Joan Nathan is the author of twelve books, including her 2024 memoir, My Life in Recipes: Food, Family, and Memories, as well as a frequent contributor to The New York Times, Saveur, and other publications. Her groundbreaking Jewish Cooking in America and The New American Cookbook both won James Beard Awards and IACP Awards, and her celebrated King Solomon's Table won an IACP Award and a Gourmand World Cookbook Award. She lives in Washington, D.C., and on Martha's Vineyard. Most recently, Joan was the Expert Judge for Washingtonian Magazine's July 2026 "Best New Bagel" contest, where she also shared invaluable tips on what makes a great bagel!

Jake Cohen is a NYT-bestselling cookbook author, the host of “Jake Makes it Easy” on A+E and Hulu, and a nice Jewish boy from NYC. Jake and his recipes have been featured on almost every daytime talk show, every allegedly reputable publication, and most likely in both your favorite and least favorite celebrity’s Instagram stories.

Go-to Bagel Order: Cinnamon raisin with tuna salad

Ethan Zohn is a former professional soccer player, author, TV host, and champion of CBS's Survivor: Africa. Using his platform for social good, he co-founded Grassroot Soccer, an adolescent health organization using soccer to educate and inspire communities worldwide. A two-time cancer crusher, eight-time marathoner, and international speaker, Ethan uses his journey to champion resilience, philanthropy, and outdoor wellness.

Go-to bagel order: Sesame bagel, lightly toasted, thin layer of plain cream cheese, smoked salmon, thinly sliced tomato, thinly sliced cucumber, salt, open faced NEVER sandwich style

Chef Einat Admony is a three-time James Beard Award–nominated chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and a leading voice in modern Israeli and Middle Eastern cuisine. She is the chef and owner of New York City’s Balaboosta and Moondog HiFi, a listening bar. Born and raised in Tel Aviv, Einat draws deeply from her Persian and Yemenite heritage, blending the flavors of her childhood with global influences and a distinctly New York sensibility. Her cooking is bold, vibrant, and deeply personal, celebrating the intersection of tradition and modernity. Einat is the author of two acclaimed cookbooks, Balaboosta and Shuk, and a recipient of the Carnegie Corporation’s Great Immigrants Award. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Bon Appétit, Forbes, and many others. She brings her food to homes across the country through the meal-delivery platform CookUnity and is the founder of Taïm Falafel, a pioneer in New York City’s Israeli food scene.

Go to bagel order: Everything bagel (always!!) with lox, capers, tomato, and a very light layer of cream cheese.

Darra Goldstein, the founding editor of Gastronomica and editor in chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Food Studies, has won numerous prizes for her work in food, including James Beard and IACP awards. She has published eight cookbooks, among them The Georgian Feast (the 1994 IACP Julia Child Cookbook of the Year) and Beyond the North Wind: Russia in Recipes and Lore, which topped the list of Best Summer Cookbooks 2020 in the New York Times Book Review. Darra has consulted for the Council of Europe on using food as a tool for tolerance and diversity and has held distinguished fellowships in food studies at the University of Toronto and the University of Melbourne. She currently sits on the board of the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts and is a member of the advisory “Kitchen Cabinet” of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Gabriella Gershenson is a James Beard Award-winning, food journalist, and author based in New York City. She is an editor at The New York Times Wirecutter, and was previously on staff at Saveur, Rachael Ray Every Day, and Time Out New York magazines. She was a longtime contributor to The Wall Street Journal. Gabriella has written articles that number in the hundreds for publications such as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Food & Wine, and Taste. She is a co-author of the James Beard Award–winning Love Japan, and is an editor of The 100 Most Jewish Foods and the IACP Award–winning On the Hummus Route. Gabriella moderates food talks at venues across New York City and beyond. She has also appeared on radio and TV, most recently discussing fruit roll-ups on The Food That Built America. Her forthcoming book, Caviar (& Champagne), will be published by Abrams in 2027.

Leah Koenig is an IACP Award-winning author of eight cookbooks including Portico: Cooking and Feasting in Rome's Jewish Kitchen, which was the the IACP 2024 International Cookbook winner, and a finalist in the National Jewish Book Awards. Her newest book The Dessert Table: 100 Joyful Jewish Sweets came out in September to wide acclaim. Leah's writing and recipes can be found in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Food & Wine, among other publications. She also writes a weekly newsletter, The Jewish Table, which shares recipes and stories from the world of Jewish food. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her family.

