By DCist contributor Carmen Drahl
The first time pickle purveyor Yi Wah Roberts tried to to buy a fresh-baked bagel from Chad Breckinridge at the Four Mile Run Farmers’ Market, the goods were all sold out. Fast forward to this week, when Roberts and Breckinridge are hand-forming bagels side-by-side in a Del Ray storefront and they’re still selling out before closing time.
Welcome to Salt | Bagel (2310 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria), the latest pop-up collaboration between local food producers. Every day through February 26, the pop-up will offer bagels from Bagel Uprising (Breckinridge’s business), an assortment of pickled foods from Number 1 Sons, along with spreads and sandwiches. The pop-up took over the space occupied by The Dairy Godmother frozen custard shop, which is up for sale after 17 years in business.
Breckinridge has been baking bagels for about a year and a half, while also working full-time at the Federal Communications Commission.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned,” he says, “it’s that there’s a pent-up demand for the bagel around here.”
Come to nosh on the classics, like plain, salt, sesame, poppyseed, and everything bagels. They’re $1.51 each for plain or $3.50 with flavored cream cheese. A half-dozen bagels runs $9.03. There’s also lox and cream cheese. If you come in the mood to branch out a little, you’ll find things like cider masala beets, vegan sandwich options, and kale-chi (co-founder Caitlin Roberts describes as a milder kimchi).
The big crowd-pleaser is the savory Dill Ray ($8.87), an everything bagel with lox, pickled onion, sprouts, and dill cream cheese with Number 1 Sons spices. Its sweet counterpart is the Oasis ($5.91), a sesame bagel with honey, nuts, and a spread with goat cheese from FireFly Farms, a fellow farmers’ market vendor. Caffeine fixes like tea and coffee are available free of charge, though tips for the staff are encouraged.
The team toyed with a few fancy pop-up concepts, according to Roberts, but in the end he’s glad they went low-key. Their setup allows them to tinker, whether it’s lining the oven with tiles so it’s better at heating to bagel-baking temperatures, or offering a za’atar bagel, which Breckinridge admits he was reluctant to try at first. “It feels like we’re still at the farmers’ market, in a good way,” Roberts says.
Fans of a toasted bagel should note that’s not an option here (it’s a quirk of the space). And it’s hard to convince this writer that a legit bagelry can exist without New Jersey’s own Taylor pork roll on offer. But Salt | Bagel’s wares do the job. They are more than worth venturing outside your comfort zone.
As for what’s next, there are no hard-and-fast plans.
“My number one goal is to have this be fun and not lose money at it,” Breckinridge says. “By that measure, we’re succeeding. And if anything more comes, that’s gravy.”
Salt | Bagel (2310 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria) is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays, and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends, or until items sell out.
