Where: Benchwarmers Bagels and Coffee, 500 E Davie St, Raleigh, NC (inside Transfer Co. Food Hall)
Cuisine: A bagel joint
Parking situation: Pretty good; super easy and accessible during weekdays
Hipster presence: High but tolerable

Study in “Sweet Lord have mercy.” Sesame bagel with plain cream cheese from Benchwarmers. Check out the glorious blistering on this beauty. (For Raleigh folks, you know, it’s the joint in the Transfer Co. Food Hall.) Crunchy, chewy perfection. Though, a few too many small-framed 20-something fellas in ironic clothing (e.g., muscle shirts with air brushed wolves), $50 tube socks, cutesy tattoos, flip flops, and khaki shorts with no pleats milling about for my comfort (you folks know how I feel about hipsters and ironic affectations. Also, you know how I feel about dudes wearing flip-flops beyond designated beach areas.)
Also, couldn’t resist getting the peach and saffron cream cheese – pure, creamy, peachy, scrumptiousness. Not too sweet, not cloying. And, yes, there are actual chunks of peach mixed in. I bought a whole tub. I don’t think this tub is gonna make it through the weekend. Though, I must confess, I slathered it on a lesser vessel – a week-old grocery store bagel that’s been kept in the fridge. I know, I know. I went and the did the cream cheese all grades of wrong. But here’s the thing, even the bagel itself was uplifted and made new again by this heavenly fruity spread.

The parking situation: Benchwarmers is inside a trendy food court located close to downtown Raleigh: Transfer Co. Food Hall. This place does indeed have an on-site parking lot dedicated to guests. The lot is located immediately next to and behind the food hall. Additional street parking can be found around the food hall on E. Davie Street, Chavis Way, E. Cabarrus Street and S. East Street. I have found that, during the day on weekdays, even the street parking is easy. I LOVE that the Transfer website has a page dedicated to parking availability.