I can’t stop — and don’t want to stop — eating bagels by Good Judys’ Bagels. I bought some of the new C-U bakery’s bagels at the first Market at the Square of 2024 on Saturday, and in the last 48 hours, I’ve eaten an embarrassing amount of bagels. Bagel for breakfast, obviously, but also bagel lunch, bagel snack, and bagel dessert, too.
Though Good Judys’ Bagels is new to Urbana’s Market at the Square for the 2024 season, the home bakery made its market debut earlier this year at The Land Connection’s indoor farmers’ market in March. The bagel table has a good variety of bagel flavors: plain, everything, sesame, blueberry, honey oat, and more in three-packs and by the dozen. My favorite bagel is an everything bagel, so I bought a short-stack three-pack of everything bagels ($5). And when I saw the cinnamon sugar ones didn’t have raisins, I was thrilled because I low-key hate raisins, so I bought a short-stack of cinnamon bagels ($5), too — and also impulsively got bagel chips ($4).
Wow, these were delicious. Handmade and fresh-baked, the bagels had a yummy yeast flavor and an excellent chew. The cinnamon sugar bagel tasted less sweet than I expected, with the subtle sweet cinnamon spice accenting the bagel’s addictive bready flavor. Made from sliced-up Good Judys’ java chocolate chip bagels, the bagels chips were crunchy and had a little bit of chocolate plus espresso made Champaign’s Columbia Street Roastery coffee beans — a cool local touch. The everything bagel was everything I wanted, and I’m sad I only bought three. Covered with a generous amount of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, and dried onion, this everything bagel was chewy, super seasoned, and a mess to eat but so tasty. I’m addicted to these; they’re already gone, and I want more.
Good Judys’ Bagels sells bagels and bagel chips at the Urbana market each week, but the new business hopes to one day open a brick-and-mortar bagel shop and cafe called Good Judys’ Espresso Bar.
Learn more about the new business on their website, or follow the bagel biz on Facebook or Instagram.
