Far too big to pick up and eat out of hand, Born2Bagel's lox and cream cheese sandwich on onion bagel with capers rewards the knife-and-fork approach.
Here’s a good way to start a noisy debate among Louisville food lovers: Ask for opinions on where to get the best bagel in town. Want to kick it up another notch? Ask you can even get a bialy hereabouts.
What’s a bialy? See what I mean? A lot of us have so little exposure to this rarely seen cousin to the bagel that we’re not even sure what it is.
More about that shortly. First, though, let’s put our hands together and welcome our town’s latest bagel shop: Born2Bagel, which opened last autumn in a Middletown shopping-strip storefront at the corner of Shelbyville Road and Blankenbaker Parkway.
The eatery’s claim to authenticity comes naturally through owner Bruce Rosenblatt, who told Food & Dining magazine that he grew up in Long Island enjoying bagels and lox and all the schmears every Saturday, and grew into a career in corporate restaurant management.
After he and his wife Jennifer moved to Louisville in 2014, he said, they found the region lacking in “a true New York bagel experience.” That crave, and his business experience, marked a straight line to Born2Bagel’s opening at the end of last September.
Declaring its products “authentic New York-style bagels,” the company’s website expresses its dedication to authenticity as “the cornerstone of our business. We handcraft our bagels using traditional New York-style techniques, creating that perfect balance of a crisp exterior and a soft, chewy interior.”
The restaurant, its menus and decor and the look of the website are all bright and professional, in striking colors of gold, black, and white. This gives the place the professional look of a corporate chain, but credit that to the Rosenblatts’ business experience, not bean counters at a distant corporate headquarters.
The space, which formerly housed a quick-service Chinese restaurant, is crammed full of counter space and a few tables for dining in, with bagel production apparently taking place out of sight.
The menu focuses on bagels, of course ...
Read my full review on LouisvilleHotBytes:
https://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/born ... lox-bialys
You'll also find this review in LEO Weekly's Food & Drink section this week:
http://www.leoweekly.com/category/food-drink/
Born 2 Bagel
231 Blankenbaker Pkwy
384-0619
https://born2bagel.com
Facebook: https://bit.ly/Born2Bagel
https://instagram.com/born_2_bagel/
https://tiktok.com/@born2bagel
Noise Level: The small shop can get loud when it's crowded, with customers at the counter walking near the row of tables along the opposite wall. Conversation is possible at an average 67.0dB sound level, but less so during occasional peaks at a thunderous 87.0db.
Accessibility: The restaurant and tables are accessible to wheelchair users, but the door is heavy, and the nearest curb ramp is several shops away from the restaurant entrance.