Allure? Well, maybe.

I still remember the first time I saw Bonjour Bagel on the northeast corner of Colorado and Sierra Madre boulevards. I was going to Vons and, in my excitement, almost ran up a telephone pole. "Hot damn!" I thought. "Bagels are us." Jew-food had finally penetrated Pasadena. Not just Old Town or South Lake but deep into the white, Protestant heartland of East Pasadena.

Skeptical at first, I figured the "Bonjour" would be more significant than the "Bagel." And when I walked in, the strong odor of fresh coffee and the sound of milk being frothed for cappuccino did nothing to reassure me. Nor did the display cases.

I looked for bagels, but found salads (Greek, antipasto, chicken, turkey, tuna and fruit), pockets (vegetarian, Florentine, turkey, beef 'n' cheddar, pizza and rocket) and sweet stuff (fruit tarts, cookies and muffins) instead.

Then my vision cleared. Behind the counter, in unobtrusive bins, were all the bagels anybody could desire: plain, egg, salt, garlic, onion, whole wheat, sesame, pumpernickel, rye, poppyseed, eight-grain, sourdough and "everything."

Then I noticed the bagels that were maybe more than anybody could desire: blueberry, cinnamon raisin, cranberry, honey oat raisin, sun-dried tomato and basil, cheese, chocolate chip, banana nut and jalapeno cheese.

As a Jewish East Coast youngster, I learned that chocolate chip bagels are "trafe" like pork and shellfish. (See Leviticus, right after calves and mothers' milk. If it's not expressly mentioned, I'm sure it's implied.) But, hey, if Pasadena Gentiles got off on it, I was cool.

At Bonjour, they could slather a triple-c bagel with whipped strawberry cream cheese without risk of adverse comment. Tomato/basil with garden veggie cheese or blueberry with walnut/raisin; the possibilities boggled the traditional mind.

And sandwiches: California Club Bagel, with turkey, bacon, avocado, tomato and lettuce; Pacific Bagel with tuna salad; Classic Bagel with nova salmon, cream cheese, tomato and sliced red onion; and Barnyard Bagel with sliced barbecue chicken breast.

Eurobagels were open-faced bialy specialties: three pizza variants, plus a "quiche" (eggs, Black Forest ham, broccoli, mushrooms, Swiss cheese, tomato and onions) and a tuna melt. Pocket pals: e.g., Florentine (ham, provolone, fresh spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, red onion) had to be eaten with a fork and knife. But handheld or not, Bonjour's creations were satisfying.

Breakfasts included several egg 'n' bagel combos with scrambled eggs and cheese and/or bacon and/or juice and coffee. Peanut butter and fruit preserves were available, along with honey, margarine, butter and other toppings. For the incorrigibly inner-Empire, muffins included blueberry bran, carrot, banana, zucchini nut, cranberry orange, honey bran, lemon poppy seed, oatbran raisin and chocolate chip.

And for us PC tree-hugging types, there was a pledge and a welcome that took up more space than the rest of the menu and reaffirmed Bonjour's commitment to recycle; use biodegradables; interact harmoniously and helpfully with schools and civic organizations, the poor and the neighbors; maintain smoke-free environments; serve only wholesome and additive-free foods; and be courteous, respectful and all-round perfect.

Bonjour cared about (among other things) "the humane foresting of our oceans.” Their customers' health was a top priority, and they hoped we care enough about ourselves "to eat only natural and healthy foods."

They vowed to encourage their customers "to think about our collective need to be environmentally sensitive" (since) "we all share the same space — yet only temporarily."

While some may find this truly deep, others might have been merely puzzled; but the bagels etc. more than made up for the rhetoric. I, for one, wouldn't have minded if they'd told me to remember starving children and clean my plate, although I doubt if it would ever have been necessary.

So what happened? Not only did the Pasadena store disappear, so did their stores in much more ethnically compatible Buena Park, Tarzana and even Las Vegas. As an East Coast liberal of a minority persuasion, I'm afraid I must consider George Bush and his pernicious influence. There's no doubt that barbecue, red meat, Tex-Mex and deep-fried stuff are "in," and bagels, without any redeeming "good carbs," grease or protein are "out."

Noah's is bucking the trend, of course; they've got everything Bonjour Bagel used to offer and more, plus there are two locations in Pasadena. I'd bet, however, that you can still count the number of stores in suburban red-state areas on the fingers of one hand.

Bagels in Wyoming? Probably considered subversive — a sure sign of commie, cut-and-run, atheistic tendencies; maybe perversion as well. A lot on the "Left Coast" of course. And Noah's is playing it safe. I don't see any ocean-saving mission statements on their Web site. (The EPA probably vets those things for sedition.)

But I digress. The Bonjour site has been taken over by local people. They've renamed it Allure and offer limited homemade bagels, limited sandwiches, limited salads and a full array of coffee drinks. There's a middle-eastern flair to some of the food — chicken and beef shish kabob with hummus and shirazie (diced onion, tomato and cucumber) salad for $6.25. Baklava has appeared along with Turkish coffee.

According to the nice young man who waited on us, Allure's about to hire a baker. Meanwhile, some of the pastries are made on site while others are bought from wholesalers. They're obviously not ready for a full review, but it's a nice place to hang out if you're in the vicinity.

Thank goodness for Noah's. I wonder how much they had to pay to Bush's re-election fund to stay in business? Whatever it was, it was worth it!