It's very kosher

Beloved Houston bagel shop rolls out second location in Bellaire

Houston’s newest bagel shop opens this week. The Bagel Shop Bakery, a sister location to the 45-year old Meyerland original, will begin service on Wednesday, December 30.

Located in a former pawn shop/drug store at 5422 Bellaire Blvd., the new Bagel Shop Bakery is one of three concepts that manager Michael Saghian is opening in the space. Houston Catering Concepts has already begun operating on premises, while a second location of the bakery’s companion New York Deli and Coffee Shop — both of which are co-owned by Saghian — will debut in late spring/early summer 2021.

While Saghian goes to great lengths to emphasize that nothing about the original location of the bagel shop is changing, the new outpost will offer a substantially different experience. For the first time, diners will have the option to purchase bagel sandwiches and other prepared items that can be taken to-go or consumed on a 40-seat patio.

“The biggest thing for us is the bagel shop has been around for 45 years,” Saghian tells CultureMap. “We want to take the warmth and the memories and the meaning behind who we are and open this location with all of that, but offering elevated sandwiches, giving a part of our community the opportunity to eat our bagels, bringing in the old and the new, and continue building on the multi-generational families that come in.”

To help realize that vision, the bagel shop turned to consulting chefs Matt Marcus and Roshni Gurnani, a Chopped champion who will also serve as the executive chef of the deli when it opens later this year. Taking inspiration from both Marcus’ lifetime of eating at the original location and modern Jewish concepts such as New York restaurants Russ & Daughters and Sadelle’s, the duo have crafted a fully kosher of both dairy and pareve (neither milk nor meat) dishes that meet the ultra-stringent standards of the Mehadrin Kashrus of Texas (better known as MKT).

Adhering to this standard, which is compliant with the dietary practices observed by ultra-Orthodox Jews, comes with a whole set of procedures that must be followed and products that must be used. For example, all ingredients must be checked in over video chat with one of the supervising rabbis. Additionally, the cream cheese used on prepared sandwiches comes from a MKT-approved producer and is different than the cream cheese the bagel shop makes and sells for retail-style to-go.

For those who either don’t keep kosher, the most practical manifestation of following those rules will be that the bagel shop will not serve any meat products. That means Marcus and Gurnani had to get creative to develop non-meat containing takes on classic sandwiches and starters such as matzo ball soup.

“We’re taking the traditional Jewish recipes and being able to offer them in a vegan environment. It’s elevating that menu, offering a lox and bagel and making it a wow factor,” Gurnani says.

In addition to bagels and lox, the menu includes a breakfast sandwich with a fried egg, cheddar cheese, and vegetables. Avocado toast is present and accounted for, along with a pizza bagel that can be topped with cheese or vegetables. Some of the more creative options include a housemade falafel burger, a pastrami salmon Reuben sandwich, and latkes topped with smoked salmon. Both dairy and pareve desserts will be available, which means observant Jews can enjoy a cake pop after a meaty meal. A full lineup of coffee and espresso beverages will provide customers with their daily caffeine fix.

“We’re hoping to do modern takes on Jewish food,” Marcus says. “It’s going to be something really cool and really special for the city.”

Those efforts at updating classics will continue in the new coffee shop and deli, which will seat 300 people in a massive, 5,000-square foot space. Saghian offers a few hints, including deli meats that are smoked onsite, tableside sliced nova and lox, and a full liquor license with cocktails. Construction on the space is currently underway, with the goal of opening around May. Unlike the bagel shop, it will not be kosher, so diners will be able to order a bacon cheeseburger. It aims to continue to raise the game for deli-style eating in Houston.

“We’re bringing new recipes to the deli, bringing new ways to present these things,” Gurnani says. “That’s where we’re going from here. Everything will be scratch-made. That’s my forte.”

Try a pizza bagel.

Courtesy of The Bagel Shop Bakery

Try a pizza bagel.

news-you-can-eat openings

he finished the job

Houston chef Tristen Epps dishes on his Top Chef victory — and what's next

Photo by David Moir/Bravo

Kristen Kish, Tristen Epps, Gail Simmons, and Tom Colicchio.

