Baltimore Bagel Orders Are Leveling Up

Time was, ordering bagels was easy: You’d pick your flavor (usually poppy, sesame, or plain), add a schmear, and maybe top it all off with a layer of lox or a dollop of whitefish spread. Ah, simpler times.

Bagels were first introduced to New York’s Lower East Side by Jewish immigrants in the early 1900s. For a while, the bagel’s appeal was limited to the New York area, until the ’60s and ’70s, when mass production (hello, Lender’s!) turned them into an American breakfast staple.

Since then, their popularity—and the many ways people consume them—has only grown. It’s safe to say that today’s versions are a far cry from what was found in your Eastern European grandmother’s breadbasket.

From the crab dip bagel at Café Dear Leon in Canton to the brisket, pastrami, sofrito, cheese, and jalapeño sandwich on a cheddar bagel at Call Your Mother Deli (in Annapolis and other locations), the humble breakfast food has gotten a glow-up.

“People are opening their minds and going way, way beyond the classics,” says Lauren Kistner, owner of Good Boy Bagels. “There are so many different flavor combinations that people never put together before.”

Her canine-themed Canton bagel shop is right in on the trend. Take their signature 40 Gold: a bagel stacked with house-made pit beef, fried eggs, onions, and cheddar-horseradish cream cheese.

“In addition to being delicious, it’s our ode to Maryland,” says Kistner, a New Jersey native who opened Good Boy because she missed her hometown’s hand-rolled boiled-and-baked bagels.

It’s also an homage to another Baltimore legacy. “The name is an ode to Chaps, whose original location is on Route 40 in the Gold Club parking lot,” says co-owner Ben Sawyer.

Another new-fangled nod to Baltimore is the shop’s honey Old Bay cream cheese. “My husband owns Mahaffey’s Pub and we were talking about the most popular flavor of wings at the pub,” says Kistner. “The honey Old Bay wings sell well, so we decided to do a version of that with cream cheese.”

While the classic combos are still popular, patrons have also been known to improvise. “Bacon, eggs, and cheese are always going to be at the top of the list when it comes to biggest sellers,” says Kistner. “But we’ve seen quite a lot of people even going beyond what we offer. They’ll order a bacon, egg, and cheese, but they’ll put it on our French toast bagel with maple glaze or they’ll add cinnamon raisin cream cheese. The other day, a patron requested cream cheese and peanut butter on a bagel.”

Clearly, it’s a brave, new bagel world.