Chewish Deli, 807 Pendleton St, Old Town Alexandria

[weezy]

Big meeting at the office this morning, I had heard good things about Chewish Deli, so I pre-ordered an assorted half dozen (you can get them sliced or unsliced) and some plain cream cheese.  I'm no expert on bagels, but the half of the asiago bagel that I had was very good.  Tender, somewhat dense interior, chewy but not rubbery crust.  Cream cheese was whipped but not airy, so a good schmear that didn't tear up the bagel.  

Plus, they have an assortment of flavors of cream cheese, lox, whitefish salad, and make bagel sandwiches for breakfast and lunch.  https://chewishdeli.com/  Open 8-1 Weds - Sunday.  I'll be back.

Also, they are next door to MAS Seafood, where I picked up some excellent fresh flounder last week.  Unfortunately, MAS wasn't open yet.

[alexandria1]

Planning to open another location in the old Dunkin' Donuts closer to the King Street metro station.

https://www.alxnow.com/2022/01/05/chewish-deli-to-open-second-location-in-old-town/

 

[yeah]

Excellent texture and flavor on the bagels here. Whitefish sandwich with capers, onion and tomato is kind of a steal at $7.

[noamb]

That’s exactly what I had. And I agree, my favorite bagels around here (and no sweet components in the everything spice, see Bagel Uprising)

[yeah]

Bagels remain, soft, savory, fresh-tasting.  I think they easily rival any other bagel in the DC area. Whitefish sandwich (now $7.50) still an excellent value.   

[DanielK]

On 8/5/2024 at 12:23 PM, yeah said:

Bagels remain, soft, savory, fresh-tasting.  I think they easily rival any other bagel in the DC area. Whitefish sandwich (now $7.50) still an excellent value.   

Maybe I'm missing something, but bagels shouldn't be soft? Crusty on the crust and a good chew to the crumb is what I'm looking for.

[yeah]

I think I meant "soft" like "not stale."  Not Wonderbread soft.  Though I can see preferring other bagel places if you're looking for chew. 

[DonRocks]

On 8/5/2024 at 12:23 PM, yeah said:

Bagels remain, soft, savory, fresh-tasting.  I think they easily rival any other bagel in the DC area. Whitefish sandwich (now $7.50) still an excellent value.   

I agree. I may prefer these to BreadFurst‘s, but mainly because BreadFurst’s are so small that I find them very difficult to cut.

But I can’t think of any other New York-style bagel in the area that I prefer to Chew-ish’s.

A word of caution: I had a ton of things on my mind when I ordered here, and (I’m guessing) I accidentally ordered a half-dozen salt bagels instead of everything bagels. These were *so* salty that it was necessary to amputate the tops and discard them, and then using the bottom halves of two bagels to make one bagel sandwich at home (the large grains of salt cannot be easily scraped off).

[DanielK]

Those who have had both - can you compare/contrast Chew-ish with Goldberg's or Bethesda Bagels, which I consider the best in the area?

[DonRocks]

1 hour ago, DanielK said:

Those who have had both - can you compare/contrast Chew-ish with Goldberg's or Bethesda Bagels, which I consider the best in the area?

Is Goldberg’s the one in Viers Mill? If so, I’ve had all three, but haven’t had Goldberg’s in many years, or Bethesda in a couple of years. My memory says they’re all reasonable comparisons with each other (think H&H 15-20 years ago) - I remember enjoying Bullfrog also; BreadFurst’s are more Montreal-ish.

Also, Chew-ish’s did not survive particularly well overnight, at least not as well as I was thinking they might. They also have Ivy City smoked salmon, and perfectly honorable tubs of cream cheese.

”Bagels vs. Rolls with Holes”

[dracisk]

Goldberg's is on Georgia Avenue just south of the Beltway. They also have a location in Rockville.

[DonRocks]

4 hours ago, dracisk said:

Goldberg's is on Georgia Avenue just south of the Beltway. They also have a location in Rockville.

Yes, I remember now - it’s on the Maryland (North) side of Georgia Avenue (as opposed to the DC (South) side. I’ve been there a couple of times and really liked it. But my mom passed in 2011, and I just don’t get over that way much anymore.

But I *was* referring to Goldberg’s in the shopping center on Boiling Brook Parkway, and that’s the location I frequented more often.

[DonRocks]

Just a word of caution: The line outside Chewish was about 25 people at 10:30 this warm, November Saturday morning (it opened at 7).

Edit: At 8:30 on a chilly Sunday morning, there was nobody in line (it opened at 8). The excellent Poppy Bagels have a lot of poppy seeds on them - based on two flavors so far, I’m wondering if you should treat the flavors as more of a “coating” than a “topping.”

Scroll up. I asked the owner about the Salt Bagels, and he didn’t seem to know they were excrutiatingly salty. He showed me one, and it was exactly like the one I’d bought (coarse salt baked into the periphery that you can’t scrape off), so fair warning if you’re not very salt-tolerant.