Kettleman's Bagels is the Place to Be in Orleans

Today for a snack while out and a about I visited Kettleman's Bagel Co. (1222 Place D'Orleans Drive, Ottawa).  I had previously visited a Kettleman's Bagel Co on Bank Street near Landsdowne Park and enjoyed it immensely for their fresh baked bagels. So would the location in Orleans fare just as well?  I felt conflicted, sure I compare McDonald's franchise restaurants against each other in terms of service and food preparation, but could I do the same for a bagel franchise between a popular downtownish location and a more suburban locale? Heck why not?  Let's do it.

I arrived at 2 P.M. to bet he only customer in the store.  Was not to worried though as there were four employees working away.  Two were working the batter into the perfect circles getting them ready for the roaring wood fire.  Another was neatening up at the front waiting for my bagel order.  A fourth, I'm not sure what she was up to but was around as later should would assist in preparing the order.  I stood there wishing I could taste each and every single item on the menu just like an overzealous kid at Baskin & Robbins wanting to taste all 31 flavours.  Finally, I did narrow down my bagels to two choices.

The Order: 1 Garlic bagel with plain cream cheese and 1 Cinnamon Raisin Bagel

The Garlic bagel with cream cheese took a little while to acquire as it was sent over to the other employee who cut it in half and started spreading cream cheese.  The Cinnamon Raisin Bagel I asked her to cut in half so my wife could enjoy as well.

The Garlic bagel with cream cheese was a bagel connoisseur delight. The bagel was definitely garlicy and still warmish to the tongue from the fired up adventure it had just made into and out of the oven. The only quibble, I think the dough was circled a little to thinly and could have been a slightly more generous.  The cream cheese though was easily generous. A large amount of creaminess enveloped my tongue to challenge the garlic of the bagel to a delightful dual of supremacy.  My taste buds were the beneficiary of the dual with no victor pronounced.

I ended up with half the Cinnamon Raisin Bagel as well as my wife only wanted half.  The bagel was, understandibly, a little lacklustre compared to it's Garlic cousin due to the lack of cream cheese. The Cinnamon Raisin Bagel by itself was a great entry in the competition of bageldom.  I would easily enter it against  Tim Hortons' finest only to have Kettleman's easily beat it hands down.  Would Kettleman's out dual a bagel from the heart of Montreal?  Not sure yet. How about New York? Darn close to the goodness I've tasted at two of Brooklyn Height's finest during my days strolling the streets in New York City. The only downside is the Kettlemen's Bagel Co in Orleans is held back by it's scenery compared to the awesomeness of New York. But then again, putting a suburban strip plaza location overlooking a vast expanse of parking lot against the Manhattan Skyline really is not fair at all.

Overall, this Kettleman's is exactly the same quality of food and service  you would find at the other Kettlemen's located on Bank Street in south Ottawa. The added value of the Orleans location is it is not as busy during the day as the Bank Street location.  This is because of the Bank Street's location in the touristy Glebe neighbourhood as opposed to the more suburban Orleans location. But imagine the Orleans location is busier on the weekends due to the surbanites looking for a weekend breakfast out or a snack.  Orleansians could do worse, heck there is Place D'Orleans Mall right across the street with some food court food that wouldn't even light a fire to the goodness that Kettlemen's fire baked bagels posses.