Bay Furnace Bagel Works

First of all, I have to say the city of Munising makes no sense to me. Let's take a place like Pizza Hut, a family style restaurant, granted not that good, but let's replace that with a bagel shop that is only open part of the year. I have to tip my hat on the fact that they got a building in such a great spot in the city, even though it obviously caters more to tourist season than year-round for the city residents itself.

The remodel was beautiful. Even though we came here in the end of August and the fourth-of-July decorations were still up, they definitely upgraded the looks since switching over from Pizza Hut. Everything was very clean and the bagels looked amazing in the display case.

I had high hopes when I ordered the special of the day, which was brisket with bacon, cheddar and chipotle sauce. Not only am I obsessed with bread and cheese in general, but you now just added bacon (which you have to be a communist or a vegetarian not to like) and cooked brisket, which why wouldn't I love a great piece of smoked meat on my bagel sandwich? And my favorite sauce to add to any sandwich is always a Southwest or Chipotle type of mayo. Wow did I set myself up for disappointment. The brisket was the consistency of shoe leather, which leads me to believe that maybe it was leftover from an item a few days old and that it was on the special because it was going to be thrown out soon. The bacon was barely cooked. I don't mind bacon that has some fat, or that isn't crunchy, but the actual meat part of the bacon better be cooked otherwise it has the consistency in your mouth of non-rendered fat. If the bagel was fresh then I am stumped. It had been toasted on the inside which is nice, but it was so chewy. I ended up leaving the cheese and sauce on the bagel and throwing the meat out. My husband ordered the same special, and although he ate it because he is like a human garbage disposal, he had the same concerns about the brisket and bagel consistency.

Clearly we either went here on a bad day, or all of the good things we heard were from locals hyping it up. Next time we stop I will try a simple coffee and bagel with butter. If it was just a fluke visit, I would love to come to a place like this while in town (if we are there before they close at an early 2PM) because I love fresh breads and bagels and a great cup of coffee. As it stands though, that sandwich special would have been a great gift for my dog. Greasy and very, very chewy. Not to mention, the woman who took our order and brought our bagels to the table was quite a rude one.

I tried to click on the link on their Facebook page for their main website to give you an idea of the menu, but it sent me to an error page. I'll post a picture that they have on their Facebook page for you of the menu from last year. Hopefully the site will be up and fixed before they open again for Munising's "busy" season.