New ‘Kid’ on the block
Stoop Kid, a new addition to The Churchill in Phoenix, offers a taste of the East Coast
Stoop Kid, a new bagel and burger destination, brings a taste of New York City to The Churchill in downtown Phoenix.
A simple bagel can bring out unexpectedly strong opinions, particularly in those who have an affinity for the Big Apple.
To illustrate, when New Yorkers saw Mayor Bill de Blasio tweet that his standard bagel order included the word “toasted,” he received so much backlash that he deleted the tweet, removed the offending word and pretended it never happened.
Despite the fact Phoenix is more than 2,000 miles away from New York City, it seems New York-style bagel passion is percolating west this year with owner Steve McMillen’s new addition to The Churchill: Stoop Kid.
McMillen is born and raised in Phoenix, but travels to the East Coast got him hooked on bagel sandwiches like those often found at New York corner delis. They were also a favorite food from his childhood.
“I was a latchkey kid that would come home, and for some reason that was my go-to meal,” McMillen said. “It’s what I like to eat.”
Who makes the bagels served at Stoop Kid?
Stoop Kid is McMillen’s first kitchen, but he has years of food and beverage experience around the Valley. He coowns Berdena’s coffee shop in Old Town Scottsdale and has worked as a manager at Ocotillo, Kream Coffee and Maverick Coffee.
A New York-style bagel sandwich needs a New York-style bagel, and at Stoop Kid, the bagels are provided by chef Charlie Blonkenfeld’s new bagel business Bagelfeld’s. Brooklyn-born Blonkenfeld, a chef with a resume that includes time at The Phoenician resort, launched the business this year after turning to bagel-making during the pandemic.
McMillen heard from Blonkenfeld about his new bagel venture, and they decided to work together and “collaboratively came out with something real solid.”
“He’s like a bagel scientist,” McMillen said.
Even though Stoop Kid just opened this month, it’s already popular enough to sell out 100 bagels in two hours on a Sunday morning.
“I’ve been a little overwhelmed...it’s catching on quick,” McMillen said
Here’s what’s on the Stoop Kid menu
The menu at Stoop Kid is limited to two bagel sandwich options for breakfast, one that contains meat and the other veggies. The bagel sandwich called the Money Shot consists of spicy bacon jam schmear, marinated tomato, scrambled egg, cheddar cheese and a hash cake on an Asiago bagel. Schmear, borrowed from Yiddish, is used to refer to cream cheese spread.
The Yam and Cheese is the veggie option, with red pepper romesco cream cheese, chili-glazed sweet potato, sprouts, tomato, cucumber and avocado on an egg bagel.
For those interested in just a bagel, they are available with house-made cream cheese flavors such as honey butter and spicy bacon jam. There’s also a vegan “cream cheese” option.
At 11 a.m., two burgers on buns (not bagels) become available on the Stoop Kid menu, the Stoop Burger and the Pobrecito. The Stoop Burger is a double beef burger with cheddar, caramelized onion, pickles and dijonaise while the
Pobrecito is a single beef patty with American cheese, diced pickle, onion, ketchup and mustard.
The Pobrecito is meant to be “a replica of a quarter-pounder with cheese,” McMillen said, and more of an “affordable, everyday burger.”
Stoop Kid will also feature a coffee menu in the future when they receive the equipment, but it will likely arrive soon, McMillen said. Other drinks currently available include RC Cola and Big Marble Ginger Beer and other “goofy stuff like Yoo-hoo.”
The restaurant is in the space in The Churchill formerly occupied by Commander Hamburger. Customers can order bagels from the window on N. 1st Street before the open-air seating inside The Churchill opens at 11 a.m.
Why you must try the bagel sandwiches
On the first weekend Stoop Kid opened in November, diners were waiting in line and eager to order breakfast at the window. On Sunday morning, the second day the restaurant was officially open, the veggie bagel sandwich option was sold out for the day, so I went with the Money Shot.
These bagels are made in Arizona, but they could fool even the most seasoned East Coast bagel fan into thinking they were made in Manhattan. The outside of the hand-rolled Asiago bagel has a golden shine. Bagelfeld’s hits the mark of a New York-style bagel with a soft, airy interior that isn’t too doughy, and an exterior that provides just the right amount of crunch and chew.
This sandwich is stacked high with egg, tomato, cheese, cream cheese and what’s called a “hash cake,” which is pure fried potato magic. The thin potato cake is grilled with butter that gets crispy on the edges, complementing the crunch of the Asiago cheese on the outside of the bagel.
Does Stoop Kid remind me of an East Coast breakfast bagel sandwich? Not really. And not just because the bagel sandwiches at Stoop Kid are not cut in half, a New York deli signature. Rather it’s because McMillen has created something new and different with a West Coast spin that I would come back for any day of the week.
I returned at lunchtime to get a Stoop Burger, and it was worth the splurge. The burger is juicy and packs intense flavor from the caramelized onions and dijonaise. The brioche bun stood up to the burger and cheddar cheese grease just fine and didn’t become a soggy mess.
It’s a manageable sized burger that is substantial, but not over-the-top. McMillen wanted the burger to be different than other “West Coast” burgers with lettuce and tomato and more of a “butter burger...with a focus on the fat and the grease.”
The solid burger offering shows Stoop Kid can get it done for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If the opening weekend is any indication, bagels and burgers have a bright future in downtown Phoenix.
Stoop Kid
Where:
Phoenix.
Offerings: burgers.
Price: Money Shot $9.50; Stoop Burger $9.50.
Hours: Tuesday-Sunday p.m. Closed Monday.
Details: getstoopkid.com.
The Churchill, 901 N. 1st St,
Bagel
sandwiches
8
and
a.m.-8