Goodbye, Bagel City!
By Tyler Foley
By Tyler Foley
Recently, due to COVID-19, many people's favorite local bagel shop, Bagel City, went out of business. It is one of the many restaurants that have closed in 2020 during the pandemic.
Going to Bagel City was a big treat for me growing up. I have many happy memories of waiting in line for the warm bread to come out of the oven and pulling on my mom’s shirt to ask her if I could get a drink to go along with my bagel. If I was lucky that day, I’d get a Nesquik with the weird looking bunny cartoon on the bottle.
My family has this holiday tradition where we meet up at our grandparents house to have a big brunch. My grandmother would provide piles of fruit. My aunts would cook scrambled eggs and make tea for the adults and hot chocolate for the kids. My family’s job was to bring fresh bagels, which we would get from Bagel City.
Whenever I walked into Bagel City I felt like I was in a time warp. It looked like it was stuck in the 60s with a mirrored wall and pictures in black and white. We had bagels there so often I probably tried every flavor - blueberry, raisin, egg, garlic, onion, everything, sesame, poppy - but I eventually settled on one favorite. It was a chocolate chip bagel with scallion cream cheese.
This summer, the lights on its red sign went dark and people began to wonder what had happened. The owner, George Kavadoy finally told NBC Washington News 4 that his wife has ALS and he could not risk her getting COVID-19.
COVID-19 has taken a huge toll on many small businesses. The Jumbo Jumbo Cafe - where I used to get bubble tea - closed many locations. So did Thai Pavilion in Rockville Town Center. I had only been there once, but it was across the street from one of my favorite public libraries. Now there is a hole there. Many other restaurants, famous ones like celebrity chef David Chang’s Momofuku to smaller mom ‘n pop restaurants, have closed. Across the country, more than 110,000 restaurants have closed permanently or long-term according to a survey by the National Restaurant Association, which said its industry is in “an economic free fall.”
I distinctly remember that Bagel City had a sign inside that told its back story. I was sad to realize I didn’t recall much of it, and when I tried to search online I could not find any more information. I do remember that it started as a small family bagel shop opened by an immigrant to the United States more than 40 years ago. I hope Mr. Kavadoy’s children will one day want to bring back the Bagel City tradition. Stephanie Kavadoy was interviewed by NBC and she said, “Perhaps one day we could revisit opening Bagel City when things are safer.” I know I’m not the only customer who hopes they do!
Sources:
https://restaurant.org/downloads/pdfs/advocacy/covid-19-restaurant-impact-survey-v-state-results
Going to Bagel City was a big treat for me growing up. I have many happy memories of waiting in line for the warm bread to come out of the oven and pulling on my mom’s shirt to ask her if I could get a drink to go along with my bagel. If I was lucky that day, I’d get a Nesquik with the weird looking bunny cartoon on the bottle.
My family has this holiday tradition where we meet up at our grandparents house to have a big brunch. My grandmother would provide piles of fruit. My aunts would cook scrambled eggs and make tea for the adults and hot chocolate for the kids. My family’s job was to bring fresh bagels, which we would get from Bagel City.
Whenever I walked into Bagel City I felt like I was in a time warp. It looked like it was stuck in the 60s with a mirrored wall and pictures in black and white. We had bagels there so often I probably tried every flavor - blueberry, raisin, egg, garlic, onion, everything, sesame, poppy - but I eventually settled on one favorite. It was a chocolate chip bagel with scallion cream cheese.
This summer, the lights on its red sign went dark and people began to wonder what had happened. The owner, George Kavadoy finally told NBC Washington News 4 that his wife has ALS and he could not risk her getting COVID-19.
COVID-19 has taken a huge toll on many small businesses. The Jumbo Jumbo Cafe - where I used to get bubble tea - closed many locations. So did Thai Pavilion in Rockville Town Center. I had only been there once, but it was across the street from one of my favorite public libraries. Now there is a hole there. Many other restaurants, famous ones like celebrity chef David Chang’s Momofuku to smaller mom ‘n pop restaurants, have closed. Across the country, more than 110,000 restaurants have closed permanently or long-term according to a survey by the National Restaurant Association, which said its industry is in “an economic free fall.”
I distinctly remember that Bagel City had a sign inside that told its back story. I was sad to realize I didn’t recall much of it, and when I tried to search online I could not find any more information. I do remember that it started as a small family bagel shop opened by an immigrant to the United States more than 40 years ago. I hope Mr. Kavadoy’s children will one day want to bring back the Bagel City tradition. Stephanie Kavadoy was interviewed by NBC and she said, “Perhaps one day we could revisit opening Bagel City when things are safer.” I know I’m not the only customer who hopes they do!
Sources:
https://restaurant.org/downloads/pdfs/advocacy/covid-19-restaurant-impact-survey-v-state-results