Okay, so the NY Times was clearly wrong when they said California bagels are better than New York bagels. I don’t know if the writer of that article was on serious SHROOMS but everybody knows New York wins when it comes to bagels (and practically every other food. Except acai bowls and matcha lattes. LA wins there). Anyway, my non-vegan friend Monica is obsessed with Courage Bagels and told me I HAD to try it because they had a cashew cream cheese option. SIGN ME UP!!!

The little bagel shop is super cute. There is always a line out the door (THAT’S how popular it is), and the employees were all so friendly. Courage Bagel’s speciality is their burnt bagels which I thought sounded weird at first, but my friend Monica assured me it was ~the move~.

I got the “Run It Thru The Garden” on a burnt everything bagel with cashew cream cheese. It comes with tomato, cucumber, capers, lemon, salt, dill, pepper, and olive oil. I told them to take out the dill because I’m not a huge dill fan. Unless it’s Dill-n O’Brien. Then I’m a fan. (See what I did there?)

OKAY. It was yummy but it wasn’t my favorite vegan bagel I’ve ever had (Hanks in Burbank is still my fave vegan bagel in LA so far). The toppings at Courage were incredibly fresh, the bagel was nice, etc but the pepper made it super spicy, the bagel (although burnt) wasn’t super toasted, the olive oil was really drippy, and the cashew cream cheese tasted a little too… cheesy? HOWEVER, I am no bagel connoisseur. I got one for my twin sister who is a total bagel connoisseur and she said she loved hers! So, take it from her and check this place out! It’s a great breakfast spot for vegans with non-vegan friends and it’s clearly a very popular establishment so just ignore me!