Restaurant Review: Delancey Street Bagels

Restaurant: Delancey Street Bagels
Address: 50 E. Wynnewood Road Wynnewood PA 19096
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Style: Take-Out / Cafe
Food: Bakery & Cafe
Atmosphere: Charming & Modern
Service: Smiling & Friendly
Price Range: $2 - $13.50
Parking: Parking Lot
Unique Feature: Delancey Street Bagels is open 364 days a year and has every kind of breakfast pastry, spread, or coffee variety you could want.

Each morning, overworked, half sleeping commuters find themselves to decent breakfast pastry. It’s not rocket science: even WaWa offers a respectable muffin. But finding a place that offers an extensive variety of fresh, house made, breakfast and specialty items isn’t as easy as one might think. Luckily, a recent stop into Delancey Street Bagels in Wynnewood has awakened my senses to this must-have Main Line bakery.

The stucco façade of its strip mall exterior gives away nothing. Inside, this quaint yet modern café is bursting with more choices than any one person needs prior to 9am. Coffee options line a sprawling double-sided counter. To the right, high backed black banquettes and black lacquer chairs make up a spacious café area. To the left, cold boxes house a variety of house juices and teas, as well as an impressive mix of sweet and savory spreads and cheeses.

There are two separate counters: the smaller of the two is paired with an espresso bar and situated near the café. It offers gourmet candy and different iterations of chocolate covered pretzels, and the like.

But its the main counter where the real magic happens. I stood staring in to the glass cases like a kid in a candy shop, trying to decide which of the flaky, sugary delights to choose. There were cupcakes, muffins, scones, and Danish, cookies croissants and cakes. Then there was the ominous wall of bagels, which looked down over me, taunting me to choose quickly.

Luckily I got my order together before any coffee-starved commuter lost their cool. Half-dozen bagels, two everything, two cinnamon raisins, and two blueberries: paired with two cream cheese spreads that I picked from the box, a vegetable and an apple raisin.

I picked out a full-sized muffin, a handful of mini-muffins, a cheese Danish, and an assortment of schnecken. I also ordered a serving of the Waldorf chicken salad, for lunch. My order, which was in truth enough for a small office, came in under $40.

The most expensive items were the spreads. But for their near $6 price-tags, the house made cream cheeses were worth every last red cent. I savored every creamy bite of the apple raisin spread. And long since the bagels were devoured, the vegetable cream cheese has become my new favorite condiment.

I plan to stop back in to grab a spread on at least a once weekly basis. Yes, they were really that good.

The bagels became nothing more than a vessel for the cream cheese. But as bagels go, these were extraordinary specimens as the slightly crisp and glossy outer shell protected the doughy interior.

The mini muffins were absolutely wonderful. They were delicate and moist, much more appealing than the supermarket variety. Plus, their tiny portion size helped me to justify eating as many as I’d like.

Though the full-sized muffin I ordered looked enticing, I think it got a little too close to an onion bagel. Though flavor cross contamination in such a diverse environment may sometimes be unavoidable.

The schnecken, a delightfully savory European style dessert were crisp, flaky, mini-croissant shaped sweets that came in a handful of varieties. There was a chocolate, a raspberry, and  raisin and nuts: the flavors and sugary coating melded together almost like a caramelized praline. The cheese Danish was flaky yet crisp with a conservatively sweet cheese filling.

I especially enjoyed the Waldorf chicken salad. Mayo coated chunks of white chicken breast were tossed with apples, raisins and walnuts. A heaping scoop or two of the salad’s fruity sweetness was a match made in heaven for the forgotten bottom half of an everything bagel.  

If you've never been, stop into Delancey when you have a few minuets to peruse. There's so much to choose from. Then, once you’ve got the lay of the land, make it your morning stop – at least once a week. It’s worth it.