Einstein? Bruegger’s? C’mon man. This city yearns for more authentic, local bagel spots. Places like Poppy’s and Owen’s. If you haven’t been to these places, go.

You can tell Poppy’s and Owen’s are legit because you see all 4 types of guys at these joints. What are the 4 types of bagel loving guys? Here they are:

• Hungover frat guy with UGG slippers annihilating a bacon, egg and cheese and a red Powerade.
• Old guy carefully nibbling on a bagel with lox while reading the newspaper.
• Exercise guy with other exercise guys, hydrating and eating the adventurous Southwestern(ish) bagel sandwich, while forcing other patrons to realize that they’re fat because they didn’t workout before their bagel.
• New dad giving mom a morning off and scarfing down an everything with cream cheese while trying to manage screaming kids and wishing he was the frat guy again (at least for one night, but he knows he couldn’t handle the hangover).

I will invest. There is huge Charlotte demand for more legit, bagel shops. Bagels and coffee must have high margins too. Need convincing? Drool over these 5 Instagrams from Poppy’s and Owen’s.

Sunday morning #loxporn courtesy of Poppy’s Bagels. Inspired by the Super Heebster from @russanddaughters, whitefish salad with fresh lox on a poppy seed bagel. cc: @whatjewwannaeat

A photo posted by Jesse Soloff (@thereporff) on Mar 1, 2015 at 10:03am PST

If Heaven were a bagel, this would be it #local #charlotte

A photo posted by Caitlin Davis (@caitlindav15) on Apr 12, 2015 at 9:46am PDT

Skipped the lox this morning and went straight for the whitefish salad and matzah ball soup.

A photo posted by Jesse Soloff (@thereporff) on Feb 22, 2015 at 9:53am PST

Big booty bagel ☺️

A photo posted by @finickylady on Apr 6, 2015 at 9:02am PDT

Matteo Ranchero’s. Aye aye ayeeeeee