A fresh everything bagel right from the racks in the dining hall.
For many Choate students, sacrificing an hour of precious sleep to line up for a breakfast sandwich or omelet is not a worthwhile trade. Luckily, they have another, equally as delicious option — the bagel, an easy and filling breakfast or late-morning snack on the go.
During the day, students can choose from an assortment of flavors in both the dining hall and Lanphier Cafe. These include plain, cinnamon raisin, poppy seed, sesame seed, and the everything bagel.
According to Mr. Paul Kikosicki, Choate’s Director of Food Services, students typically eat a staggering “18 to 20 dozen on the weekdays.”
During conference blocks especially, “a lot of traffic comes through and we’ll pretty much use them all up right then and there,” he said.
The bagels are sourced locally from Bagelicious, a store based in North Haven and Chesire. Due to the high demand, bagels are delivered fresh every day of the week except for Sunday.
“If we see that we’re running out, we’ll up it,” Mr. Kikosicki said. In the rare cases when there are leftover bagels, they are made into croutons.
Aidan Cha ’25 credits the extreme popularity of dining hall bagels amongst students to their satisfying texture and filling nature. “I enjoy the chewiness of the bagels, and they’re quite big,” he said.
As a connoisseur of toasted bagels with a cream cheese schmear, Vika Wei ’24 is looking for a little more consistency in the quality of the bagels. “Dining hall bagels are really hit-or-miss. Sometimes they’re soft and nice, but when they’re bad, they can be pretty bad,” Wei said.
For Lois Kahu ’26, having bagels in the dining hall is a convenient way for her to get a quick energy booster during the long hours between breakfast and lunch.
However, its accessibility comes with the caveat of potentially mixing up the toppings in a hurry. Kahu noted an unfortunate accident where she mistook marshmallow fluff for cream cheese. “They look really similar, so when you’re in a rush, you need to just scoop it out and go quick,” she said.
Kyle Hata ’25 suggested having a higher supply of bagels throughout the day. “They take away bagels at certain times in the dining hall,” he said. “As an athlete, I feel that in order to fuel myself throughout the day, I need to eat carbohydrates so I don’t feel sluggish during my sports.”
“A bagel is an overall great piece of food,” Truman Barbie ’26 said. “I just like the simplicity in general.”
