In the five years since launching Bottoms Up Bagels, founders Michelle Bond and Joan Kanner have gotten the hang of serving their boiled beauties from the confines of a 10-by-10 tent at outdoor farmers markets.

“We have a menu of 10 to 12 sandwiches that we make from a bunch of coolers and a camp stove,” Bond says. “It’s been a crazy learning experience, but it’s still the best part of our week.”

As much as they love connecting with the community at pop-up events, Bond and Kanner are excited to now serve diners in a space that is all their own.

Last week, the duo debuted their cleverly named “BUB Hub” at 2731 Greenmount Avenue in the Harwood area of North Baltimore. Boasting colorful, mid-century modern exterior murals designed by The Bizarre and painted by local artist Bobby Coleman, the can’t-miss shop is currently offering carryout service for breakfast and lunch on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. The team is also making deliveries on Thursday and Sunday mornings.

In the wake of COVID-19, Bond and Kanner are being intentional about their slow rollout. Instead of immediately offering up half of their 17 indoor seats and adjacent outdoor patio, they’re taking some time to get up to speed in the kitchen.

With the new setup—an open kitchen features plenty of prep space and a new Hobart mixer—the team of 10 can now ramp up continuous production on a daily basis.

“What we were doing before wasn’t sustainable for the amount of work that goes into our product,” says Bond, who adds that the business previously shared commissary space at Bmore Kitchen. “We were baking 500 to 600 bagels at 2 a.m. to then take to the markets. All of that is so integral to who we are, but it’s just physically so hard to maintain.”

After nearly three years of searching for a permanent home, they found the old 1940s commercial building through a connection with Central Baltimore Partnership. Aside from falling in love with the physical space and its location along a major thoroughfare, Bond and Kanner were thrilled that it was in Harwood—just down the road from their home in Waverly and the 32nd Street Farmers Market, where they were longtime vendors.

“We’re committed to this area,” Bond says. “It’s really important to us to be somewhere where there isn’t everything already.” Adds Kanner: “Harwood deserves it.”

The spirit of the shop is inspired by both of the owners’ upbringings in New Jersey. The transplants, who have lived in Baltimore for more than a decade, want to evoke the “steam-on-the-windows” type spots that they visited with their families.

“Growing up, my grandparents and I would go and get bagel dinners on Saturday nights and come home to watch The Golden Girls,” Kanner shares. “These were places that were open 24-7 and you would go and get a hot sack of bagels any time. Sometimes I would even get the chance to hold it on the way home.”

Highlighting hand-rolled bagels that come in varieties such as everything, pumpernickel, cinnamon-raisin, and Old Bay, the Bottoms Up menu offers sandwiches like the “Jersey Brekkie,” with fried egg and Taylor ham, and the “Loxed Up,” topped with house-cured gravlax. The team also serves local Dear Globe coffee blends and has added patty melts and vegan black bean burgers into the mix during opening week.

As much as the bagels are an homage to their native New Jersey, Bond and Kanner also see them as a vehicle for promoting inclusivity. As a woman-owned and queer-owned business, that mission has always been at the forefront for them.

“It’s an every man’s food, so it’s unifying in that way,” Bond says. “This vision is so clear to me of going to the bagel shop and having the cop, the guy in the business suit, the construction worker, the teacher, the nurse, all just having their own customized version of this one thing. We’re trying to cater to people who like really dense, chewy, old-school bagels, while also catering to people who want a bacon, egg, and cheese when they’re hungover, or someone who only has $3 to spend and wants to be full. We’re trying not to be everything to everybody, but to really maintain recognition that all of those people are finding something in what we do.”

Adds Kanner: “We’re forcing the issue that people can come together over this.”

Bottoms Up Bagels: New Jersey natives Michelle Bond and Joan Kanner, who have both lived in Charm City for more than a decade, certainly know a thing or two about a good bagel and schmear. Since 2016, they have been serving their hand-rolled, boiled beauties—in varieties like sesame, poppyseed, salt, pumpernickel and Old Bay—at local farmers’ markets and pop-up events. Now, the duo is getting ready to start a new chapter with a brick and mortar coming to the Greenmount corridor in 2020.

