- Area News
- Vicinity Media Group Taps Upward Action
- Meet Another Suburban Essex Magazine Facebook Fan Winner!
- Shekarhand Awarded Scholarship From Starving Artist
- Health
- Local Green Cleaner Offers Tips to Go Green All Year Round
- Take Care of Your Teeth
- More About the Swine Flu
- In the Marketplace
- Say “Cheese!”
- Creating Fabulous Parties, Each One Unique
- Soothing the Stesses of Everyday Life
- inBiz Connection-Business News
- Entrepreneurship Pioneers Initiative
- Morgan Business Solutions Expands to Chapel Hill, NC & Promotes Aronow to Exec VP
- Soraya (Morgan) Gutman Recipient of NJAWBO Trailblazer Award
Bagel Lovers’ No. 1 Choice
By Deborah Schapiro Published: 12/01/2009
When Frank Oldewurtel opened Bagelwich in 1982, he named it as a play on the Chipwich, the circular disk of ice cream sandwiched between two chocolate chip cookies that was wildly popular at the time. The name has nothing to do with sorcerers, of course, but his award-winning bagels, spreads, and other offerings are so tasty, that Bagel Wizard might be a more appropriate name.
Frank certainly knows his craft: “I’ve been making bagels since I was about eleven years old, when I taught myself how to roll the dough.” And he has stuck with what works—Frank uses an old-fashioned recipe with no preservatives.
Yet old-fashioned doesn’t mean stuck in the past. Along with classic favorites like plain, raisin, and “everything,” Bagelwich offers cheddar, chocolate chip, berry blast, French toast, orange-cranberry, sun-dried tomato, and even jalapeño bagels. Frank and his wife, Roseanne, who helps run the business, recommend the eight-grain
honey-raisin bagel. Yum.
What goes great on your bagel? Try the roast turkey or tuna salad (another best-seller), or any of the cream cheese spreads—everything from traditional lox to a decidedly offbeat bacon-and-herb blend. Among the most popular is the scrumptious veggie cream cheese.
Bagelwich goes beyond bagels, too. You can enjoy yogurt muffins, cookies, pastries, soups, salads, and deli sandwiches, many of which are featured on the catering menu. Bagelwich also delivers to a wide swatch of Suburban Essex.
Now that winter is hovering, you might want something warm to go with that bagel, such as a hot and hearty bowl of chili. Like everything else at Bagelwich, it’s delicious and made in-house.
After 27 years in business, Bagelwich has built a devoted clientele, both local and long-distance. And with fresh, natural bagels, delicious new delicacies, and friendly service, it’s little wonder that the shop just took first place as “Best Bagel” in this magazine’s Readers’ Choice Awards 2009.
Each weekday afternoon, Frank looks forward to the arrival of a young crowd—students coming in for an after-school snack. “We enjoy the kids,” Frank says. “And they enjoy our food.”
While the youngsters might scarf down their food, there’s no need for hurrying at Bagelwich, which keeps longer hours than many similar shops. It’s open from 5am to 5pm on weekdays, closing at 4:30pm on Saturdays and 3pm on Sundays.
And after the young clientele go off to college or move out of the area, they often don’t give up their Bagelwich addiction. Frank’s bagels (a healthy addiction, by the way) have a long reach.
“We send to families and college students in Florida, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and all over New Jersey,” Frank says proudly.
Bagelwich also has a wholesale division, which ships bagels to area schools, and raw dough to towns in western New Jersey. Closer to home, the Oldewurtels opened a second Bagelwich in West Caldwell last February.
Although the award-winner is committed to satisfying his community’s appetite for great bagels, he’s also committed to keeping that community safe—Frank is a longtime firefighter.
As for the soft, yummy bread of choice in this area…
“If you’re a traditional bagel eater,” Frank says, “you’re going to love my bagels.”Bagelwich Bagel Bakery
652 Bloomfield Avenue, Verona • 973-857-9408
www.veronabagels.com
