Everything you want to know about bagels

Following is a list of the best bagel makers in the Los Angeles area and iconic delis: The Bagel Broker. 7825 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 931-1258. www.bagelbroker.com. 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“When I taste a competitor’s bagel,” says Richard Friedman, owner of Brooklyn Bagel Bakery in Los Angeles, “I taste a plain, water, hearth-baked.

Two competitors, Brooklyn Bagel Bakery and Western Bagel, have been wooing delis and patrons with their hearth- versus pan-baked styles for more than half a century.

The water isn’t the make-or-break element. It’s the time you give the dough to ferment that makes bagels taste as good as the cream of L.A.’s crop.

Handcrafted cream cheese is making a comeback.

The Uighurs in rural China have a passion for their bagel tradition. American versions are catching on in Beijing.