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| - Finally the beloved Cleveland Bagel Co has its own storefront! While their product is available at many surrounding coffee shops, there's something wonderful about being able to stop in a bagel shop and pick up a dozen mixed variety bagels to enjoy at home.
I was kind of wondering what the store might look like, whether they'd have available seating or it would just sort of bare bones. I ended up being pretty surprised that they had 8 or 9 tables scattered throughout the storefront, with a nice big glass window so you can see the kitchen where they make the bagels. They do make ALL their bagels fresh daily, and they close when they sell out. If you're looking to get a larger order, I would highly recommend calling to place an order ahead of time or coming in early (they open starting at 6:30am). Perhaps after they've been open a few months business will slow down, but as of right now they are selling out daily.
When I came in, they had about 6 varieties, plain, sesame, sea salt, poppy, everything and rosemary. They also have several schmears to choose from in different flavors including cheddar chive, thyme blackpepper horseradish, black garlic, brie honey walnut, plain and chipotle chorizo. Personally, I'm not a huge lover of flavored schmears, but I went ahead and tried the black garlic on an everything bagel regardless. These bagels are quite pricey, $4 for a bagel with schmear, $8 for a half dozen and $14 for a full dozen. I personally don't mind paying a little more because I'm pretty picky about bagels, and there's so few places in Cleveland that have such high quality bagels that are actually made fresh, actually I can't think of a single other place. In any case, just know that these bagels really are done right. They are quite dense, a little spongy, but also hold up really well after toasting. You get the perfect combination of that oh so slighty sourdough-like taste, along with generous flavor toppings like sea salt and rosemary. They are quite a bit smaller than say a Panera bread bagel, but I think they are sized perfectly and always feel full after eating one for breakfast.
They also do have a limited variety of standard beverages including coffee. The coffee they offer is "coffee pot coffee", nothing fancy, but it was decently smooth and strong without being bitter. The black garlic schmear was too sweet for me personally, I was expecting a more pungent garlic taste, but some might like the subtlety of the garlic along with its sweetness. You can also get tubs of the schmears to go if you prefer.
The only snag I ran into was that I was a little surprised that they served my bagel untoasted and with schmear only on one side. It's likely my fault that I didn't specify that I wanted it toasted (they do have toasters on site) so I blame myself for that, but why only put schmear on one side and not give the customer a knife? A little odd, but I'll just be sure to specify next time.
All in all, I'm super excited that Cleveland Bagel Company has it's own storefront now. There is very limited parking, but when I came in I didn't notice any issues with overcrowding. I think it's more convenient to be able to pick up an order of bagels here than downtown, and it's great to be able to support a local business like this one. Will definitely be returning, probably too often!
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