THE CITY TRYING TO MAKE BETTER BAGELS THAN NYC

Looking for a taste of home

via CNN Travel

“In Raleigh, Benchwarmers Bagels is one of a handful of new and expanding shops vying for that market. And in a bit of serendipity, one of its owners, Sam Kirkpatrick, was a bartender on the opening team at Cúrate, Button's Spanish tapas restaurant in Asheville.

It's really exciting to be doing similar things in different ways in different parts of the state," Kirkpatrick said.

Benchwarmers opened in February as part of Raleigh's new Transfer Co. Food Hall and is a spinoff of Boulted Bread, where they grind their own flour and rye with the help of an onsite stone mill. Their bagels incorporate some of that flour and are wood-fired, a slight departure from typical practice.

"We feel like we have a lot of access to some flavor profiles that aren't being explored in the bagel itself," Kirkpatrick said, adding that they're excited to put their own spin on the tried-and-true concept.

"Bagels are so tied to nostalgia and also place that I think that's one reason they haven't been messed with for a long time," he said. "Eventually you long for something for long enough and then you've gotta get after it."“

Read the entire article at CNN here.