Founded by New York City firefighter Brian Bonsignore and NYC teacher Christine Cheffo, the Original Famous Bagel Dock Cafe of Calabash has become famous for its painstakingly authentic New York bagels.
After coming south, the team behind the bagel shop decided what the area needed was the bagels they’d grown up with in New York.
“We said, Let’s take this south,” Brian Bonsignore told What Now on Wednesday. “But the problem was the water. So I took a sample of the water in Queens, where our baker Billy is from, and I brought it to a chemist and said, How do we make this? He knew right away it was from New York; it had all the right minerals and was clean. We said, Can we do this in North Carolina?”
The answer was yes, for a price. And so the Original Famous Bagel Dock Cafe developed a roughly $20,000 system for its water, Bonsignore says. Then came the dough. Over time, New York has come to rely on bromated flour for its chewiness—although a ban of potassium bromate is looming in the state, due to its links to cancer, which may soon shake up the pizza and bagel industry in the city of pizza and bagels. Bonsignore next had to develop a flour that would produce a similar effect to the one created by potassium bromate. Finally, bring the water, the flour, and a high-quality malt together, and you’ve got the Original Famous Bagel Dock Cafe of Calabash’s bagel recipe.
Next year, South Carolina will be getting a taste of these smash-hit bagels, as the team is now at work creating the Original Famous Bagel Dock Cafe of Surfside Beach. It’s opening at 2016 Highway 17 S in Surfside Beach in 2027.
“We anticipate an early spring opening and are looking forward to serving the community and making new friends!” Christine Cheffo told What Now in an email conversation.
The menu in Surfside Beach will be streamlined in comparison to the Calabash location, featuring “over 35 handcrafted artisan bagels, over 12 kinds of gourmet cream cheese, and breakfast sandwiches.”
“Original Famous Bagel Dock Cafe offers bagels like cranberry orange, French toast, bacon cheddar and ghost pepper, as well as two gluten-free options made offsite,” reported The Sun News this week. “The range of gourmet cream cheese spreads includes salted caramel, sundried tomato, lox, crab and more.”
You can keep up with the Bagel Dock Cafe by following the brand on Facebook.
