Al Brown Best Ugly Bagels: Auckland's Chef and His Burger

Al Brown is the New Zealand chef behind Best Ugly Bagels, the Montreal-style bagel shop he opened at City Works Depot in Auckland in 2013. Thirteen years on, it has seven stores across Auckland and Wellington. It is not a burger restaurant. It sells wood-fired bagels and bagel sandwiches, and no burger appeared on any menu I checked on 9 October 2026. His one real burger came in June 2020, when he created the limited-edition Mustang Deli with BurgerFuel. My take, up front: Best Ugly is worth the trip for the bagels. On a burger lover’s map, it is the story of a chef who crossed over once.

Key facts: Al Brown and Best Ugly Bagels at a glance

Best Ugly Bagels is a Montreal-style bagel chain founded by chef Al Brown in Auckland in 2013, open as of October 2026, with no burger on the menu.

Key facts about Al Brown and Best Ugly Bagels: founder, 2013 opening, Montreal style, the Yodi, 7 stores (5 in Auckland, 2 in Wellington), franchising, and no burger on the menu. Checked 9 October 2026. (Table: Burger Breton, compiled from bestugly.co.nz, NZ Herald (17 April 2013) and Wikipedia; original editorial work, no third-party license.)

How I put this profile together

Every fact here comes from a named source I checked on 9 October 2026, and where I couldn’t confirm something, I say so. My sources were the official Best Ugly site and franchise page, the NZ Herald launch article from April 2013, SkyCity Auckland venue pages, Wikipedia for biographical dates, Remix Magazine for the BurgerFuel collaboration, and delivery-app menus for prices. I haven’t yet eaten at a Best Ugly store for this piece, so there is no tasting verdict and no rating. This is a portrait and a practical guide, not a review.

Who is Al Brown? The chef behind Best Ugly

Al Brown is a New Zealand chef, restaurateur, author and TV presenter, best known in Auckland for Depot, Federal Delicatessen and Best Ugly Bagels. His full name is Alister Douglas Malcolm Brown. Wikipedia gives his birth year as 1964 or 1965; no exact date is confirmed. He grew up on a farm near Masterton in the Wairarapa and trained at the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont (Wikipedia).

Chef Al Brown is invested as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services as a chef by Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae at Government House on 6 September 2012. (Photo: New Zealand Government, Office of the Governor-General, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Al\_Brown\_MNZM\_investiture.jpg), CC BY 4.0, 1549×1037.)

Al Brown chef career timeline

Al Brown’s career runs from Wellington fine dining in 1996 to an Auckland bagel franchise in the 2020s.

Al Brown’s career timeline, from co-founding Logan Brown in Wellington (1996) to Depot (2011), the MNZM (2012), Best Ugly Bagels (2013), the BurgerFuel Mustang Deli (2020) and Hooked (2025). (Table/timeline graphic: Burger Breton, data from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), Scoop and Remix Magazine; original editorial work.)

His other books include Go Fish, Stoked and Depot: Biography of a Restaurant. The MNZM came in the 2012 Queen’s Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours (Wikipedia).

What is Best Ugly Bagels?

Best Ugly Bagels is a bagel shop and chain that bakes Montreal-style bagels in a wood-fired stone oven and serves them as breakfast and lunch sandwiches. It opened at City Works Depot, on the corner of Wellesley and Nelson Streets, in 2013, trading from 7am to 3pm, seven days a week (NZ Herald, 17 April 2013). Some secondary sources say 2014. The Herald launch piece from April 2013 and a broker listing both say 2013, and I go with them.

The origin story: 20 minutes in a Montreal bakery

Al Brown fell for wood-fired bagels while living in Montreal in the 1980s, and that memory became Best Ugly decades later. He told the NZ Herald: “I stood mesmerised for a whole 20 minutes, just standing there watching them make these incredible things.” Before opening, he and his team trained at Saint-Viateur Bagel, one of Montreal’s best-known bagel bakeries (Best Ugly).

