Bagels in Madison, WI: Where to Get the Real Thing

If you want a real New York bagel in Madison, WI, look for one that’s rolled by hand, boiled in a kettle and baked the same day. That’s how Gotham Bagels has done it since 2006 at 112 E Mifflin St., a block off Capitol Square, where Madison’s original Gotham is open Tuesday through Sunday for carryout, delivery and catering.

Madison has no shortage of breakfast spots. Here’s what separates a true bagel from a bread roll with a hole in it, and how to get one, whether it’s for you or for forty people.

Where can I get New York-style bagels in Madison, WI?

Right downtown. Gotham started in Madison in 2006, when Joe Gaglio, a New Yorker who moved here in 1999 for a culinary teaching job, couldn’t find a bagel that tasted like home and decided to make his own. The original shop is still on East Mifflin, about a minute’s walk from the Madison Children’s Museum and a few minutes from the Capitol.

Address	112 E Mifflin St., Madison, WI 53703
Hours	Tue–Sat 8 am – 2 pm; Sun 8 am till we run out (usually noon); closed Mondays
Phone	(608) 467-7642
Ordering	Walk in, or order online for pickup or delivery

There’s a ton of seating inside, all around a completely open kitchen, so you can sit and watch the bagels get rolled, boiled and baked. Big group or just you, there’s room. Details, parking and directions are on the Madison location page.

What makes a bagel New York-style?

Three things: the dough, the boil and the bake. Gotham mixes its dough in house, rolls every bagel by hand, boils it in a kettle and bakes it in a rotating deck oven. Never steamed, never machine-rolled.

The boil is the step that matters most. As NPR’s The Salt reports, boiling the shaped dough pre-gelatinizes the starch and thickens the crust, which a Culinary Institute of America chef calls essential for a chewy bagel. Plenty of bakeries skip it and bake with steam instead, which only sets the surface and gives you something lighter and puffier. The same piece puts the old “it’s the New York water” excuse to rest: water plays a minor role, technique does the heavy lifting. Good news for Wisconsin.

The style itself traveled a long way to get here. Maria Balinska’s history The Bagel (Yale University Press) follows it from seventeenth-century Poland to the bakeries of New York’s Lower East Side, and that boiled, hand-rolled New York bagel is the standard we bring to Mifflin Street. More on why the hands matter in hand-rolled vs. machine-rolled bagels.

What’s on the Madison menu?

Madison has its own menu, separate from our Chicago and Lake Geneva shops, so it’s worth a look before you order. The hand-rolled lineup runs from plain, sesame, everything, poppy, salt and onion to honey whole wheat, egg, pumpernickel, bialys and a Super Egg Everything. The house-whipped cream cheeses go well past plain and scallion: honey tart cherry, jalapeño garlic, caper, smoked salmon and whipped feta with rosemary and cracked black pepper, plus Tofutti for the dairy-free crowd.

On the sandwich side, the Bacon, Egg & Cheddar is the one people come back for. Lox lovers go for the Brighton Beach (lox, caper cream cheese, greens, tomato, red onion, capers), and the Amagansett piles house-made whitefish salad with Vitruvian Farms baby greens, cucumber and tomato. The greens come from Vitruvian Farms in McFarland and the tomatoes from Flyte Farm in Coloma, and the coffee is JBC Coffee Roasters, roasted right here in Madison. The whole lineup is on the Madison menu.

Does Gotham deliver bagels in Madison?

Yes. Order online and choose delivery: it’s $9 within the City of Madison and $15 to Middleton or Sun Prairie. Anywhere else, call or email the shop. Pickup is easy too, since online orders are ready when you walk in, and the city’s Capitol Square North Garage is one block up Mifflin.

How do I order bagel catering in Madison?

Online, start to finish, and you can schedule it up to 90 days ahead. There’s no minimum notice, so a dozen or two and a platter can often be scheduled for the same day; for big orders (five dozen bagels or 30 sandwiches and up), order at least a day ahead so we can bake for you.

Here’s what the Madison catering menu covers:

• Bagel and deli platters (Riverside Park, Long Island, Brighton Beach, Williamsburg) come with a dozen of 13 bagels and serve 13, with baby greens, tomato, red onion, pickles and coleslaw.
• Sandwich Platter: nine sandwiches from the Madison menu, wrapped and sliced in half. Serves 9.
• Bagel and Cream Cheese Platter: nine bagels with cream cheese, wrapped and sliced in half. Serves 9.
• JBC coffee service: serves 12.

Plan on one bagel or sandwich per person, three 8 oz containers of cream cheese per dozen, and at least half a pound of lox per half dozen bagels. Our how much to order guide does the math for your headcount, and the Madison catering page has the full menu.

What’s near Gotham in downtown Madison?

Plenty, which makes a bagel the right start to a downtown morning. On Saturdays in season, the Dane County Farmers’ Market wraps around Capitol Square a block from our door; Destination Madison lists the 2026 Saturday season as April 11 through November 14, 6:15 am to 1:45 pm, and calls it the country’s largest producer-only farmers’ market. Vendors can sell out, so go early and grab a dozen on the way.

The Capitol itself is a few minutes’ walk away. The Wisconsin Department of Administration runs free guided tours most days of the year, about 45 to 50 minutes each, and the observation deck is open mid-April through December. State Street, Overture Center and Monona Terrace are all within a short walk.

Can I take Gotham bagels home or freeze them?

Absolutely. Bagels are best the day they’re baked, so if you’re stocking up, slice and freeze the extras that day and toast them straight from the freezer. The Madison shop sells Gotham Frozen Bagels (an assorted six-pack) and eco-friendly freezer bags that hold six New York bagels each. Tips in what’s up with frozen bagels.

Ready for a real bagel in Madison?

Stop by 112 E Mifflin St. Tuesday through Sunday, or order online for pickup or delivery. Feeding the office, a UW department or the family? Schedule Madison catering up to 90 days out and let us handle breakfast.