Ottawa bakeries make the Montreal-style bagel tradition their own

Edmonton Journal

a day ago

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Montreal-style bagels may have originated down the 417, but in Ottawa, the debate over which shop does them best is very much alive, and surprisingly personal.
At Kettlemans, Bobino, Cadmans and Bagelshop, that label applies to four distinct recipes — and four devoted customer bases prepared to eat accordingly and defend their choice with conviction.
I've been loyal to one bagel for over a decade: sesame, from St-Viateur in Montreal, eaten hot straight from the paper bag, toasted seeds scattering with every bite.
In my twenties, I lined up for them at 3 a.m., like many in the Mile End, treating bagels as both hangover prevention and personality trait. These days, I stock up during daylight hours on infrequent visits to the city, but my order hasn't changed, and neither has the taste. There's something oddly comforting about a bread ring that always tastes the way you remember.
A proper Montreal-style bagel is hand-rolled, boiled in honeyed water and baked in a wood-fired oven until the crust takes on a slight crackle and the inside turns chewy, with a faint sweetness. It's smaller and denser than a New York bagel and best eaten warm, ideally without hesitation.
Bagel-making in Montreal dates to the early 20th century, when Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe adapted Polish and Ukrainian techniques to local ingredients. Fairmount Bagel opened in 1919, then St-Viateur in 1957. The original technique is still central to both family-run bakeries.
Last summer, I spent a morning behind the counter at St-Viateur, learning to roll the dough and guide the uneven rings past the flames. The bakers, many of them longtime employees, moved with practiced speed. I did not.
By the time I was done, my hands were sore from repetition (though owner Vince Morena did most of the heavy lifting) and my clothes smelled like caramelised bread. I walked out with a baker's dozen — one consumed out front on the sidewalk for good measure — and a sharpened sense of what 'Montreal-style' means.
When I moved to Ottawa, I went looking for my bagel fix, expecting disappointment. Instead, I found bakeries working from the same blueprint with intriguing results. I tasted each bagel fresh and toasted, stacked against a control batch from St-Viateur, before speaking to the people who make them.
A bagel, in theory, is a simple thing. In practice, it's a set of choices about texture, sweetness, size and timing, shaped by a baker and sustained by the people who keep coming back for the version that feels right.
What follows is a look at four Ottawa bakeries calling their product Montreal-style, and how each one puts its stamp on that claim.
Bagelshop and Deli
Hours: Monday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Prices: $1.59 (single), $8.89 (half dozen), $12.99 (dozen); sandwiches vary
Accessibility: Wheelchair-accessible entrance
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Sesame bagels from Bagelshop come blistered from the oven, with a chewy interior, a crisp crust and generous sesame coverage. The dough carries a mild sweetness and a malty finish that lingers when toasted. Of all the shops using the Montreal-style label in Ottawa, this one most closely matches the method and flavour I've long associated with St-Viateur.
The store has earned that resemblance. When the Piazza family opened the shop in 1984, there were no Montreal-style bagels in Ottawa. 'My mom noticed there was sort of a hole in the market,' said owner Liliana Piazza. Her father, then a teacher, was encouraged by her uncle Joe — who started working at Saint-Viateur Bagel at 14 and later took it over — to bring the style to Ottawa. 'We kind of took the Montreal bagel out of Montreal,' she said.
They also helped bring the oven with them. 'My dad actually set a precedent in Ontario law to have this type of wood-burning oven,' she said. The structure is embedded in the building. 'It's brick and concrete. It's not going anywhere.'
Liliana grew up working in the Bagelshop and later worked at her cousins' bakery in Montreal while studying opera. She returned to Ottawa in 2012 and took over the business in 2019. Since then, she has expanded the selection with flavoured bagels like sourdough and blueberry-cream. 'We're always trying to find things that are compelling,' she said, describing the sourdough as a cross between a Montreal and New York bagel. 'It has a tang. That bagel doesn't have any eggs in it like our Montreal-style bagel does. It's a different dough.'
We kind of took the Montreal bagel out of Montreal.
Liliana Piazza, Bagelshop owner
Still, the classic sesame bagel remains most popular. 'Because the dough is slightly sweet — there's no salt — the sesame adds that sort of complexity of flavour,' she said. 'There's the sweetness, the crunchiness, the texture of the sesame seed. It's actually a really complex bread experience.'
