Noah's Bagels

Noah's Bagels is based in Alameda, CA but has locations around the San Francisco Bay Area. Their specialty, obviously, is deli-style bagels with various toppings available. They also, though, have knishes, which is their number-one draw for me! Good in both sweet (cherry-cheese) and savory (potato) varieties.

Noah's lays the Yiddish taglines on a bit thick, but is in fact owned by a Jewish family, unlike nearly every other New York-deli-bagel shop on the planet. Most or all of their stuff is kosher (I'm not sure which). At any rate, it's very good, and they're a nice alternative to Starbucks or Subway.

Noah's was owned by a Jewish family. It was bought in 1995 by Einstein Bros Bagels and is now part of the over 500 bagel stores nationwide owned by the Einstein/Noah Bagel Corp. (which is in turn 50% owned by the Boston Chicken Corp., owners of the Boston Market restaurant chain).

While much of what was good about Noah's still survives, corporatization has taken it's toll on some of Noah's traditions, such as having all stores certified Kosher (some still are, but many aren't) and shutting the entire chain down for Passover (since you can't make an unleavened bagel).