What better way to start off a day of snowboarding than
freshly baked bagels? After years of Superstore-bought and Tim Horton’s
specialty bagels, I had never been to an actual bakery for real, freshly-baked bagels. It wasn’t hard to find the right place
to grab our morning powder power boost: Big Bang Bagels was the most popular
restaurant in town and my companion and I readily agreed to take the early
morning detour to the bakery named after the Big Bang ski-run we had been on earlier
during our trip.
The menu was much more varied than I had expected for a
bagel place: it featured a variety of breakfast bagels, sandwiches, and melts
all made on a freshly baked bagel of your choice. They had a variety of unique bagels – Onion Garlic, Tomato Basil,
and Pesto Spinach to name a few – displayed on a large menu board of bagels.
For breakfast, my companion decided on The Big Banger – fried egg, old cheddar
cheese, and ham – on fresh baked Everything Bagel while I went all out and chose
the Mr. Fernie – a Big Banger with avocado, fried red onion, tomato, and bacon
– on an Onion Garlic bagel. I placed our order to-go and our bagels were
wrapped and ready within 15 minutes. A fresh bread and bacon aroma quickly filled the entire car
as we drove up the mountain, unwrapping our bagels. The first bite into my
bagel was absolute heaven! The bagel
was so deliciously light, doughy, and soft and featured delightful notes of
garlic and onion. The garlic was not at all over baked and added just enough
crunch and zest to the bagel itself. My first bite into the heart of the bagel –
consisting of avocado, tomato, fried onion, old cheddar, and egg – simply
melted in my mouth: the avocado and tomato were amazingly fresh and the egg did
not feel dense or heavy as it is so apt to do in other breakfast bagels. It
took me a bite or two before getting to the thickly sliced bacon layered in the
middle of the bagel. The bacon was cooked perfectly – not too salty, not too crispy, and not at all oily. And, unlike large corporate chains such as Tim
Horton’s, Big Bang Bagels was not stingy on the bacon; I found I had a good-sized
chunk of bacon in every bite up until the end. Also, unlike other breakfast
bagels which tend to sit heavily in your stomach until the next meal, the Mr.
Fernie was light, refreshing breakfast food and left me craving another one as soon as I had my last
bite! (I should also mention my companion actually ended up stealing a few extra bites of my bagel as
well!)
If I had eaten only my bagel, I would have given Big Bang
Bagels a near perfect review. However, my companion and I swapped bagels
halfway through just to try each other’s breakfast. Compared with my Mr.
Fernie, The Big Banger Bagel was an utter disappointment. While the Everything
Bagel shared the same soft, doughy center as the Onion Garlic Bagel, it was
rather plain for an everything bagel (ironic for a bagel that is supposed to
have “everything,” I know). The ham was nothing special and did not add any
excitement to the egg in the bagel. My companion and I agreed that overall, The
Big Banger was…boring.
Big Bang Bagels featured a lot more variety than I had
expected, and while not cheap (with each
bagel combination ranging from $5-8 + HST), Big Bang Bagels really does know how to make
incredible bagels! The next time I am in Fernie, it won’t be just for the amazing powder any more –
I honestly cannot wait to try some of the other Big Bang Bagels sandwiches and
melts!
Top Pick of the Day: Mr. Fernie
Rating:
4.5/5 Erics
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