Everyone loves a good bagel and contrary to popular belief, you can find one outside of New York, right here in Pittsburgh at Pigeon Bagels.
Pigeon Bagels opened their brick and mortar Squirrel Hill storefront at 5614 Hobart St in July. It’s a simple storefront that offers takeout only, but it’s a small, sunny space where you can see all of the behind the scenes action while waiting for your bagel. It’s open Wednesday through Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. for all of your bagel needs.
Gabrielle “Gab” Taube is the woman behind the popular bagel shop. Taube, which is the German word for pigeon, has been perfecting her bagel making skills for years in her own kitchen. After rave reviews from her friends and family, she decided to share them with the rest of Pittsburgh through both farmers markets and local coffee shops before opening her store.
Since their opening, they’ve seen huge success thanks to their already cult like following. I went in to check in them out to see if the hype was worth it. Spoiler alert: it was.
Pigeon Bagels offers a variety of different bagels, such as plain, garlic seasalt, sesame, everything, poppy, pumpernickel, and seeded pumpernickel. They also have an array of different cream cheeses, such as plain, fig & honey, herb, tofu, cilantro jalapeño, and roasted beet. In addition to just bagels and cream cheese, they have bagel sandwiches, such as the whitefish and veggie. Everything in the store is certified kosher. The menu toes the line between classic and inventive and with special weekly offerings, there’s always something new to try.
I’m a bit of a plain Jane when it comes to bagels, because I want the bagel to speak for itself and not have a million different flavors get in the way. I decided on the plain bagel with the fig & honey cream cheese when I visited. The bagel was dense and chewy with the right amount of crunch on top from the stone fire oven. The fig & honey cream cheese offered a touch of sweetness, without being saccharine. Overall, it was pure carb perfection.
Pigeon Bagels offers a full coffee and tea menu, as well as speciality sodas and sparkling drinks. The coffee comes from nearby Redhawk Coffee in Oakland. I decided to get a latté with their house made vanilla syrup, because I’m basic. The coffee was rich and strong and the vanilla syrup was the perfect complement.
I can see Pigeon Bagels becoming a regular stop for me, as it’s both quick and delicious with a huge variety of options. I’ll definitely be returning to try various bagel and cream cheese combinations in the future.
This content was provided by a local, independent contributor to Made in PGH, a lifestyle blog.