Has anyone ever heard of this company? Would appreciate any feedback.

I've had Big Apple bagels before. They're ok. Too airy in texture and too many fru fru flavors. Not dense and chewy like real NY bagels.

We use to have one but I didn't think much of their bagels either. I prefer Noah's Bagels.

Utahtea

Oh, the power of internet searches:

http://www.babholdings.com/

"BAB Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB: BABB) franchises and licenses Big Apple Bagels, My Favorite
Muffin, and Brewster's Coffee throughout the US and internationally"

I've had them at a reststop on the NY Thruway and at a shop in Williamsburg, and don't think them anything to write back home about. Obxgirl's opinion is right on -- I miss the Brueggers that was once in the same Richmond Rd location.

Does anyone remember a REAL bagel bakery. do they still exist?

The kind of place with long brick ovens. The bakers used long paddles (peels?) to take the bagels out.

In a word, yuck. Just my *humble* opinion

Dick, We visited some friends in Montclair NJ recently and enjoyed some great bagels from a neighborhood place. Just as you describe with the oven and paddle.

A franchise, Chesapeake Bagel Bakery, prepares bagels the same way. I think they're pretty decent for Not Really NY bagels and they're way better than Big Apple. But they are not the same animal. I have often wondered what the discriminating feature is that makes NY bagels taste so good and all other like varying degrees of imposters.

I've found Chesapeake Bagels pretty good too. I never noticed bagels in NY with all the things *IN* them (berrys, bananas, nuts, raisins, etc.) as much as *ON* them (poppy, sesame, onion, etc) and wonder if messing with the dough itself by the added ingredients is what makes them different. When I was stationed on the Peninsula in the 70's, you couldn't find a bagel - I remember finding something called a bagel that had the taste & consistancy of a hamburger bun, but shaped into a ring - ugh! How many bagel makers "boil" the rings before baking? Is that the difference? Or is it just in our minds -- like I swear you can't get a good cheese steak ANYWHERE but Philadelphia. Mmmmm... scrapple on a bagel -- not!