Soulshine Bagel
2526 Main StreetThere were several places in Lake Placid that J and L couldn’t want to bring “the boys” to but breakfast was the big one.
We were in Lake Placid for the week for the Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships at The Olympic Center. This year, it was a family trip. Last year, J and L decided to go kind of last minute. I couldn’t get the week of and they had just taken B to a competition in Dallas. He wasn’t going to do very well and since it was an expensive competition, they decided to leave him home with me.
This year, B is more than competitive, he’s one of the best skaters in his level in the country. L is too. I planned for a year to have the vacation time available so we all packed up and headed to the Adirondacks for the week.
Monday was the first day of competition but it didn’t start until 5 PM. L had a practice skate around 1 PM and we wanted to walk around downtown Lake Placid for a while.
When we got out of bed, L was kind of pushing us out the door of our hotel because she couldn’t wait to get to her favorite bagel place.
Soulshine Bagel is on Main Street in downtown Lake Placid. The small bagel shop is on the south end of downtown next to the Grand Adirondack Hotel. The shop is one of many businesses on the bottom floor of a three level building that spans about a half a block. Soulshine is in the spot furthest north and it’s a very narrow building that, like a lot of places in downtown Lake Placid, becomes very crowded very quickly.
The shop is very narrow. There’s a counter on one side and an order line on the other. There is just enough room to make a line pressed up against the counter and room for a second line to wrap around while you’re waiting. You walk in along the wall and then do a U-turn once you get to the coolers in the back of the space to then press yourself up against the counter to order. I mentioned in my last post that in addition to this large figure skating competition there was an even larger lacrosse tournament happening the area this week and everyone wanted to start their day with delicious bagels.
The menu is written on on chalkboards hanging on behind the counter. As you’d expect, there is a large variety of fresh made bagels and spreads. They also have some sandwich options…both breakfast and lunch.
The restaurant works as an assembly line. There is one person taking orders and she really gives the place an authentic New York City type of feel. Very takes no BS, give me your order type of thing. The orders are then passed down the line and they’re put together. Bagels are grabbed from baskets of fresh bagels behind them and sandwiches are assembled from pre-cooked eggs, bacon, and sausage that are in warming pans next to the them. They’re then passed down to the cash register where you can, at that point, add on coffee before paying and heading out the door.
There isn’t really any seating in the shop. There are three chairs against a rail right next to the door…and surprisingly, they weren’t being used, but the store was so crowded this week that by the time you get your bagels, you really just want to get out of there. We grabbed the bag full of breakfast and headed outside where there are a couple of picnic tables, but those were being used by the other people.
We actually headed down to Bazzi’s Pizzeria (a place I will blog about later and will link back here if I remember) because they weren’t open yet and they have some picnic tables outside too. There are a lot of places in downtown Lake Placid without seating or with very little seating but there’s also not really any public seating along the street to sit and eat. We ran in to that issue a couple of times.
J, L, and B all got bagels with cream cheese. L gets a plain bagel with plain cream cheese and to her, that is the best breakfast ever. She says the bagels at Soulshine are so fresh and they’re so light and fluffy. She’s really only had bagels that are microwaved and maybe thrown in to a toaster for a few minutes. She has very little experience with real bagel shops and has never had a real, New York bagel before. She loves Soulshine because it’s something that is so different. When you get real food, you notice a difference and that’s what you get at Soulshine.
I ordered the Bacon, Egg, and Cheese on an Everything Bagel. This is by far my favorite kind of breakfast sandwich. L was right, the bagels are so fluffy and so delicious. The bagel is slightly toasted with big, fluffy scrambled eggs, some weak, limp bacon that was pulled out of a large vat of meat, and a slice of cheese that melted in to everything. Some crispy bacon would have really made this sandwich top tier but even with that slight disappointment, this sandwich was really delicious and I can see why L wanted to go back to this shop every morning.
Soulshine Bagel was a place we stopped at multi days for breakfast. It was one of the things L was really looking forward to as we were planning our trip to Lake Placid for the week. It’s just amazing how a breakfast can be elevated when things are made fresh. Soulshine is really a must stop if you’re in Lake Placid. It’s a great way to start the day.
SW Michigan Dining 
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