It was around this time last year that we collectively mourned the fact that the District just doesn’t have very many good bagel shops. Spare the few options most of us could name off the tops of our heads, we realized that within the confines of the city, there seemed to be a relative paucity of bagel providers. And now, a year later, we add one more bagelry to the list, and it’s in an unexpected location.

The Common Denominator is reporting this week on East River Bagel Inc., a small, drive-through bagel shop on Minnesota Avenue in Northeast. Started as a franchise of Chesapeake Bagel Bakery in 1995, owners Capel and Shirley Green last year went independent, lopping the “Chesapeake” off the storefront and creating what is now known simply as the Bagel Bakery. The bakery — which will soon become Café Jamerica and Bagel Bakery — also offers wholesale and catering services, providing some of the District’s biggest downtown hotels with their daily dose of bagels. Of course, the business doesn’t run itself, especially in a neighborhood that is largely African American:

“Bagels are not a well-known product in the black community,” Green said. “Some people are older and they don’t have strong teeth, so that’s why I brought bread in.”

We’ll be trying this place out, that’s for sure. And consider this an inspiration, young District entrepreneurs. There are far too few bagel shops in these parts, and those that exist, well, they just suck (yes, Bagels & Baguettes, this means you). Take after the Greens and start one up.

The Bagel Bakery is located at 3839 Minnesota Ave, NE.