Go-to bagel order: Sesame bagel with veggie cream cheese, thinly sliced red onion, and capers

Jeremy Jacobowitz brings along his over 950k followers on his food adventures all over the world. Whether that’s finding that hidden gem in NYC, the best omakase in Japan, or creating a fun recipe in his home kitchen studio, his audience is obsessed with all parts of his life. And there is good reason for that trust and admiration. Not only has he had an online presence for nearly a decade, but he has worked in food tv as an assistant for Bobby Flay and as a producer for years, before moving fulltime to online content. Along with his daily videos on his own channels, he has hosted and appeared on programs for Food Network, MSG Networks, Thrillist, Pix11 Morning News, Seamless, Disney World, and more!

Go to bagel order: Egg everything with scallion cc, lox, and avo

Liz Alpern is a cook, entrepreneur and co-founder of Brooklyn's Gefilteria. She co-authored The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods and serves as Chef in Residence at Temple Shaarey Tefila on NYC's Upper East Side. When not immersed in all things Jewish deli, she raises funds for local orgs across the country through her event series, Queer Soup Night.

Jeffrey Yoskowitz is a chef, pickler, and a recognized thought leader in Jewish food. He co-founded The Gefilteria, a culinary venture that reimagines Ashkenazi-Jewish cooking and co-authored the award-winning cookbook, The Gefilte Manifesto. He teaches, cooks, and lectures on food history to communities across the globe. He taught courses on Jewish food at City College and Brandeis University and his writings on food and culture have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, among other publications. He was featured on Hulu's Taste the Nation and was tapped to represent Jewish food culture by the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

Shannon Sarna is the Founding Editor of The Nosher and author of Modern Jewish Baker and Modern Jewish Comfort Food. Passionate about preserving and reimagining Jewish food traditions, her work connects history, culture, and modern tastes. She also serves as Chief of Staff to James Beard–nominated Chef Dan Richer at Razza in Jersey City, bringing expertise in communications and operations. Shannon’s recipes and writing have been featured on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Pix11, PBS’s Table for All, and in publications such as Bake from Scratch Magazine, Better Homes & Gardens Magazine, Taste of Home Magazine, Food52, The Kitchn, Bon Appetit, Forbes, and USA Today.

Tim Von Hollweg is a native New Yorker who grew up in Stuyvesant Town and has been eating bagels since he was six months old. For the past seven years, he has served as Director of Operations at Russ & Daughters, overseeing multi-location retail, bakery production, and e-commerce for one of the city’s most iconic culinary institutions. Before that, Tim spent four years as Director of Purchasing at Barclays Center, managing procurement and vendor relations for one of the busiest arenas in the country. His career began with a decade at Drew Nieporent’s renowned Myriad Restaurant Group, where he held leadership roles at Tribeca Grill, Nobu, and Montrachet. With 20+ years of experience spanning fine dining, large-scale hospitality, and heritage food culture, Tim brings expertise in systems, people, and product—always rooted in a lifelong passion for New York.

Emily Winston is the Founder & CEO of Boichik Bagels, a New York–style bagelry based in Berkeley, California. Inspired by childhood memories of enjoying fresh bagels at H&H Bagels in Manhattan, Emily turned her passion for bagels into a thriving business that has quickly become one of the top bagel destinations on the West Coast. In just a few years, she’s opened multiple locations, built a state-of-the-art bagel factory, and earned national acclaim, including features in the New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle. Emily continues to scale her business with plans for expansion across California, while preserving the nostalgic essence of New York bagel traditions.

Reva Castillenti is an award-winning baker turned bakery consultant and educator. She learned the craft of bagel-making from a former owner of Kossar’s, one of New York’s oldest operating bagel shops. What began as small bread workshops in her apartment in 2018 has grown into personally teaching over 8,000 students the art of baking. She currently uses her powers and expertise for good through her company, Small Good Bakery, where she helps others build sustainable, thriving bakery businesses. She dreams of small, good bakeries everywhere.

Mike Varley is the creator of EverythingIsEverything.NYC, a catalogue of over 200 New York City bagel reviews from across all five boroughs. The project has been featured in The New York Times, NPR, The Washington Post, and The Today Show, among other outlets. "Everything is Everything" is a sub-project of "2020: Total Clarity," where Varley and his wife Jessi Highet walked over 7,000 miles around New York City - 5 marathons a week for one calendar year. You can learn more about their walk on their website, HighleyVarlet.com

@bageltawk we out in the streets trying as many bagel shops as possible, spreading bagel love all over, #weknowdough

Sean Keeley is the writer behind It's a Shanda (itsashanda.com), a newsletter dedicated to finding a good bagel in Seattle and beyond, and also writes about bagels for Eater Seattle. When not writing about bagels, he serves as the managing editor for the sports media site Awful Announcing and is the author of “How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.” He has been featured on ESPN, NPR, and Syracuse.com, among other outlets. A New Jersey native, Sean currently lives in Seattle but often dreams about the everything bagel with scallion cream cheese he used to get from Eli's Hot Bagels in Matawan, NJ (R.I.P.).