“We’ve always believed that there was interest in a simple, quality made bagel experience,” Bond tells us. “Over the last few years we’ve been able to test that, getting feedback along the way and constantly tweaking. We’ve tried to be strategic and bring folks along with us as we’ve grown, and this includes setting up on Greenmount Avenue and being at the forefront of the good things happening there.”

Though details about the space haven’t been announced yet, it will act as both a production kitchen and a retail shop for locals to get their fix of fresh bagels topped with house-cured gravlax, as well as spreads like veggie, sesame-Sriracha, sugar butter, and house-smoked jalapeño cream cheese.

BAR BULLETIN

Bluebird Cocktail Room Releases Fall/Winter Menu: It should come as no surprise that this literary-inspired Hampden hangout is taking inspiration from Grimms’ Fairy Tales for its new seasonal menu. The roster includes 18 clever drinks that are each derived from a different tale. Among them are the “Briar Rose” (housemade grapefruit kombucha infused with tequila and borage flowers), “Rapunzel” (Distillery Lane Ciderworks’ rum-finished Celebration Cider), and “Rumplestilskin,” which incorporates Ricard pastis and chocolate from Pure Chocolate by Jinji at Belvedere Square. To pair with the drinks, the bar is also releasing new noshes like fried Brussel sprouts with fermented garlic honey and a cheeseburger topped with caramelized onions.

Baltimore Spirits Company Unveils Skeleton Spirit Gin: This Union Collective-based distillery is celebrating the spooky holiday next week by debuting its new Shot Tower Skeleton Spirit Gin—the teams’ first expansion of the popular Shot Tower gin line since they began distilling in 2015. At a 45-percent ABV, Baltimore Spirits Company’s (BSC) second-ever botanical gin is made with ingredients like juniper, eucalyptus, and aloe vera. “We wouldn’t have considered releasing a new gin unless we were sure we had something really special on our hands,” BSC co-founder and CEO Max Lents said in a statement. “We wouldn’t want to compete with Shot Tower Gin, so it had to be something remarkable and different on the gin spectrum.” A dance party at Union on November 1 will celebrate the release, as well as BSC’s fourth anniversary. The celebration will feature a full cocktail bar by Sugarvale, eats by Dooby’s, a costume contest, and live music spun by DJ Cian Noteman.

Idle Hour Featured by Eater: One of the city’s most beloved corner bars—best known for its vinyl nights and walls lined with Chartreuse bottles—received national attention this week when Eater published an excerpt from author Brad Thomas Parsons’ book, Last Call, in which the author interviews bartenders across the country about what they would choose as their last drink. Of course, Idle Hour co-owner Brendan Finnerty chose Chartreuse. “Chartreuse slows you down and warms and loosens you up,” he told Parsons. “If you spend an entire evening sipping on the Green, you find yourself a little bit lighter and a little bit brighter. You tend to float.” Read our review of the South Baltimore staple, here.

EPICUREAN EVENTS

10/24: Chicken and Champagne at Chez Hugo
It might be tough to think about Champagne and fried chicken as one of the world’s greatest food combos, but Chez Hugo’s annual celebration of the two might just change your mind. Settle in at the French bistro to enjoy a special selection of bubbles by the glass or bottle alongside a feast of fried chicken drizzled with Espelette honey or house hot sauce. There will also be fitting sides such as buttermilk biscuits, twice baked potatoes, collard greens, cole slaw, and caviar if you’re feeling bougie.

10/31: Baolloween at Ekiben
Don’t be surprised to see a line of colorfully dressed patrons wrapped around the 1600 block of Eastern Avenue on Halloween next week. Ekiben’s cleverly named “Baolloween” tradition of serving discounted steamed buns and rice bowls to costumed customers will continue starting at 4:30 p.m. on October 31. Diners who show up in costume will receive $1 buns or $4 rice bowls throughout the afternoon, and the rest of the menu will be available at regular price. The tradition is one of many initiatives that Ekiben has launched to engage with the community, the most recent being a recurring pop-up series featuring visiting chefs like Carlos Raba of Clavel and Johnny Spero of Reverie in Washington, D.C.