Brooklyn-approved bagels find home in Berkeley
A new bagel shop with bagels said to rival New York's best has opened in Berkeley.
Bageltopia made its brickand-mortar debut a mile west of the hungry student throngs of UC Berkeley. Co-founder Dan Graf grew up in New Jersey and worked at Saul's in North Berkeley, where he perfected a homegrown formula for East Coaststyle bagels. Part of his magic process: He lets the dough coldproof and ferment for four days before boiling and baking. And he lines his baking trays with a special linen to form a crisp, glossy crust with a supremely chewy interior.
The other co-founders of Bageltopia are Jeff Davis,of Berkeley's Fellini Coffeebar, and Mike Daillak of Sam's Log Cabin in Albany.
For several years, Graf had sold his bagels wholesale to restaurants and Peet's and Philz coffee shops under the business name of Baron's Baking. In 2012, the New York Times took note of his delectable products in a feature titled “In the Bay Area, Bagels as Good as Brooklyn's.” Here's part of that story by journalist and cookbook author Joan Nathan:
“Mr. Graf boils his bagels in a lye water sodium hydroxide solution, which makes the outside sticky, allowing toppings to adhere better… Rather than adding honey or malt to the water, which some purists think is the secret to a good bagel, Mr. Graf boils his bagels in heavily salted water. The result: perfectly seasoned, brown, crusty, chewy bagels.”
At Bageltopia, the bagels include plain, poppy, sesame, onion, everything, salt, fennel and salt (one of a few seasonal specials) and a cinnamon-raisin hand roll ($2.50 each, plus $1 for cinnamon raisin). These