National food magazine says this Maine bakery has ‘one of America’s best bagels’

Saveur writer and self-proclaimed New York bagel snob Matthew Kronsberg took a trip to Lewiston to try some bagels at Forage Market. After reading his review — or, more appropriately, his sermon — I think we all should too.

Kronsberg wrote he was apprehensive when he received the invitation to come to Lewiston:

When you invited me to meet you here to talk about Acadian ployes and try some really great bagels, I had the kinds of thoughts that make people think that New Yorkers and food snobs are the worst people in the world. Great bagels? You mean … for Maine?”

I’ve collected a few of my favorite lines from Kronsberg’s religious experience at Forage.

  • “The heady smell of butter and the tart whiff of sourdough blurred together into something almost feral. For a second, I felt disoriented, like I’d been pleasantly sucker punched. I teetered between thrill and resentment over that.”
  • “Maybe because I had my guard up and my expectations down I wasn’t fully prepared for that first bite. It was the sound I remember most: a higher pitched crackle than I expected.”
  • “Proof that even jaded New York writers can still be surprised, and even moved by a simple bagel, whatever sins of snobbishness may lurk in their hearts.”

Usually, the southern Maine food scene is confined to Portland. But as Kronsberg said in his review, “there is always the possibility of brilliance where you least expect it.”

If you’re headed down (or up) to Lewiston, you can find Forage Market at 180 Lisbon St. Details about Forage can be found on their website or their Facebook page.

Can you think of any of local spots that people “from away” would enjoy?