Review of Los Bagels

When Los Bagels first started offering "gluten free" bagels in 2011, they described this on their blog (http://losbagels.blogspot.com/2011/06/gluten-free-for-people.html) as a "victory for gluten intolerant people." They then elaborated on this by saying they wanted their customers to understand that they are a traditional bakery and could not promise that they weren't cross-contaminated.

Since the original posting, they seem to have added language that suggests they are at least now trying to produce them with separate cooking water and pans, etc, but they've left in the warning that they were educating their staff and customers that the bagels might be cross-contaminated: "...since some people do have an extreme allergic reaction to gluten. (But) so far, it seems a large majority of our customers are only mildly allergic or not eating gluten for other health reasons".

"Mildly allergic"? What the heck? In other words, they jumped on the "gluten free" bandwagon and are offering a product that is not safe for people with Celiac or a real medical gluten intolerance.

I would certainly never eat their "gluten free" bagels, but this is also one of the few places where I won't even have a coffee. The last time I got a cup of coffee here (and nothing else), I wound up violently ill because, it turned out, the server had handled my cup with crumb-covered hands after making someone else's bagel. The staff here seem to have no understanding (nor do they care) about safe practices to avoid cross-contamination.

Celiac friendly?

No