite and avo. And they do an impressive breakfast bagel called "The King" filled with cheese, prosciutto, avo, fried egg, mayo and something else but I forget what. Nice fresh bagels, which makes all the difference.

The ambience is best described as uber-grunge, with room for a handful of people inside, and a scattering of folding chairs, tables and milk crates in the laneway. There's a certain serenity to just sitting there, boxed in by buildings, sipping cappucino and staring up at the sky. It helps that they make an excellent cappucino (Coffee Supreme).

14/20 "crazy toast"