Takeaway Q&A: Rainbow Bagel Review With Goran Svorcan!
How dare they omit Gummy Bears.
Goran is a loving hubby, a union organizer, and a software developer. He loves Taco Bell, chocolate covered pretzels, and Cheez-Its, and is a terribel speller.
Goran! Thanks for sitting down to chat while we enjoy the wonderful world of rainbow bagels. For some context, Goran happened to notice a sign at BTS (Bagel to Sandwiches) across the street from work, advertising rainbow bagels:
Rainbow bagels have been obtained! They are unwrapped. Stunning. The rainbow is very rainbow. There are sprinkles and M&Ms in the cream cheese. I have never seen anything quite like it. I remember when the rainbow bagel first first arrived on the scene, I want to say in 2016? It’s safe to say the trend has died down. We didn’t have to wait at all for this bagel.
I’m surprised at how good this is! The cream cheese is more sweet than normal, but it’s not as intense as frosting.
Yeah it’s almost like a cheesecake filling. Which makes a lot of sense! But you know I’ve never sat down and pondered what a rainbow bagel’s cream cheese should taste like.
Yeah I thought it would be sweeter!
I will say I understand the tourist appeal. This is the perfect thing to take a picture of and also eat after taking a mild edible.
Well, you can now peruse many of our newly open smoke shops.
I mean if the rainbow bagel was released right when the pot shops first opened, there would probably still be a line.
Oh, I got an M&M! I’m really enjoying the bagel. Honestly I was expecting it to be like a 2, but it’s a solid 7.
Yup I agree with the 7! I also got a Lox bagel with standard Lox bagel toppings, but on a green bagel. I couldn’t resist. I also wanted to be able to compare the actual bagel quality. I give that one a 7 too. Both have great consistency and they’re fresh.
I'm not a New Yorker, but I would say that I have had enough bagels in my life to know when I have a solid bagel. It’s a perfectly cromulent bagel.
Yeah, this isn't the number one bagel place by any stretch but it's quite good.
I asked the guy at the bagel place to go wild with all the toppings as there were also Gummy Bears and Oreos in the case. Sadly he only added M&Ms and sprinkles. This is not something I would have ever expected to have feelings about. Next time I'm gonna be very specific with my rainbow bagel order. I do want to mention though that we did see Peeps Ropes when we checked out at the register. So next time we will add Peeps Ropes as a chaser.
I also love Oreos - they are my favorite sweet. And wow the new Peeps technology is something else. I'm not a big Peeps fan, but I do appreciate them.
Do you have a favorite Easter candy?
I'm not a big candy person in general, but I have been converted a little bit. My husband really likes Cadbury Mini Eggs. Sometimes he buys a giant bag for Easter, and then we’d put them in the freezer. Those have become my favorite.
Oh I’ve never frozen them! Cadbury Mini Eggs are my favorite Easter candy as well.
I worked at a startup a long time ago that was a recipe recommendation website. They featured certain recipes every time you logged in. One of the recipes that always came up was for homemade Oreos. I like to bake, so I decided to make them one day. It was pretty much just two big cookies with frosting in the middle. The recipe for the frosting was just vegetable shortening and powdered sugar combined in a mixer. That was it. And I tried it and it did indeed taste like Oreo filling! I was shocked.
There’s a guy on TikTok and Instagram, Matt Remoroza, who tries to recreate beloved packaged or restaurant meals and does a cost comparison but also factors in the time to make it. So level of effort is part of the equation. It’s so compelling to watch!
What was the recipe recommendation company you worked for?
It was a company called Goje. It was at a time when VC money was basically free. My second week they took everyone on a trip to Hawaii for a week. We worked all day like normal but just happened to be in Hawaii. Then shortly thereafter, we pivoted from being a recipe recommendation website to being a luxury sales website that also had recipe recommendations. We sold lingerie and fancy jewelry and we also had house listings on there for some reason. During that time I was working 18 hour days pretty much. I did that for about three months. We also had dinner at the office, a pool table, and NBA Jam. This must have been 2012 or 2013? And then surprise, we failed to pivot. So we pivoted back to recipe recommendations.
I love the idea of lingerie and quiche coexisting as a brand.
Yeah the recipes really got shoved down to the bottom.
I could see why that didn't work as a concept.
I think the idea was we were in downtown Manhattan near some niche brands, and that we were going to try and partner with them? But that didn’t work out. But that’s how I got into working out! One of the wild perks of that era was having a trainer who would just come meet you. I was not a very athletic kid.
MUG BREAK! 🍵
Do you have a favorite mug and why?
Yes! The mug I am drinking out of in my bio picture above. Felix the Cat the Movie, a totally bananas film, was one of my favorite movies growing up and one I can probably quote completely to this day. My amazing husbear got me this mug as a gift and I smile every time I drink (many cups of coffee) from it.
Do you have a favorite post-workout meal?
I do but It’s not super exciting. Just a generic protein shake. I’m sure it’s Pavlovian at this point because nothing else tastes as good as that protein shake after working out. It's a totally banal shake. But it feels like a treat, getting this $6 protein shake after I work out.
I used to go to a gym in Portland, when I lived there, and in the parking lot there was a food truck that sold waffles to order that were folded over a sausage! It was the most delicious possible thing after a workout. It was called Flavour Spot, I think they changed locations but I hope it’s still near a gym.
Have you been to Waffle and Dinges? You can get a tiny little square of waffle with a ton of crazy toppings.
I haven’t! Do they have a rainbow waffle though?
I wish they did! I don't eat a lot of desserts, but I do have a huge sweet tooth.
Does your sweet tooth just roam around waiting to attach itself to a passing Oreo?
Hah yeah! It just gets too dangerous for me once I get going. I used to go to this dessert restaurant on St Mark's that was so good. It has tons of fancy desserts, and I would just order three desserts for my dinner.
Did they have anything savory there or was it all just straight up sweet desserts?
All sweet desserts I believe. One that I really liked was a deconstructed yuzu cheesecake which they served in an overturned glass. I also went to Serendipity once! I don’t know if it’s still open, but it’s the kind of place they would go to on Sex and the City. That kind of vibe. They have this famous ice cream that’s called the Golden Opulence Sundae. It involves edible gold leaf. Absolutely bananas prices.
Now that we have sampled the rainbow bagels, would you ever eat one again?
Hmm. I think there would need to be an occasion.
Agreed! I would get one for someone’s birthday for sure.
Oh yes, that's a good idea. I think I love a savory bagel too much to grab a sweet one again. My husband and I usually get salt bagels. I have learned that I have to eat the salt bagels upside down. So it’s facing into the cream cheese. That way the salt doesn’t hurt the roof of your mouth!
That’s a great tip and has never occurred to me. Thanks Goran for the bagel adventure and chat! We will definitely need to sample another bagel delicacy soon. There were an incredible amount of bagel offerings in the display case at BTS. The Surf & Turf looked especially compelling and frightening.
What do you think dear readers? Would you try the rainbow Surf & Turf?
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I’d definitely try it but I don’t know if I could eat an entire bagel with that filling 😭