Foodie Friday: Bagel Bakery Cafe
SALISBURY, Md. – Even if you’ve never been to the Bagel Bakery Cafe, there’s a good chance that you may have had one of their bagels before. The eatery has been around for decades, and provides hand made bagels to local vendors by the hundreds each day.
Bagel Masters
And when you do pay a visit in person, you’ll be treated like a repeat customer, because you’re sure to become one. “We are blessed to have great customers, and great support from the local community,” owner Kenny Soni told the Foodie Friday team with a smile. “We have customers who come in here for more than 20 years. They come every day. If you come in at 7 o’clock in the morning, the whole place will be full.”
Making up to a thousand bagels fresh every single day is no easy task; especially when you offer up any bagel lover’s fair share of flavors. But the team has it down to a science.
“Bagels are one of the purest foods. No preservatives, no chemicals, nothing. It only has flour, water, yeast, salt, and sugar,” Soni explained. “We hold certain standards, that each product is within a certain weight limit. If it’s anything less than that, we’ll reject it.”
“Layers of fresh ingredients”
Also on the menu: a variety of satisfying sandwiches, like the turkey bacon cranberry.
“We know we love cross sections here on Foodie Friday. This is definitely a top tier cross section here,” Foodie Friday Host Hannah Cechini said, holding up the stacked sandwich. “It’s just layers, and layers, and layers of fresh ingredients, and good flavors. The focaccia is really awesome, and has these kind of herby notes to it.”
“I definitely appreciate how the cranberry seems to have just found all the little nooks and crannies in the focaccia,” Foodie Photog Mike agreed. “That cranberry sauce really rounds out all the lovely, fresh veggie flavors, like the red onion, the tomato.”
Crabby Customer Favorite
But, it’s when the bagels get a little dressed up, that a visit to this establishment turns into something truly special. Take the crab dip bagel for example; it starts as a humble plain bagel. After a generous dollop of cream cheese and crab dip, a handful of shredded cheese, and a trip thrice through the oven, you’re looking at a whole new level of deliciousness.
“It makes me really happy when somebody eats it, and they really feel happy about it,” Soni said about the customer favorite.
Happy might be an understatement. “It is so delicious,” Hannah said. “The crab dip is excellent. There’s really nice chunks of crab meat in it. The cheese that’s melted over top of it is holding that crab onto the bagel. It’s just so wonderfully melted, and warm, and stretchy. Just so good.”
“The cheese on top is so transformed and caramelized,” added Mike. “For having gone through the toaster, it really is staying together rather well. I think that’s an impressive feat when you’re talking about something like crab dip.”
A Taste of Home
Now, of course we have to talk about the actual bagel.
“I think it’s hard to find a good bagel on Delmarva. I might be a little spoiled, hailing from New Jersey originally. But, this tastes like a bagel that I would get at my hometown bagel shop,” Hannah opined. “The other important thing, I think, is a hometown bagel shop needs to have a welcoming, friendly atmosphere. And, it’s so obvious here that they have that down to a T. They know their customers, and they know what makes them happy.”
Bagel Bakery Cafe
Bagel Bakery Cafe is located at 1006 South Salisbury Boulevard, Salisbury, Md. You can call them at 410-543-8249. If you go to check it out, tell the team that you saw them on Foodie Friday.
