Andy's Pizza Has Entered the DC Bagel Game

""I came to bagels through bread. And so I always had this sort of thing that I want to continue to add some version of baking," Brown says. "Then I saw a lot of the guys in New York doing bagels, so I was like, 'You know what? I'm going to give this a shot.' And I was like, oh, this is addicting.""

""You want this shiny, slightly crispy, but very chewy exterior crust. You want to be able to peel the exterior crust away from the interior bagel bread," says of what he thinks make a great bagel. "The one thing that we felt was missing from almost every bagel we tried-outside some of the new guys-is real extended fermentation. Everything kind of sat in our stomachs.""

""We're keeping the bagels as fresh as we do the pizza," he says, noting how they'll bake off a fresh pie if, say, there are two slices of pepperoni left. "We're doing the same for the bagels. It's hot all the way through. There's steam coming out when you crack into the bagel.""

Andy Brown extended his baking work at Andy's Pizza into producing New York-style bagels, beginning sales at the Bethesda location. The bagels use a 72-hour dough ferment that produces micro-blistering on the exterior and aims for a shiny, slightly crispy but very chewy crust that peels from the interior. The bagels are baked in ovens normally used to reheat slices. Initial offerings are plain, everything, and sesame at $2.50 each or $22.50 per dozen. Bagel sandwiches are limited to egg and cheese with bacon or sausage options, and preparation emphasizes fresh baking and fresh cream cheeses.

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