The Saturday-morning queue at St-Viateur Bagel on Rue St-Viateur, Montreal, the wood-fired bakery where Al Brown and his team trained before opening Best Ugly in Auckland. (Photo: M. Rehemtulla (QUOI Media Group), via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MontrealBagels.jpg), CC BY 2.0, 4288×2848.)

Why is it called Best Ugly?

The name nods to a Chinese proverb, but Al Brown says the real reason is the look of the bagels. In 2013 he put it this way: “It’s from a Chinese proverb but really it’s because these bagels are just gorgeous in their ugliness” (NZ Herald). Wood-fired bagels come out irregular and blistered. The name owns it.

Montreal style bagels in Auckland: how Best Ugly makes them

Best Ugly bagels are hand-rolled, boiled, then baked in a 15-tonne purpose-built wood-fired stone oven. That is the Montreal method, and the oven is the centrepiece of the City Works Depot shop (Best Ugly).

Step 1 of the Montreal method: dough cut into small pieces and hand-rolled into rings at St-Viateur Bagel, Montreal. Best Ugly follows the same method, then boils each bagel and bakes it in its 15-tonne wood-fired stone oven. (Photo: MelanieFishbein5, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bagel\_Making.jpg), CC BY-SA 4.0, 3024×4032.)

Montreal vs New York bagels: the difference

Montreal bagels are crispier outside, have no added salt and taste a little sweeter and lighter than New York bagels. That is Al Brown’s own summary from 2013: “crispier on the outside, no added salt, so they’re a little sweeter and lighter” (NZ Herald).

Montreal-style bagels with poppy seeds (dark) and sesame seeds (light): thinner and with a larger hole than New York bagels, the style Best Ugly bakes in Auckland. (Photo: Gary Perlman, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bagels-Montreal-REAL.jpg), Public domain, 1110×892.)

Montreal vs New York bagels: Montreal-style bagels are crisper outside, made with no added salt, sweeter and lighter, and wood-fired at Best Ugly (Al Brown, NZ Herald, 2013). (Table: Burger Breton, from Al Brown’s quotes in the NZ Herald (17 April 2013); original editorial work.)

Best Ugly Bagels menu and prices

The signature is the Yodi, a pastrami bagel sandwich listed at NZ$22.90 on delivery apps as of 9 October 2026. Delivery-app prices are the only ones I could verify, and they include a markup. In-store prices were not confirmed, and the official April 2024 menu PDF was not readable as text.

A smoked-meat bagel at St-Viateur in Montreal, the deli-meat-on-a-bagel tradition behind Best Ugly’s Yodi (pastrami, habanero mustard, grilled Swiss and a pickle on sesame). This is not the Yodi itself. (Photo: Brendan Berg (brendanberg), via Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/43952940@N00/4574950877), CC BY-SA 2.0, 1024×768.)

Best Ugly Bagels menu prices on delivery apps, 9 October 2026 (bar chart, NZ$): the Yodi $22.90, Boss Hog from $22.90, Tuna Melt from $21.90, B.L.T. from $15.90. Prices include the app markup. (Chart: Burger Breton, data from Uber Eats (Best Ugly Te Aro) and DoorDash, checked 9 October 2026; original editorial work.)

Sources: Uber Eats, Best Ugly Te Aro and DoorDash. The Yodi recipe varies slightly between listings; I used the delivery-app wording. If you’d rather eat them at home, Al Brown & Co sells Best Ugly bagels in packs, such as a plain 4-pack.

Does Best Ugly sell burgers?

No. Best Ugly sells bagels and bagel sandwiches, and no burger appears on the official site, delivery apps or directories I checked on 9 October 2026. I’m saying it plainly because some listings lump it into Auckland burger roundups. Want a burger? Go elsewhere. Want something with a burger’s heft? The Yodi, pastrami stacked with grilled Swiss on a sesame bagel, is the closest thing on the menu.

