Ottawa Bagelshop and Deli

The bagels are hand-rolled, boiled in honey-sweetened water, and baked in a wood-fired oven — the full Montreal-style method, worked every day on Wellington Street West. Ottawa Bagelshop and Deli runs outward from that bagel: a bakery, a deli counter, a daytime cafe, and a specialty-food shop sharing a single Wellington West address. The bagel is the foundation, and nearly everything else on the menu — the sandwiches, the catering boxes, the market shelf — is built on top of it.

The bagel list runs through the usual varieties — sesame, everything, cinnamon raisin, plain, and whole wheat — and each one is made to hold up as a sandwich rather than a side. That is where the bagelsubs come in. Bagelman's Choice layers smoked salmon with cream cheese, tomato, capers, and Spanish onion; the Toast of the Town carries hot Montreal-style smoked meat; Reuben's Own pushes that same smoked meat further with sauerkraut and Swiss; and Angler's Choice spreads house salmon with cucumber, tomato, and onion. The smoked fish and the deli meat pull in different directions, and the bagel underneath is what keeps either one from collapsing into an ordinary sandwich.