At Pigeon Bagels in Squirrel Hill, all the food options are either vegan or vegetarian friendly and even the milk is Kosher.
Upon entering the shop, a sign read that only five customers were allowed inside. A cashier sat behind the counter and past the small waiting area and the coffee counter was an entire rack of fresh bagels.
Most of the five combinations of the cream cheese and bagel options were tasty besides the weird Jalapeno cream cheese. And then there was the vegan lox sandwich for $8.
Placed on a garlic sea salt bagel, the combination of miscellaneous veggies, carrots, cream cheese and whatever other foul ingredients were on this sandwich did not mix.
Unfortunately, I did not take a photo of the physical menu nor do they have the ingredients of this sandwich listed on the website. So I will be guessing at what the actual ingredients were.
It was sour, had far too much vinegar and the carrots inside, which were meant to look and taste like faux salmon, were salty. The bagel flavor was also salty and didn’t aid in balancing the shocking flavors out.
For this, I truly do admire vegans – there is no way I would ever want to acquire a taste for a sandwich like this.
There was no point in adding avocado for $2 either. It didn’t help add a cool flavor or change how horrid this was. Also, $2 is a lot of money for a few slices of avocado.
Although, every other item I ordered was good. Each bagel with special cream cheese was $4.35. Plain bagels are $2.20. With the first bite of each bagel the cream cheese oozed out of the sides, meaning that they really piled it on.
Outside of the lox sandwich the garlic sea salt bagel was chewy, crispy and had the best flavor. Any schmear would work with this bagel.
The herb schmear it was combined with was the most flavorful of all the cream cheese spreads too. With a soft shade of mint green it didn’t taste like grass, which is usual for many food items that attempt to be healthy.
The marbled bagel didn’t accomplish any different or complex flavors. Although, the marbling made it harder to chew. The strawberry schmear’s flavor was only something that I’ve seen resembled in a milkshake. The flavor was strong but not overpowering and had tiny fruit bits within.
The plain bagel was basic, and tasted crispier and fresher than anything purchasable in the grocery store. What you’re really buying here is the spread. Yet there was no difference between the fig schmear and plain schmear at all. The fig schmear was possibly more sour, but the change was subtle.
As for the weird jalapeno schmear, this flavor was also subtle and tasted of cool cream cheese until a spiced aftertaste hit. While I did not enjoy this flavor, my coworker did. She said that it was surprisingly tasty. Although, there was nothing special about the sesame bagel it was on. It wasn’t crispy, but chewy.
As for the everything bagel, I would group it in with the garlic sea salt bagel as the best choice. They were salty, diversely tasty
and enhanced the flavor of their respective cream cheeses.
This is definitely a place to try, but I don’t think that I’ll ever go back. If you visit, make it quick because they’re open early from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