Al Brown’s BurgerFuel Mustang Deli burger (2020)

Al Brown’s one documented burger is the Mustang Deli, a limited edition he released with BurgerFuel in June 2020. It stacked a grass-fed New Zealand beef patty, Al Brown & Co. corned beef, sandwich pickles, cheddar, Old Yella Habanero Mustard and kimchi in a pretzel bun. It sold at BurgerFuel’s 57 New Zealand stores and was pitched as uniting “the Reuben and the humble cheeseburger” (Remix Magazine, 5 June 2020).

A BurgerFuel store in Paraparaumu, on the Kāpiti Coast north of Wellington, on 15 June 2020, with 2-metre queue markers on the footpath. That month, BurgerFuel’s New Zealand stores were selling Al Brown’s limited-edition Mustang Deli burger, which is not shown here. (Photo: Alan Tennyson, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Covid-19\_burger\_shop\_2m-spaced\_social\_distancing\_queuing\_spots.jpg), CC BY-SA 4.0, 2829×3694.)

On paper, this burger tells you more about his cooking than anything else he has sold to a burger crowd. It takes the deli flavours of Federal Delicatessen and the habanero-mustard heat of the Yodi and puts them on a beef patty. I found no price and no exact on-sale dates, and it is no longer on sale. For the chain behind it, read my BurgerFuel Wellington guide with addresses and hours.

Mustang Deli burger (2020) vs the Yodi bagel, layer by layer: pretzel bun, grass-fed NZ beef, Al Brown & Co. corned beef, cheddar, pickles, kimchi and Old Yella Habanero Mustard, against a sesame bagel with pastrami, grilled Swiss, habanero mustard and a pickle. (Table/diagram: Burger Breton, data from Remix Magazine (5 June 2020) and delivery-app menus; original editorial work.)

Al Brown restaurants in Auckland: Depot and Federal Delicatessen

Beyond Best Ugly, Al Brown’s Auckland venues are Depot Eatery & Oyster Bar and Federal Delicatessen, both at 86 Federal Street in the SkyCity precinct. Neither is a burger restaurant.

Depot Eatery & Oyster Bar

Depot opened at SkyCity Auckland on Saturday 13 August 2011 and still lists Al Brown as chef and owner (Scoop). It is walk-in only, at 86 Federal Street, Auckland CBD 1010. Hours are Mon–Fri 7am–late and Sat–Sun 11am–late; phone +64 9 363 7048. When I checked, the SkyCity menu had no burger on it (SkyCity Auckland).

Federal Delicatessen (“The Fed”)

Federal Delicatessen is Al Brown’s New York-style Jewish deli at 86 Federal St, Auckland (SkyCity Auckland). Corned beef and pickles are the deli vocabulary the Mustang Deli burger borrowed.

Best Ugly Bagels Auckland locations and opening hours

Best Ugly lists five Auckland stores and two Wellington stores on its official site as of 9 October 2026. Other sources give six or eight; I list only the official seven.

Best Ugly Bagels locations and opening hours: City Works Depot, Newmarket, Commercial Bay, both Auckland Airport terminals, Swan Lane in Wellington and Wellington Airport (official site, 9 October 2026). (Table: Burger Breton, from bestugly.co.nz, Heart of the City and City Works Depot, checked 9 October 2026; original editorial work.)

Sources: bestugly.co.nz, Heart of the City and City Works Depot, checked 9 October 2026. Hours change; check the official site before you go.

Map of Al Brown’s Auckland: Best Ugly at City Works Depot (Wellesley St West), Commercial Bay (Lower Albert St) and Newmarket (3A York St), plus Depot and Federal Delicatessen at 86 Federal Street. Auckland Airport is about 20 km south. (Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0.)

Is Best Ugly a franchise?

