Pour out a little liquor for a lost friend, the classic New York bagel. As neighborhoods change—thanks, MTV-driven, youth-styled gentrification—the city’s famous ethnic communities have moved on…and so have their food traditions. Though the NYC-style bagel is now essentially an international brand name—witness how the painfully named Noah's New York Bagels brings Lower East Side charm to the Pacific Northwest—the reality is that buying a well-boiled, perfectly baked version on the island of Manhattan is increasingly difficult. A year ago, we mourned the demise of H&H, and despite our appreciation of Murray's, we haven't found a true replacement. The fact that the most talked about bagel in recent memory is the Montreal-style one sold at Mile End is further proof that the cachet of the NY variety has hit rock bottom.