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Grandson turns lessons from his baking
Nosh cover story
Sam Brickman
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No Schmear Coincidence
Grandson turns lessons from his baking Bubbie into a thriving Traverse City bagel business.
ALAN MUSKOVITZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER PHOTOGRAPHY BY GARY HOWE
If you bake it, they will come. And since its grand opening in February, they’ve been coming out in droves to Bubbie’s Bagels on Front Street in Traverse City.
The bagel shop has been a success story, despite Michigan’s COVID-19 lockdown halting the store’s indoor traffic just weeks after opening. But these bagels have proven curb appeal, because curbside pick-up is how their loyal and growing number of customers continue to pick up an average of 700- 800 bagels a day.
But it’s the “hole” story behind Bubbie’s Bagels that make this bagel bistro really truly special. The key ingredient is the store’s 29-year old founder, Sam Brickman, born and “bread” in West Bloomfield to parents Risa and Bruce Brickman. I live nearby and the couple graciously dropped off a mixed baker’s dozen of Bubbie’s Bagels and homemade scallion cream cheese on my doorstep.
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details Bubbie’s Bagels 1215 E. Front St., Traverse City, MI 49686 (231) 252-3587 www.bubbiesbagelstc.com
His Bubbie, Esther Kraft, is shown on the labels below and on the wall with Grandpa Aaron.
Sam has had Jewish vacationers and local residents visit the store. The president of Traverse City’s Beth Shalom synagogue and a rabbi from Petoskey’s Temple B’nai Israel have been customers. As for shipping of Bubbie’s Bagels for downstate Metro Detroiters to enjoy, “for now that is limited to what my parents are willing to shove into the backseat of their car,” Sam said with a laugh.
It’s not unusual for orders of 200 bagels to be packed into the Brickman’s backseat for their friends and family upon a return trip from visiting their son.
I consumed, actually, inhaled 12 bagels over a four-day period. I have no shame when it comes to a schmear on a bagel. They were worth every one of the 4 lbs. I gained.
More than just a catchy name, there’s a real baking Bubbie behind Bubbie’s Bagels — Esther Kraft, Risa Brickman’s mother, of blessed memory, who passed away in 2012. While she didn’t actually bake bagels, s, Bubbie Esther’s renowned cooking prowess s is the inspiration for and the face of her grandson’s business. Her strawberry and apricot ruggalah is featured in the store and d her mandel and banana breads may not be far behind.
In 2012, just prior to Chanukah, the Detroit Free Press dedicated a two-page spread to Esther’s latke recipe. But she didn’t seek fame. Esther was only into cooking for the fun, the food and, most importantly, the family. That was the recipe for three generations worth of incredible memories in the Kraft’s Farmington Hills kitchen.
“She taught us baking was fun,” Risa said. “She taught us baking was fun”Risa said “But it was serious, too. You had to level your flour exactly, line up your cookies and admire your results. To this day, all 12 grandchildren, boys and girls, are creative bakers and are comfortable in the kitchen.”
The family still has regular baking challenges, a babka competition being the most recent.
Sam is the lone grandchild to turn his experiences with his Bubbie in the kitchen
Time to make the bagels. Charlie Baker shows how it’s done.
into a culinary career. “Every Friday night we would go to her house for Shabbat and cook and bake. Always cookies for dessert,” Sam said. “Growing up listening to her stories, hearing her rules in the kitchen and the tips and tricks, was a great learning experience.”
He also credits his being “a child of the Food
Network boom” for inspiring him to make cooking his life’s calling.
Upon graduating from the University of Michigan in 2012, Sam enrolled at the nationally renowned
Escoffier Culinary School in Boulder, Colorado. After initial experiences in kitchens in Denver, Sam
I wanted to returned to Detroit where create cr my own he was a sous-chef for two years at Gold Cash Gold bagel, not in Corktown. Then in 2016 came the call of the replicate a north. “I was tired of the certain style. city and really like to be surrounded by the quiet — SAM BRICKMAN of nature,” Sam said. “It’s more of my personality, and Traverse City fit the bill.” Over the next three years, Sam worked for Fustini’s
Oils & Vinegars, where he also taught at their onsite cooking school. “But I knew eventually I wanted to do my own thing,” he said.
That’s when he had a brainstorm. Or, if you will, a bagelstorm. “Up here, there are absolutely no bagels at all,” Sam said. At least not the kind that met his high standards in the Jewish tradition of a really great bagel.
Perhaps this is a side effect of the tourist city having little in the way of a Jewish community at all — although it is home to Congregation Beth Shalom (formerly Beth El), housed in the oldest continually operating synagogue in Michigan. But the “Up North” locale’s appeal with Metro Detroit Jews this year seems to have grown, as Michigan’s COVID-19 travel guidelines encourage intrastate tourism only.
