A new bagel shop just opened in Durham, and fans lined up down the block
The bagel shop that began as a park pop-up, then a farmer’s market favorite, now has its own storefront.
Isaac’s Bagels opened in Durham on Sunday, launching with a surprise service that morning. Fans of the three-year-old bagel brand turned out in a hurry, forming a line stretching down the block.
Owned by Isaac Henrion, Isaac’s Bagels has moved into a small storefront at 1003 W. Chapel Hill St. The menu currently includes a handful of open-faced sandwiches, like smoked salmon, cream cheese and the works, a bright seasoned tomato with dill cream cheese and something for the sweeter side, ricotta and jam.
Isaac’s Bagels menu
Unlike its wildly popular farmer’s market tent, Isaac’s also offers bagel and cream cheese sandwiches and breakfast classics like bacon, egg and cheese on a bagel.
The bagel options include most of the classics. Expect everything, sesame, poppyseed, onion, salt and pepper, and plain. Cream cheese options feature an herby dill scallion, sweet fig and honey, spicy burnt jalapeno and a fiery Szechuan chili, plus one with smoked salmon and capers blended in.
Isaac’s doesn’t have any space for indoor seating, but does plan to offer some outdoor tables. The shop also serves coffee, cold brew and espresso drinks to go, plus cookies and babkas.
On Sunday’s first service, Henrion said the only major hiccup was running out of paper in the machine printing order tickets, forcing him to run down the block to Grub and borrow a roll.
“It definitely wasn’t a finished product, we still have a lot to add, but I was elated,” Henrion said of the opening service. “One of the things I love about our space is we’re in the same neighborhood where I started. We saw a lot of friendly faces of the people who have supported us through two and a half years.”
Popular farmer’s market stand remains
Henrion started Isaac’s Bagels as something of a personal pandemic pivot. The former computer scientist saw his restaurant job disappear as COVID initially shut down dining rooms in 2020. He started baking on the side and eventually developed a bagel that he never got sick of.
For months he took bagel orders on Instagram, handing them out in a Durham community garden, then grew into a residency at Queeny’s restaurant in downtown Durham.
Now, Isaac’s is one of the most popular stands at the Durham farmer’s market. The bagels are delivered in waves by a bright orange van, wheeled on pallets through the crowd of strollers and produce-mongers, landing at a table where a line is already waiting.
Henrion said Isaac’s sells about 2,000 bagels each Saturday at the farmer’s market, where they’ll remain a vendor.
In preparing to open the shop, Isaac’s Bagels launched a Kickstarter campaign aimed at raising $40,000 to help cover constructions costs. Fans blew past that goal, chipping in more than $57,000 to help bring the bagel dreams to life.
The Isaac’s menu will expand in the future, Henrion said, adding more pastries and bagel sandwiches, such as a whitefish salad. One of the Kickstarter levels offered backers the chance to create and name a seasonal sandwich in the shop for a $750 donation. Henrion said the first will be developed soon.
“I know it will be delicious,” he said.
Henrion said Isaac’s will also add more items connected to Jewish culinary traditions, the inspiration for the shop.
“The goal for a long time was to execute an American version of a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish shop, so we’d love to add rugelach and challah and obviously we’re already doing babka.”
Best bagels in the Triangle
Isaac’s now joins a Triangle bagel scene that punches above its weight. Only a few years ago it seemed there were no great bagels to be found. Now the likes of Raleigh’s Benchwarmers Bagels are named some of the best in the country by Bon Appetit, with Cary’s Big Dom’s Bagel Shop, Durham’s Everything Bagels and Chapel Hill’s Brandwein’s all feeding the bagel frenzy.
▪ Isaac’s Bagels hours of operation: The new Isaac’s will be open four days a week, Thursday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to noon most days and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. These days and hours will expand in the near future, Henrion said, as the shop is more established.
