#THE LOX BAGEL WINDOWS#

A chive-flecked potato croquettes side-dish special ($2.25) was so beautifully prepared, I hardly cared it was oversalted.ДЄlthough good, the signature lox sandwich ($12.50) could use some retooling. It's the best sandwich here - in fact, it's one of the best new sandwiches I've sampled this year. The outstanding pastrami sandwich ($10.50) stars hefty slabs of warm, outrageously juicy and tender house-cooked meat that can stand up to garnishes of aggressive pickled onions, mustard and melted Swiss. Add a sage-scented sausage patty from the Butcher and Grocer ($2.50), and it's even better. If breakfast flavors are calling, the egg & cheese ($8) is a high-quality crowd-pleaser that flatters an omelet disk with melted cheddar and вЂњegg sauceвЂќ - a perky mustard-mayo-chipotle-honey aioli. Add a flavorful coffee ($2.50), made with Cat & Cloud beans (from California), or a zippy bloody Mary made with Watershed vodka ($7.50), and your day will be heading in a good direction.ДЄbout a half-dozen pick-your-bagel sandwiches dot the small menu.

My favorite is the one generously speckled with house-cured lox ($4), but even the plain ($1) is rich and tangy. All four varieties - plain, sesame, everything, sea-salt-and-herb - taste great and offer crinkly exteriors that lead to delightfully chewy interiors.Д«agels can be topped with several thick cream cheeses.

The scratch-made bagels ($2.25 each), which are boiled and baked the old-fashioned way, would be worth a wait, anyway. Besides, in my experience, lines move quickly and the food arrives in a timely fashion. So if you find yourself facing a deep line in Lox - expect this on weekends - at least it's a relaxing place to hang out. A pleasant indie-pop soundtrack cements Lox's ambience, which I'd sum up as вЂњthis could be a hip cafe in Brooklyn.вЂќ

#THE LOX BAGEL WINDOWS#

Windows filter natural light into the stylish room. Light-colored wood decorates the walls, too, along with graphic depictions of wave and crystalline forms against a muted-blue background. Light-colored wooden tables - most are two-tops, a couple are communal - provide seating above a concrete floor.

Launched with credit-card-only counter service (I was informed the payment policy is currently being rethought), Lox is a trendy, tasteful and modern operation awash in pale and soothing neutral tones. Occupying the modest-sized space that once housed sedate eateries Homefare and L'Antibes, Lox has rapidly become a buzzy Short North sensation. If that was your guess, you have been proven correct. When the Lox Bagel Shop opened in December, you might have guessed its impressive team leaders - which include Silas Caeton, the former executive chef at Cosecha Cocina, and Kevin Crowley, a former partner at Northstar Cafe - would be a guarantee that Lox was destined for excellence.

The lox bagel