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Tov Bagel
A little rain couldn’t dampen the spirits of three young bagelers in Detroit.
ANDREW LAPIN EDITOR
The Aug. 28 grand opening of Joe Penn and Devon Malloy are bringing bagels back to Detroit. Tov Bagel’s new downtown Detroit location proceeded as in the city itself, and partnered with planned, despite disagreeable weather. Dayne Bartscht, owner of Eastern The newest bagel shop on the block is Market Brewing Company, to bake selling its innovative flavors and large and sell their bagels out of his ASHE schmear selection out of the ASHE locations. This June, Tov Bagel opened Supply Co. café at 1555 Broadway its first outpost at the Ferndale Project St., via an outdoor, socially distanced (formerly Axle Brewing Co.) on 567 walk-up counter. Livernois St. in Ferndale. Tov bakes its
Tov Bagel is the bagels in Ferndale but brainchild of Joe Penn, Tov Bagel is open Tues.- sells them from both 23, from Boston; Sat., 8 a.m.-2 p.m., at locations. Devon Malloy, 23, 1555 Broadway St. in The name, Penn said, from Lancaster, Pa.; Detroit and Tues.-Sun., doesn’t just mean “Good and Dan Lenz, 24, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., at 567 Bagel”; it’s an homfrom Evanston, Ill. Livernois in Ferndale. age to “Tov” as Israeli They all moved to Detroit location is walk-up slang. “[It’s] more of an Detroit’s Woodbridge service only. Ferndale locaacknowledgment: ‘Tov, I neighborhood in July tion is curbside pick-up see you,’” he said. 2019 as members and dine-in on their patio. And what must be of the entrepreneur acknowledged are the fellowship program fanciful flavors, which Venture For America, and, as bagel look to bridge the gap between oldfanatics, made weekly pilgrimages to world bagel tradition and the millenthe nearby Detroit Institute of Bagels. nial/gen-Z appetite for cutting-edge
For the last year, the housemates baked goods. There are new spins on also entertained each other by making old favorites (sea salt with rosemary; experimental bagels on a breadmaker black-and-white sesame) and origthat once belonged to Malloy’s grandinal flavors (za’atar; cracked pepper mother. When COVID-19 kicked in, asiago). Half of their schmears are “we now had the opportunity to bake vegan. Tov is betting that bagels are all the time because we were always the next big thing among trendy home,” Malloy said. foodies.
“I’ve eaten a bagel every morning “I’ve always felt that bagel shops for my entire life,” said Penn, who was have the ability to be a lot more creactive in NFTY growing up. Though ative than they are,” Penn said. “Bagels Penn is the group’s only Jew, bagel culare an awesome base that you can put ture has bonded the trio to Jewish life; so many cool things on.” they even celebrate Shabbat together. The Tov team would like to open
With most of Metro Detroit’s bagel their own shop within the next year, mainstays located in the suburbs, barring a certain pandemic. They also Tov saw an opening for their product hope to add challah to their lineup.
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Bubbie’s Bagels has it all: plain, sesame, poppy, onion, Everything, cinnamon raisin, black pepper parmesan, caraway rye, salt stick … The biggest seller is the “Everything” bagel.
According to Sam, “The Caraway bagel is one that’s really near and dear to our hearts. It’s probably the one we’ve worked the hardest on. We use a locally milled rye flour. In essence, it’s a pumpernickel bagel without the dark appearance because we don’t use food coloring like other bagel shops.”
Bagels can be enjoyed with the store’s own signature coffee affectionately named and packaged as “Bubbie’s Blend.” Plus, Bubbie’s Bagels is also supplied with extraordinary tea blends harvested by a local flower farm.
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“Bread has always been something that’s interested me because there is so much science behind it. It involves the manipulation of time, temperature and humidity. I wanted to create my own bagel, not replicate a certain style,” Sam said, sounding like a scientist in his own bagel laboratory.
To that end he began experimenting, formulating his own recipes by tinkering with ingredients and using sourdough yeast instead of the typically used commercial brand.
His crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside bagels made their Traverse City debut at the Sara Hardy’s Farmer’s Market in June of 2019. He would set up at 6:30 a.m. and be sold out by 8 or 9 a.m. The bagel fressing (feeding) frenzy was on. He continued to sell out for weeks on end and realized there was enough “dough” in his bagel biz to support a storefront.
“The really cool thing about Traverse City,” Sam said, “is it actually reminds me of the Jewish community in Detroit. Everyone kind of knows everyone and there’s just a lot of love and support.”
That support that Sam is a beneficiary of in Traverse City extends to the close-knit food community as well. He has great friends in the local farming community, who play a major role in supplying him with the produce to create his wide variety of fresh, homemade cream cheeses.
