Review: Einstein Bros. Farmhouse Bagel

Price: About $7

Rating: 9.5/10

Introduction:

I’m a big bagel guy. You might have inferred that from the fact that both of my articles so far have been bagel reviews. I’m not from the land of bagels up north, but we have no shortage of excellent bagel options down in Atlanta.

Every Saturday morning when I was little, my siblings, my dad and I would take a short drive over to Goldberg’s Deli to pick up a dozen bagels, always containing some combination of asiago cheese, everything and cinnamon raisin, along with a tub of plain cream cheese. In most situations, I believe the more cheese there is on a bagel, the better it is. That is why, in the spring semester of 2019, little freshman Rains’ heart leaped with joy when he learned that Einstein’s makes something called the “Cheesy Hashbrown Bagel.”

It’s everything a bagel should be, and more: pieces of crispy potato stuck onto a chewy bagel via melted cheese. It’s beautiful, and it only reaches its full potential when it’s used as the main component of the Farmhouse Bagel Sandwich, which I will review today.

Components & Presentation:

Egg, thick-cut bacon, smoked ham, cheddar cheese and black pepper schmear, served sandwich-style on a cheesy hashbrown bagel.

The Pros:

-Incredible flavor. Between the not-too-salty, not-too-sweet ham and the black pepper schmear (Einstein’s lingo for what most people call cream cheese), the ingredients come together nicely to delight the palate.

-Texture. The bacon is good and crispy, as all bacon should be (looking at you, England), and the cheesy hashbrown bagel has a nice crunch to it. Countering the crispiness are the egg and the ham, which provide some softness without making things too soggy. Add in the chewiness of the bagel itself, and you have a real winner on your hands.

The Cons:

-My bagel tended to shed its hashbrowns during the eating process.

-Soggy eggs. I know I said earlier that the softness of the eggs contributed to the solid overall texture of the sandwich, but there’s a very fine line between the good kind of softness and just being soggy. These eggs were just a hair over that line.

Conclusion:

In last week’s review of Einstein’s Nova Lox bagel (also a very good option), I mentioned that the Farmhouse bagel is my favorite order at Einstein’s by far. I’ll go a few steps further and say it might be the second-best meal on campus, behind only the spicy chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-a. The bagel’s deliciousness breaks every boundary of flavor. I’ve given it a 9.5/10, give or take a half a point based on ever-changing factors such as freshness and temperature.