Boston bagels are constantly being beat down by people from New York and New Jersey, and I can’t entirely disagree. We Bostonians do a lot of things right — clam chowder, lobster rolls, and cannolis — but bagels just aren't one of them. That is until Brick Street Bagels popped up around the South End, quickly growing into something harder to get than Noah Kahan at Fenway Park.
How did Brick Street Bagels start?
Brick Street Bagels is run by Jordan Renouf, a native of Vermont. He started the company in November of 2022, personally delivering his bagels to customers in Boston. Eventually, the business grew and he turned Brick Street into a popup, taking orders by Instagram DM and having customers pick them up at a set location. Business really took off in the summer of 2023, so much so that bagels would sell out in just a few minutes with eager customers waking to pick up their orders at 8 a.m. at a public park, like Hayes Park in the South End or Medal of Honor Park in South Boston. Since then, Renouf has switched from Instagram DM ordering to using Hotplate. But because Renouf cooks out of a commercial kitchen, he doesn’t have the means to keep up with the demand.
With the attention rising and the weather cooling down, Renouf partnered up with some other businesses to both keep his customers from waiting in line outside and give him access to a kitchen. Not only do these restaurants, which are usually closed in the mornings, give Renouf the space to sell, they also collaborate with Brick Street. Little Donkey Boston and Bar Mezzana have crafted breakfast sandwiches on the bagels, Boston Fish Co. donated lox, and Shy Bird made pizza bagels.
What’s the hype?
Brick Street Bagels sells the classic flavors — plain, everything, and sesame — with a few more unique flavors — asiago and rosemary sea salt. It also sells a variety of rotating cream cheese flavors — plain, scallion, bacon-cheddar-scallion, cinnamon sugar, and dill pickle. You can get them by going to @brick.street.bagels on Instagram and clicking the Hotplate link posted on its story at 4 p.m. EST on Thursdays. Place your order and pick up the bagels at the selected time and location; usually Saturdays for the South End and Sundays for South Boston. There’s no official wait list if you can’t get your order in on time, but sometimes extras are sold towards the end of the pick up time.
In his “best bagels in the country” hunt on TikTok, former star of The Bachelor Matt James said that he waited two months to try Brick Street Bagels and declared them the best bagels in the country. Yes, even better than New York.
I think the hype is that it’s a true homemade bagel and not one mass-produced. We can all agree that a crunchy exterior and a soft inside makes the best bagel, but that just doesn’t last for cafes or bakeries that make large amounts. In his video, James demonstrated that the inside of the bagel was so soft he was able to cut it in half with a plastic fork.
It’s obvious that with the attention and demand, Renouf would have to get a storefront and upsize to maximize his business. But, he says that he hopes to create a brick-and-mortar store in order to preserve the quality of the bagels.