Houston has played a leading role in America’s culinary scene, but the city has never been home to a Top Chef winner — until last night. In the final episode of season 22, chef Tristen Epps earned the title and a $250,000 cash prize.

Epps secured his victory by remaining true to the Afro-Caribbean cuisine that helped him secured an impressive four Elimination Challenge wins and $35,000 in additional prize money from two Quickfire wins and as a member of the team that won the show’s signature Restaurant Wars challenge. His four-course menu took a panel of celebrity judges on a journey that also referenced the finale location of Milan, Italy.

In particular, Epps wowed the panel with his second course — Chicken “Durango” with injera shrimp toast and shellfish jus — that referenced both the Ethiopian chicken stew doro wat and the Italian dish pollo durango, a sly nod to the history of imperialism between the two countries. He finished his savory offerings with Oxtail Milanese Crepinette with Carolina Gold rice grits, curry butter, and bone marrow gremolata, which earned praised from the panel.

“Historically, we’ve been underserved oxtail,” Top Chef alum and James Beard Award winner Gregory Gourdet said during the episode. “Tristen took the time to pull it, create that beautiful, huge, maybe too big, portion of oxtail. And cover it with that gremolata. He did not forget the bone marrow. That’s very, very smart.”

Throughout Top Chef’s run, Epps has been holding a series of pop-ups devoted to everything from hot dogs to steakhouses. Now, he can turn his attention to Buboy, a tasting menu concept that will celebrate the Afro-Caribbean cuisine he championed throughout his time on the show.

CultureMap caught up with Epps on Friday morning for a brief chat about his victory and what’s next.

CultureMap: What do you remember from the day you cooked that final dinner?
Tristen Epps: It was an extreme amount of focus. A lot of writing in my notebook. I didn’t want to laugh. I didn’t want to cry or do anything except finish the job, regardless of whatever the outcome would have been. I remember wanting to call my mom. I really wanted to talk things out so I could calm myself down and stay within my focus. Once I got into cooking, I felt so much at ease. It’s my happy place. It’s my serenity.

CM: How did you feel when you saw Gregory Gourdet on the panel? Did you feel like you had an advocate in the room?
TE: I’ve cooked with gregory before, a long time ago. It was really fun. I loved what he was doing.

I felt like I had kind of an advocate. I was worried my food wold be too spicy or too overpowering [for the European chefs]. Seeing Gregory was really good, especially with what I was doing.

CM: Other chefs, including Gregory Gourdet and Houston chef Dawn Burrell, have done well on the show with Afro-Caribbean cuisine but they didn’t win. How important was it to you to finish the job and use those flavors to win the title?
TE: To me that was super important. There’s adventurous people who make phenomenal food. They’ll go once because it’s interesting, bu they’re usually skeptical. When you don’t nail it, they say, that’s why I go to the regular places that are familiar.

Finishing the job was really important to me. People have come up short on this. I wanted to get this right for everyone who’s made that step forward and created the ladder.

CM: What have your last 12 hours been like since the episode aired? Have any celebrities reached out to you?
TE: A lot of calls, a lot of good luck. A lot of everything. It’s been amazing.

A lot of past Top Chef winners reached out to me, giving me a lot of support and telling me what they did after they won.

[ESPN football commentator] Mina Kimes did, which was really cool.

CM: What are your plans for the prize money?
TE: It’s going to go to Buboy. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, it can go a little faster.

CM: You’ve been holding a series of pop-ups that range from tasting menus to hot dogs? What’s next?
TE: Part of getting the restaurant open has been introducing myself to all of Houston. These pop-ups represent my interests and my fun. They’re the things that Buboy is going to represent. It can be fun, it can be a conversation, it can be educational, it can push the limits of cuisines we know. It’s an expression of culture in whatever way I see fit that day.

The hot dog concept will probably be a separate venture, but who’s to say there’s not a hot dog at the end of that meal?

Photo by David Moir/Bravo

Kristen Kish, Tristen Epps, Gail Simmons, and Tom Colicchio.

chefs interview q&a top chef tristen epps