Now, that’s a bagel.Whenever I’ve lived in a place for a while, the time inevitably
comes when I feel like there’s a key food option that I’m missing. I have
plenty of favorites when it comes to restaurants, but for everyday, a quick
breakfast or take-out lunch that offers a restaurant level of satisfaction
without the usual cost or commitment of dining out, I suddenly find myself at a
loss for what to eat. Most normal people would fill this dietary gap by going
to the grocery store, purchasing selected items and combining them at home to
create a meal-you know, cooking. But for me, it’s far preferable for someone
else to come up with what I didn’t know I wanted, prepare it far better than I
ever could and spare me the pain and, ultimately, disappointment in my
inability to properly feed myself.
Enter the Bagel Stop. Less than a week after my first visit, I can
already tell that it is the antidote for that creeping indecision at mealtime.
Pretty much everything here appeals, and it goes way beyond just bagels.
Offerings range from breakfast sandwiches and baked goods to gourmet deli
sandwiches, soups and salads, as well as a full catering operation for anything
from picnics to weddings. Closing at 3 p.m. daily, there’s no eat-in option for
dinner, but a rotating line-up of take-home meals is available. It’s sold as
dinner for two at $22, but is probably enough for four.
On the surface, nothing exceptional jumps out about the Bagel
Stop. The space, near Erickson’s on Greenwood Avenue, is modest with a few
tables inside and out, a simple, checkered linoleum floor and service counter.
The menu is filled with seemingly standard deli options, as well as a few less
common combos, but nothing out of the ordinary at first glance. The dazzle in
the food at the Bagel Stop lies almost entirely in the quality of the
ingredients and the care with which they were made.
Owners Dave Flier and David Cohen, who bought the Bagel Stop two
years ago, are both culinary school grads, so nearly everything is made in
house from scratch. From fresh-ground peanut butter, house-smoked and roasted
meats from local distributors like Carlton Farms and Cascade Natural Beef,
baked treats like berry cobbler bars and banana bread and, of course, around 15
different kinds of traditionally boiled and baked bagels ranging from common
ones like onion and sesame to signature flavors like bacon, swiss and onion and
asiago. Cream cheese options read like a fine-dining menu: lox, pesto, honey
vanilla, horseradish, black olive and green onion, artichoke asiago to name a
few.
Favorite breakfast specialty sandwiches include the Clogger ($5),
a pile of crispy bacon, fresh tomato slices, avocado, red onion and cream
cheese on a bagel. For lunch, the Royal Reuben ($8) with thick-cut
house-braised corned beef, swiss cheese, sauerkraut and 1,000 island dressing
on rye was one of the best reubens I’ve ever had, and I’m from Brooklyn. One of
the greatest things about the house-braising process is that the leftover broth
serves as the base for a creamy, juniper-tinged Irish Potato soup with bits of
corned beef and chunks of potato ($3 cup/$5 bowl).
Everything
is reasonably priced with nothing reaching the $10 mark, but if you’re looking
for a real deal, the Cheap Eats menu includes bargains like the quiche of the
day for $3, a $2 house-made PB&J and a breakfast burrito for $4.50. Or just
grab a bagel for a dollar. It doesn’t get cheaper, simpler or tastier than
that.
The Bagel Stop
661 NE Greenwood Ave, 318-8177
Mon-Sat, 7am-3pm
This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 5, 2009.
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Here, here! Good review. I love the Bagel Stop and am always impressed with their fluffy, flavorful bagels! Honestly the best in town if you ask me, and I am a frequent bagel-eater 10 year Bend resident. The sandwiches I’ve had there are packed with all the good stuff I could want, too. I can’t imagine how the Bagel Stop could be better…except, I suppose…perhaps if they were to set up another shop next door to my house. 🙂