Liliana is protective of the term Montreal-style, especially because her family helped define it locally. 'I feel like if you do those three things — quick dough, boil in honey water, and wood-burning oven — then you're going to have a Montreal-style bagel.'
That last part is rarer. 'We probably have one of the last full wood-burning ovens,' she said. 'Newer bagel shops tend not to build the oven into the building like we have.'
Her favourite way to eat a Bagelshop bagel? 'Hot cinnamon raisin out of the oven. Or a sesame bagel, sliced in half, with salted butter and a chocolate milk. That's what I had growing up, after school,' she said.
The Reuben is a customer favourite, and Liliana mentioned they recently introduced an all-day breakfast sandwich. But for her, the soul of the place will always be the bagels. 'I grew up in this business, and now it's part of my kids' lives,' she said. 'It's generational.'
Hours: Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Prices: $1.85 (single), $9.95 (half dozen), $14.95 (dozen); sandwiches vary
Accessibility: Wheelchair-accessible entrance
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Bagels at the Gatineau shop come out of a high-heat oven that co-owner Alex van Dieren says is 'closer to the shape of a pizza oven.' The result is crusty on the outside, tender inside and finished with a sheen that comes from 'a special ingredient in the water as they boil.' When pressed, he clarified, 'That ingredient is mostly honey, but there's something else in there as well… it's all natural. No chemicals.'
Unlike some Montreal institutions where fresh-out-of-the-oven is the draw, Bobino recommends waiting. 'Anywhere between two and eight hours after is really the best time (to eat a bagel) because they kind of continue to bake after they're out of the oven,' said van Dieren.
The texture is compelling enough on its own that even without much sweetness in the dough they're hard to stop eating. They also reheat well, keeping their chew and structure. Compared to some of the denser, more uniform bagels found elsewhere, Bobino's thinner profile and slightly irregular grooves give them a handmade feel, good for holding toppings.
The pastel building across from the Canadian Museum of History — once a car garage, later a gelato shop — houses what van Dieren describes as 'a Montreal-style bagel shop that is not only about the bagel, but the whole experience.' Children who visit are handed playdough at the counter, some may get mini bagels from bakers or at least some real dough to play with. Staff keep the music on seasonal playlists, each song handpicked, 'and the volume of the music is checked every half an hour,' said van Dieren.
The shop's name and colour scheme reference Bobino, a beloved children's show that aired in Quebec for nearly 30 years, ending in 1985. Van Dieren said the team got permission from the family of actor Guy Sanche, a Hull resident who played the title character, to use his name. His relatives live next door to the shop and share a fence with it.
The cheeky cartoon bagel mascot was designed by Rémi Allen, a longtime collaborator at Orkestra, the Gatineau creative agency co-founded by Bobino's owners. 'When he presented the concept of having a bagel that is alive as a character with his little cheeks at the back, it was approved by everyone in about five seconds.'
Van Dieren said he used to bring bagels home from Saint-Viateur and Fairmount in Montreal. 'By now I've gone through way too many salmon sandwiches,' he said. 'So I'm into club sandwiches, Bobino style… But in the morning, you absolutely need to try the cinnamon raisin with just a bit of butter. That just tastes like heaven.'
Hours: Daily, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Carling Rd.); Monday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesday to Sunday, 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. (Montreal Rd.)
Prices: $2.29 (single), $9.99 (half dozen), $13.99 (dozen); sandwiches vary
Accessibility: Wheelchair-accessible entrance (both locations)
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Cadman's has been baking Montreal-style bagels since 2016, but the team behind it has been in the business much longer. President and founder Ranjeev Sharma operated as a Kettlemans franchisee starting in 2004 before breaking away and launching his own brand. 'We had a nasty divorce, let's just say that,' he said. The name Cadman, chosen after the split, means 'fighter' or 'warrior' in Anglo-Saxon. 'It was like a David and Goliath story,' he said.
The first location opened on Carling Avenue, followed by a second on Montreal Road in 2017. The company built its following early and retained customers through the transition. 'Even when we were at Kettlemans, we had our regulars. When we rebranded, they stayed with us,' Sharma said.
