Isaac’s Bagels sell out for a reason. Why their taste makes the Triangle feel like home
This story is part of The News & Observer’s new Tasty Triangle series.
Here’s the math. On Saturday morning, Isaac Henrion and his team brought roughly 1,600 bagels to the Durham Farmers Market. They started selling at 8 a.m.
At any moment over the next three hours, the line approaching their stand was about seven to 10 patrons deep. It moved at a brisk pace, as the menu options were simple: seven flavors of bagels, six types of cream cheese. Each bagel cost $2.50. Baker’s dozens were $24.
By 11:07 a.m., the bagels were sold out. That’s eight purchased every minute, on average.
Henrion, 30, is now accustomed to not having any leftover bagels. What began as a pandemic-era project in his home kitchen is now the trendiest bagel in the Triangle.
“We just keep trying to grow organically every week,” Henrion said. “We try to make a little bit more. We try to make them a little bit better.”
The community’s appetite for Isaac’s Bagels surely reflects that many lifelong Southerners appreciate no-frills, New York-style bagels, along with their barbecue and Cheerwine. But it also exemplifies an obvious demographics shift — that thousands of bagel-appreciating northerners (like me) have brought their taste buds to the Triangle.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 365,000 New Yorkers moved to North Carolina between 2006 to 2019, with a net migration of 218,200 people in North Carolina’s favor.
That includes me, as I relocated from the Big Apple to Asheville four years ago. Asheville had a lot to offer: bears, beards, breweries, the Biltmore, but good bagels it did not. Coming over to the Triangle last summer, I again found local bagel options lacking. Benchwarmers Bagels in Raleigh’s Transfer Food Hall tends to top “Best Bagels in North Carolina” rankings, but it’s a schlep from my place in Durham.
Henrion, who grew up in the United Kingdom but spent time in New York City in his 20s, saw a void that could be filled with his New York-style bagels.
“Classic stuff that people like, and just try to focus really hard on that,” Henrion said as customers cycled through the line. “Right now, we just have bagels and cream cheese. It’s not crazy.”
How Isaac’s Bagels are made
Isaac’s Bagels comes down to three basic steps: boil, season and bake. Old over bold. Hand-rolled and water boiled rather than machine-made and steamed.
Inside a Durham commissary kitchen, the team, including Henrion, his wife, Karly, and a crew of bakers, sinks rolled dough into kettles of boiling water darkened with malt syrup. Henrion says that gives the finished product a subtle maltiness and shine. The dough is then coated on all sides with seeds: poppy, sesame, onion, salt and pepper, everything or cinnamon raisin, before the dough is chilled for two days. This allows the bagels to ferment before they’re baked into rings of flaky, chewy, airy delightfulness.
Yes, I’m a fan. The outer layers feel distinct, a crispy barrier to the textures inside. The cream cheese flavors are fun, though I am not. I stuck to plain and dill scallion, while the other flavors are burnt jalapeño, fig honey, Sichuan chili, and lox capers.
When discussing New York and bagels, the subtext is Jewish culture. Bagels originated in the shtetls of Poland and have remain intertwined with delicatessen fare. Good bagels were ubiquitous growing up. The population of my Rochester, New York suburb was about 30% Jewish (me included.) We had the Bagel Bin, Bagel Land, plus Brownstein’s Deli within walking distance.
That North Carolina had a relative dearth of these types of establishments felt unfamiliar.
But the Jewish population in the state has been growing. According to the Institute of Southern Jewish Life, there were around 10,000 North Carolina Jews in 1960. By 2011, that figure had tripled. Data from Jewish Heritage North Carolina suggests there were as many as 45,000 Jews in the state by 2019.
In addition to the Saturday market, customers can pre-order fresh Isaac’s Bagels for home delivery (Durham locations only) or for pick-up at the Jewish Community Center. Frozen bagels are available all week at the Durham Co-op Market.
By the end of the year, Isaac’s Bagels expects to open its first brick and mortar store at 1003 W. Chapel Hill St., where it’ll sell popular bagels and schmears.
“When we open the shop, we’re going to have a lot of stuff that fits within that cuisine,” said Henrion, who is not Jewish himself. “Because we’re focused very much on treating it like a cuisine that we’re trying to honor the best we can, I think that resonates with a lot of Jewish people who are our customers.”
To me, that will make Durham feel more like home.
Details
Isaac’s Bagels can be bought at the Durham Farmers Market on Saturday; for delivery or pickup on Sundays; or sliced and frozen at the Durham Co-Op Market during the week. Go to isaacsbagels.com for details.
Tasty Triangle
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