New school bagels at Knead
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
We're in the midst of a bagel boom.
Maria Pouchnikova
Washington Square's new-school bagelry, Knead Bagels, has been open for only a couple months, but chef-partner Adam Willner has been crafting the titular baked good for years. "I was working at Matyson and was tasked with creating a brunch menu," says Willner, who owns Knead with his wife and business partner, Cheri Willner. "Whenever I'm planning a menu, I start from a perspective of what I want to eat — and bagels have always been one of my favorites." They were a hit at Matyson's brunch, and as he continued to perfect the recipe over the years, the idea blossomed to spin off the bagels into their own business.
With Chestnut Street Philly Bagels and Fishtown's Philly Style Bagels pop-up, plus worthy specimens from High Street and Kermit's, we're in the midst of a bagel boom. With so much out-of-the-blue competition, Knead distinguishes itself with inventive flavors, "creating a synergy between the bagel and the spread," like fennel-seed-and-sea-salt bagel with roasted tomato cream cheese and pastrami-spiced bagel with smoked chopped liver spread.
The concept is really clever and relevant, but some items would benefit from subtle tweaks. I'd like stronger heat and funk in the kimchi cream cheese (done with housemade kimchi) and a thicker coat of black sesame seeds on the bagel with which it's paired. I loved the aromatic notes of cumin and cinnamon woven through the Moroccan-spiced apricot bagel, but there were too few pieces of dried fruit inside to have much impact.
My favorite of Knead's 10 flavors is the togarashi, which on one sleepy morning forced me awake with its fragrant, stinging heat. Or was it the toasty Elixir coffee, which the bakery brews as well as uses as rub for an awesome roasted pork tenderloin sandwich with crunchy celery root slaw and smoked Gouda pimento spread?
Willner pairs the togarashi bagel with tangy scallion-lime cream cheese, and I took the initiative to slip a patty of housemade sausage and scrambled eggs inside. Soft and creamy, the eggs really took me by surprise. "Most bagel places just microwave their eggs for sandwiches," Willner laments. Not at Knead, where they're scrambled, ever so gently, on the griddle.
Knead Bagels | 725 Walnut St., 267-519-9920, kneadbagels.com. Tue.-Fri., 6:30 a.m.-2 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 8 a.m.-2 p.m. $1.50-$13.
