You know you've had the apotheosis of a particular experience when you're remembering it fondly and still craving it three months after. Yes, it was October when we stopped for breakfast at The Bagel Deli & Restaurant, but from the vast family history cataloged in photos on the wall of the main dining room, the restaurant is definitely not going to disappear any time soon. The proud wall of family photos reminded me a little of visiting any of my aunts, who had the same kind of catalog of their children and grandchildren's achievements in pictures along every wall. It's a homey touch to the restaurant that would otherwise feel completely industrial. Not that anyone is driving to a strip mall and eating next door to Goodwill for ambiance, or maybe they are for the New York experience, though the ample parking kind of defeats that... 

But enough about the unabashedly no-frills diner look, we came for the food. Raz went for the Lox, Eggs & Onions with Home Fries, while I ordered Cheeses & Eggs. Each dish was a simple scramble of ingredients with home fries and a bagel-of-choice. Rax went for the Everything, and I chose the other extreme, plain. Plain bagels are really the meter-stick for quality, since there are no frills to hide behind. After a single bite, I knew I was having something special, and not a scrap of my breakfast was left. 

Because we can't just stick to a single dish when we're on the road, we also ordered a single Blintz a la carte, as well as one Potato Latke. We have found blintzes, or the easter-European version nalesniki, just about everywhere, but the one at the Bagel Deli was simply divine, and worth the drive to Denver just to try it again. Potato Latkes, on the other hand, are traditional food you just don't see on restaurant menus very often, or really ever in my case until our visit here. The concept is simple, its's a pancake made with grated potato rather than wheat flour, but it's so much more than the sum of its parts. Plus, The Bagel Deli serves it with sour cream and an applicious concoction that when combined with the Latke, put almost every flavor and texture possible in a single bite in your mouth all at once. Just remembering them has me checking how long it would take to drive to Denver...