Even before founding Bubbie’s Bagels, it wasn’t unusual for Sam’s grandmother’s influence and his love for his Jewish upbringing to show up in his work. I tongue-in-cheek inquired if that meant he catered his own bar mitzvah at Adat Shalom in 2004. Not exactly that far back, he confirmed. But it was at a catered event in Traverse City in 2018 that his pride in his Jewish heritage showed up.
It was just before Rosh Hashanah. Sam, in the role of corporate chef for Fustini’s, had been charged with presenting and describing each course in a prepared multi-course dinner for a gathering at Bowers Harbor Vineyards.
The only dessert featured that night was Bubbie Esther’s honey cake, which Sam purposely prepared in honor of the Jewish High Holiday.
To the mostly non-Jewish diners, Sam explained the significance of the ingredients of apple and honey in the cake. “With Rosh Hashanah approaching, I wanted everyone to know that the ingredients were symbolic of my wishes for a sweet year,” he said.
Sam’s parents were in attendance that night and proudly witnessed what they described was “an incredibly proud and heartwarming scene.”
He’s earned quite the reputation for bagels. “I’ve gotten a lot of messages on Instagram and Facebook from other bagel shops around the country talking about expansion and different ideas,” Sam said. He also gives tremendous credit to Ben Newman of Downtown’s Detroit Institute of Bagels, whom he describes as “an awesome resource, amazing.”
Today, Bubbie’s Bagels also features incredible bagel sandwiches, plus all the must-have accoutrements that accompany a legitimate bagel meal — Nova lox, tuna, whitefish and egg salad (sold by the pound) and add-ons like homemade pickled red onion and capers.
Sam’s journey has been a labor of love — for his Bubbie, his culinary career and his Traverse City community. It’s also been, well, a lot of labor — nine employees and five days of prep required for one batch of bagels, made to perfection using age-old fermenting, boiling and baking techniques, which are the hallmark of a truly great bagel.
While it does sound like Bubbie’s Bagels is destined for expansion, Sam said, “I’m just taking it day by day, focusing on the bagels, making sure everything is consistent. I want to keep the quality as high as possible because that’s absolutely the most important thing.”
It’s what his Bubbie Esther would want, too.
Dan Aronson and Jack Page
Detroit-Made Fresh Salsa Is Back
COURTESY OF DAN ARONSON
BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Dan Aronson has salsa in microwave, and Skinny Butcher, his blood. similar meals made with plant
He was just a todbased protein. Both lines are sold dler when his parents, Jack and through food markets rather Annette, opened a restaurant, than directly to consumers, often Clubhouse Bar-B-Q, in Ferndale. with the market’s brand name. One of their customers was Jim Almost as soon as the Hiller, owner of Hiller’s Markets, non-compete period ended, who loved the restaurant’s salsa Dan and his stepbrother, Jack so much he asked if he could Page, 42, of Milford, were back sell it in his stores. Garden Fresh in the salsa business. Their new Gourmet was born. Dan was 6. Missy & Mel’s brand — named His earliest memories include for their two sisters, Melissa Bihl working in the business next to and Melanie Mena — is produchis parents and four older sibing salsas and tortilla chips at lings. a commercial kitchen in Royal
For many years, Garden Fresh Oak. Gourmet, started at the back Like the original Garden Fresh of Jack’s restaurant, sold salsas Gourmet brand, Missy & Mel’s and hummus through high-end salsas and chips are made from specialty markets like Hiller’s scratch, in small batches, using and Westborn. The company’s only fresh ingredients. Aronson reputation grew when Meijer says the recipes are different, started carrying the products; though, and the products are soon it was the best-selling fresh somewhat higher-end. The salsa in the country. In 2015 the new company’s first effort was company made national news a medium-hot salsa made with when Campbell Soup bought it Scotch bonnet peppers. They for $231 million. also produce a chipotle flavor
Three years later, Campbell and a fruit salsa made with sold the company, and the mango, peaches and pineapple. Aronsons’ bid to buy it back was For now the salsa, priced at $6 unsuccessful. A non-compete for a 14-oz. jar, is available at the clause in the original sales agreeRust Belt Market at Woodward ment meant no one in the family Avenue and Nine Mile Road could market similar products in Ferndale, which is open on for five years. weekends, and at the company’s
After the Garden Fresh factory, a commercial kitchen at Gourmet sale, Dan, 29, and his 2520 W. 14 Mile Road in Royal siblings started Clean Planet Oak, which is open on weekdays Foods, making packaged, refrigfrom 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aronson erated ready-to-eat meals in a hopes to have the products in bag that could be heated in a area food markets soon.
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