Joanna Shawn Brigid O'Leary was born in Alexandria, Virginia, grew up in central Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, and now calls Sebec, Maine home. She graduated from Harvard University with a degree in English and earned a PhD in Victorian literature from Rice University. Dr. O'Leary serves as a culinary consultant, food historian, and scientific writer for numerous public, private, and academic organizations. She has published in such diverse outlets as The Nosher, Neurosurgery journal, Let's Go travel guides, Wine Enthusiast, Stroke, the Onion, Houston Press, Texas Highways, and the Huffington Post.

Go-to Bagel Order: Sesame (NOT TOASTED NEVER); truffle cream cheese; tomato + avocado

Morgan Carter is usually the first person to ask you, what do you want to eat? She is also the first person to take a few photos of your food when it gets to the table (sorry about it).

Morgan is the Food and Drink Editor at Time Out New York. She has written about food, drink, and lifestyle for nearly a decade. You can find her work in Eater, Food52, the James Beard Foundation, Outside Magazine, and Resy. 

When she isn’t thinking about food, you can find her taking a dance class or stomping about Brooklyn with her sausage dog, Franny.

Send her all the food (and drink!) suggestions at morgan.carter@timeout.com.

Ben Gollan left a career in law behind after one pastrami sandwich changed his life, founding A Man and His Sandwich Tours in 2017 - New York's only sandwich-dedicated walking tours. He's made a career out of arguing that almost anything counts as a sandwich - opinions he's shared in The New York Times, in Forbes, and on national TV. Armed with the knowledge that scallion cream cheese on an everything bagel is definitely a sandwich (and also Ben's "basic bitch" go-to order), this makes him either the perfect judge for this festival, or the most dangerous one.

A born and raised New Yorker and former dancer, Dara is one of the very first food influencers to market during the industry’s revolutionary years. Following a devastating car accident in High School where she nearly lost her leg, she took comfort in cooking and writing about food. When she started her blog, The Skinny Pig, in 2008, Dara learned first-hand how to navigate the industry and its ever-changing nature. With a deep understanding of brand voice, content creation, and marketing, Dara started The Skinny Pig Inc. in 2018, a social media consulting firm (dba @themisfitcreatives) working with hospitality brands and other creators. Her unapologetically honest, hilarious, and relatable personality has attracted a community of loyal followers who trust and look to her for food, lifestyle tips, and laughter. (Instagram: @darapollak)

Tara Cox is a veteran magazine editor and writer whose work has appeared in Real Simple, Men’s Journal, Rachael Ray Every Day, New York Magazine, and RVLiving, where she was the founding editor in chief. She is the author of Airstream: The Silver RV, has penned restaurant reviews for Time Out New York’s Eating and Drinking Guides, and once taste-tested more than 30 black-and-white cookies in pursuit of New York City’s best. Her contributions to both The Ultimate Spam Cookbook and The Delmonico Way reflect her love of all things highbrow and lowbrow. A former semi-finalist in Carvel’s “Little Miss Half Pint” competition, she also holds a certificate from Weeki Wachee’s Adult Mermaid Camp. Follow her on Instagram at @misscox

See and Be Kitchen CEO & co-founder, featuring long slow fermentation sourdough bread and croissants, now franchising in the NorthEast US. Food scientist, business expert, & avid salt bagel lover!

Ryan Garson is a New York City real estate leader, author, content creator, and lifelong believer that the best parts of the city are built around community, conversation, and great food.

Ryan leads The Garson Team at Compass, with more than $750 million in closed sales and over 1,000 transactions. He is also the founder of Very Social and author of The Very Social Broker and The AI Agent.

His newest project is the children’s book New York No Matter Where, which tells the story of New York City through his daughter’s eyes. It even features one of their favorite neighborhood bagel spots, Barney Greengrass.

Through his podcast, New Yorkers to Know, Ryan also shares the stories of the people and businesses shaping the city.

An Upper West Side resident, husband, father, and unapologetic bagel enthusiast, Ryan is always searching for the places that make New York feel like New York. He takes judging real estate seriously. Bagels may be even more important.