St. Viatur Bagels: Montreal

The very best bagels in the world are the ones my mom makes, boiled in potato water and sprinkled with carmelized onions, but St. Viatur bagels run a close, close second (especially since Absolute in NYC is no more; I still dream of the egg bagel there). Compact, chewy, subtly sweet b/c they are boiled in honey-sweetened water, and transcendent warm. They are our house bagel (ordered by mail and kept stashed in the freezer).