Yes. Best Ugly has moved to franchising, and its franchise page offered Commercial Bay as the first franchise site. The page says the brand was “established 10 years ago” by Al Brown (Best Ugly franchise). The Commercial Bay store opened in 2020. A Link Business listing, now marked sold, showed annual sales of NZ$1.1m, earnings of NZ$193,000 and an asking price of NZ$495,000 (Link Business).

Inside Commercial Bay shopping centre on Lower Albert Street, Auckland CBD, home since 2020 of the Best Ugly store that was offered as the brand’s first franchise site. (Photo: Paora, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Commercial\_Bay,\_Auckland\_PA01.jpg), CC0 1.0, 5712×4284.)

What I could not confirm: the buyer, the sale date, whether Commercial Bay is now run by a franchisee, and Al Brown’s current ownership share. The official site still presents him as founder, so that is the word I use.

Where Best Ugly fits in Auckland’s burger scene

Best Ugly sits next to Auckland’s burger scene, not inside it: it is a bagel institution run by a chef whose single burger was a 2020 collaboration. For a burger founder story in Auckland, look at Mimi Gilmour’s Burger Burger instead. Its flagship is in the Ponsonby Central laneway, and it has been “flipping burgers since 2014” (Urban List, Metro). My plan for a day in town: a morning Yodi at City Works Depot, a burger later. For more, see my Auckland burger guide and all our burger restaurant guides by city.

Best Ugly in Wellington and Al Brown’s Wellington roots

Best Ugly has two Wellington stores, Swan Lane in Te Aro and Wellington Airport. That’s fitting: Al Brown’s career started in the capital with Logan Brown in 1996. If you’re heading south, my Wellington burger guide covers the city’s burger spots, including BurgerFuel.

FAQ: Al Brown and Best Ugly Bagels

Who is Al Brown and what restaurants does he own in Auckland?

Al Brown is a New Zealand chef, author and TV presenter, made an MNZM in 2012. In Auckland, SkyCity lists him as chef and owner of Depot Eatery & Oyster Bar, and he is behind Federal Delicatessen, both at 86 Federal Street. He also founded Best Ugly Bagels in 2013.

Is Best Ugly Bagels owned by Al Brown, and is it still open?

Al Brown founded Best Ugly, and it is open, with seven stores listed on 9 October 2026. The brand now franchises, and his current ownership share is not public, so “founder” is the accurate word.

What is the difference between Montreal and New York bagels?

Montreal bagels are boiled and baked in a wood-fired oven, with no added salt. Al Brown describes them as crispier outside, a little sweeter and lighter than New York bagels.

Where are the Best Ugly Bagels locations in Auckland and what are the hours?

City Works Depot (7am–3pm daily), Newmarket (8am–3pm daily), Commercial Bay (Mon–Fri 7am–3pm, Sat–Sun 8am–3pm), Auckland Airport Domestic (5am–8:30pm) and Auckland Airport International airside (4:30am–10:30pm).

What is the most popular bagel at Best Ugly, and how much does it cost?

The signature is the Yodi: pastrami, habanero mustard, grilled Swiss and a pickle on a sesame bagel. It was NZ$22.90 on Uber Eats and DoorDash on 9 October 2026. In-store prices were not confirmed; delivery prices include the app markup.

Why is it called Best Ugly?

The name comes from a Chinese proverb, but Al Brown says it’s mainly because the bagels are “gorgeous in their ugliness”.

Does Best Ugly sell burgers?

No. It sells bagels and bagel sandwiches. Al Brown’s burger was the limited-edition Mustang Deli, made with BurgerFuel in June 2020.

Is Best Ugly a franchise?

Yes. Best Ugly runs a franchise programme, and Commercial Bay was offered as its first franchise site. That store’s broker listing is marked sold.

Where is Best Ugly at Auckland Airport, domestic or international?

Both. There is a store in the domestic terminal (5am–8:30pm) and one airside in the international terminal (4:30am–10:30pm).