Today's Takeout Pick: Bagelshop

Much of the restaurant industry had to rapidly change its business model due to COVID-19, and we’re highlighting the Nashville places that are attempting to stay open. As we hang out here in Phase 2.0, we’re continuing to give you a critic’s pick for a restaurant and a dish, as well as a running list of restaurants offering takeout and delivery that you can support. Today: Bagelshop.

It will surprise absolutely no one that I am a purist when it comes to bagels.

When I learned that Bagelshop, a new bagel bakery, was offering free home delivery of the iconic round doughy ring, I did some sleuthing. I found a social media post where co-owner Max Palmer excoriated the non-boiled bagel. This is correct. They’re boiled in malt syrup, or they don’t even count. First test: ✓

Next, I went to their website and perused the varieties. Everything, plain, poppy seed, sesame and salt. Nothing frou-frou like a blueberry-ginger “bagel” or a chocolate cranberry walnut “bagel.” Second test: ✓

I ordered half-a-dozen bagels ($18) and cream cheese ($7) delivered to my house. Most weeks Bagelshop has a specialty cream cheese flavor, always hand-whipped, like a peach concoction with Peach Truck peaches or jalapeño cheese. But again, I am a bagel purist, so plain cream cheese, please. OK: ✓

Max and his wife Kayla are running Bagelshop on their own, so when you place your order you get a time range when they will be delivered to you fresh. If you have a specific day you need bagels (I didn’t), you can indicate that, but it is usually two-to-four days in advance. Sometimes they sell out, in which case, try again the next day.

When the bagels arrived, I got a text that they were sitting contactless on my porch, in a bag with the brand’s signature “Thanks a Lox” stamp, which makes me laugh aloud each time I read it. Again: ✓

I tore open a poppy-seed bagel and it was legit. Personally, I might prefer my bagels a tiny bit chewier and less bready, but there’s no denying this is the real deal. Max and Kayla hand-cut and hand-boil and bake each bagel, and you can tell by looking at them, there’s no cookie-cutter shaping going on.

Max is a nice Jewish boy from Jackson, Miss., and didn’t initially set out to make a New York-style bagel in Nashville. He has been pleased with the response the couple has received since starting the business in January 2020, an interesting time to start a new business, particularly with a newborn. They’ve made some mistakes, sure, realizing early on, for example, that instant yeast wasn’t giving them the rise they wanted. “No one wants a flat bagel,” Max deadpans.

So now they let things rise slowly in the Citizen Incubator Kitchens location in East Nashville and sell the bagels a number of places, including upstairs at Citizen Market (at 975 Main St.) and through various wholesale accounts. They’re the bagelmakers to Union Teller, the deli-esque eatery in The Fairlane hotel, and their bagels are soon to come to a local coffee shop near you. They do pop-ups, including a bagels-and-bouquets event at The Getalong on Fatherland in East Nashville and at the Richland Park Farmers Market. The East Nashville Farmers Market will likely be added soon.

At Citizen Market you can pick up a single bagel or a sandwich topped with bacon, egg and cheese; or lox, cream cheese, egg, caper and red onion (the second being the purist pick). And single bagels are available at the pop-ups. But the majority of their business comes from delivery orders.

In the early days of their new business, they were taking orders via email and through Instagram, with payment via Venmo, but now orders go through the website and Square and are as easy as spreading that whipped (but not too fluffy ✓) cream cheese on your bagel.

In the future, the Palmers may look at opening a brick-and-mortar shop and expanding into some other Jewish baked goods. They’ve already played around with a peach babka and curing their own lox. Following them on Instagram is a good way to keep in the loop on the pop-ups and special dishes.

Delivery is limited to bagels in half-dozen and dozen increments, and they freeze well (thaw in a convection oven or a conventional oven at 350 degrees, Max suggests). Having a bunch of decent boiled bagels in your freezer during this annus horribilis is the kind of lockdown prep I fully endorse.

Below is a list of Nashville restaurants (with links) that are open for takeout and delivery. While some may have had existing relationships with delivery providers, many of this list are offering the service for the first time. Most offer curbside pickup, but check when you order. Many may also have outdoor dining. As this list is a moving target, please leave any changes, suggestions or omissions in the comments.

Margaret Littman

Places with takeout or delivery as of Thursday, July 23

Margaret Littman

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