Cadman's sesame bagel is the flagship item. 'We sell thousands of them a day,' he said. Each one is hand-rolled, boiled in honey water, and baked in a wood-burning oven. The dough recipe hasn't changed in years. 'If you come back in three years, it's going to taste exactly the same,' Sharma said. 'We do not mess with our recipe.'
Cadmans' locations have an open kitchen, where staff can be seen rolling, boiling and baking bagels throughout the morning. When I visited the Montreal Road shop, staff were quick to recommend the cherry cheese bagel made with Canadian fruit — a replacement for the U.S.-sourced blueberry version they had temporarily discontinued due to tariffs. They also encouraged buying a half-dozen instead of my usual four to get a better deal.
The sesame bagels I picked up in the late afternoon were already packaged in plastic. They had a yeasty aroma and looked more like New York-style bagels with a smooth exterior and bready interior. However, the crust had a mild snap, and the overall texture was soft and dense. The full-bodied flavour stands apart from the others in Ottawa, and they do hold their own.
Cadman's makes 14 varieties daily, including a jalapeño cheddar created by Sharma. 'People love those bagels,' he said. Customers looking for specific flavours are encouraged to order in advance to avoid disappointment. Bagels are baked from 4:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and hot bagels are typically available between 8 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
Sharma's favourite? An all-dressed bagel, hollowed out to crisp the crust, then filled with bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayo. 'A BLT, basically. One of my favourite sandwiches,' he said. The BLT is also a top seller at Cadmans. A few customers ask for their bagels scooped, he added, to get more crunch and less crumb.
Hours: Open 24 hours (Bank, Trainyards, and Nepean locations); Kanata: daily, 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Prices: $1.79 (single), $9.29 (half dozen), $14.49 (dozen); sandwiches vary
Accessibility: Wheelchair-accessible entrances at all locations
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Kettlemans rolls about 9,000 bagels a day by hand. 'It creates this perfectly imperfect product. There are no two bagels that are alike,' said company president Amer Wahab. 'We roll about 55 dozen bagels every hour and a half with manpower, not machine power.'
The sesame bagel dominates production, trailed by poppy. Most bagels go straight into the takeout line or sandwich bar, and a few lucky customers might get a hot one off the fire. 'I have been witness to 48 chocolate chip bagels coming out of the oven,' Wahab recalled. 'A lady leaned in, said, 'How many are there?' The baker said, 'Just did 48.' She said, 'I'll take all of them.''
The bagels are dense with a soft chew and a lightly sweet dough. They reheat better than most others in Ottawa and make an excellent choice for adding toppings, even hours after baking. Wahab attributes their appeal to quality ingredients and consistency.
Fifteen years later, I came back and I was like, oh my god, they still have a Reuben. I want my Reuben on poppy.
Amer Wahab, Kettlemans president
That reliability and the round-the-clock hours make Kettlemans one of the few spots in Ottawa where a 3 a.m. bagel run is possible. The scale also gives the shop room to experiment.
'Every major holiday we'll do something,' said Wahab. ' Canada Day, Christmas, Halloween.' Some flavour ideas come from the management team, others from hourly staff. 'If somebody says, 'We should do a lemon cream cheese.' It's like, anybody against it? No? Somebody makes a bench sample, they bring it back and we try it.' Past successes include a triple chocolate bagel made with cocoa, hot chocolate and chocolate chips released on Valentine's Day.
Wahab's own go-to orders depend on the filling. 'If it's just with cream cheese, sesame. If I'm having smoked meat or Reuben, it's poppy,' he said.
'And I love our vegetarian sandwich. It's made with spicy eggplant, pesto mayo, lettuce, tomato, Swiss cheese — absolutely hands down delicious.' He also praised Kettlemans' gluten-free bagel. 'It's vegan, it's kosher, it's nut free,' he said. 'Honestly, that could be my substitute for any one of those.'
Wahab joined Kettlemans a decade ago, first as a consultant who rediscovered his love for the brand through its sandwiches. 'I was a guest in 1993, at (the Bank St.) location, when it first opened,' he said. 'Fifteen years later, I came back and I was like, oh my god, they still have a Reuben. I want my Reuben on poppy. That bite was the same as it was fifteen years prior. It has not changed.' Wahab described the company's relationships with honey producers, butchers and other suppliers as key to preserving continuity. '(Our relationships) are one thing that we will not ever veer from,' he said.