Lox

When I worked in downtown Minneapolis I went through a long stretch of stopping at the Brother's Deli every morning for a bagel. Alternately, I would order an unadorned onion bagel; toasted sesame seed with peanut butter; or something with cream cheese. After some time, I developed a taste for two breakfast sandwiches in particular that were my absolute favorites. Both of these needed an onion bagel. The first was lox with cream cheese, thinly sliced red onion, and capers. The second . . . well, let's just say that pastrami was involved and I'll leave it at that. I may write more about that one another day.

My first few sandwiches with lox did not have capers. But one day, Pam asked me if I wanted capers. She said that one of her customers claimed it was an essential part of the lox experience, and had actually provided them with a small bottle of capers for their use. I was forced to agree: they are essential.

I can't really remember the first time I had lox. It may have been New York when I was in my teens or early twenties. It's hard to remember much of anything with certainty from those days of summers long ago. I can say with certainty that my interest in lox was renewed when I was working downtown Minneapolis (1997-2009) and discovered the high quality of the bagels at the Brother's Deli. Their secret? They imported bagel dough from H&H, one the famed bagelries of Manhattan! I understand that the original H&H is closed, although one remains open and is operating under new ownership.

At the time, I thought I was getting the real deal, a real New York bagel experience. Some years later I was in New York on an extended layover and found myself in a random bagelry in Brooklyn. How could I not order the lox? It was a jarring experience, being barked at by the impatient counterperson whose Brooklynese I couldn't understand, and who couldn't understand that I wasn't ready to move at the pace of everyone else around me. I survived the ordering experience and was shocked by the size of my sandwich. I think the bagel was 40% larger than the one in Minneapolis, the cream cheese increased by 70%, and the amount of salmon nearly double. I was surprised I could finish it. I think I skipped lunch that day.

These days, I no longer work downtown, and I don't like shelling out > $5 for a bagel sandwich, not to mention my despair at the inferior quality of bagels at some of the more prominent chains. I've settled for a miniature version of the lox. Once upon a time I calculated the monetary cost at $1.71 per serving, with a caloric cost of around 200. Conveniently, you can get all the ingredients at Trader Joe's! My principal complaint with this version is that there are no onion bagels at Trader Joe's. My only other complaint is that I really long for one of those gargantuan lox sandwiches like the one I ate in Brooklyn.

1 Trader Joe's plain mini-bagel
.5 oz. whipped cream cheese (.75 of an oz. if you prefer)
.5 oz. smoked salmon, a.k.a. nova lox (1 oz. if you prefer)
a small amount of onion sliced as thinly as possible (red onion is traditional but I'm not a purist)
a small spoonful of capers

1. Toast the bagel
2. Layer on top, in this order, cream cheese, capers, onion, and salmon
3. Enjoy!